Editing Machine gun (section)

=== Medieval ===
[[File:Drehling GNM W1984 ca 1580.jpg|thumb|Detail of an 8-chambered [[matchlock]] revolver (Germany c. 1580)]]
The first known ancestors of multi-shot weapons were medieval [[organ gun]]s. An early example of an attempt at the mechanisation of one of these would be an 'engine of war' produced in the mid-1570s in England capable of firing from 160 to 320 shots 4, 8, 12 or 24 bullets at a time at a rate of fire up to roughly 3 times the rate of fire of the typical arquebusier of the day. It was also claimed that the gun could be reloaded 'as often as you like' and fired no matter the weather though the English government never adopted the weapon despite testing being carried out at the [[Tower of London]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1903100|title=Letters and papers described in the published Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth|access-date=2022-11-26|archive-date=2022-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126214533/https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1903100|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Inventors and Inventions: In Three Parts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fktDEAAAQBAJ&dq=Engine+Of+War+1575&pg=PA203 |author=Henry Dircks |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand  |year=2021 |page=203 |isbn=9783752531671 |access-date=2022-12-20 |archive-date=2023-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907053628/https://books.google.com/books?id=fktDEAAAQBAJ&dq=Engine+Of+War+1575&pg=PA203 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first firearms to have the ability to fire multiple shots from a single barrel without a full manual reload were revolvers made in Europe in the late 1500s. One is a shoulder-gun-length weapon made in Nuremberg, Germany, circa 1580. Another is a revolving [[arquebus]], produced by Hans Stopler of Nuremberg in 1597.<ref>{{cite book |title=Firearms: The Life Story of a Technology |author=Roger Pauly |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32796-4}}</ref>