Ager Gun
American Arms Company · Machine Gun · Discontinued · 1861
Also known as: Coffee Mill Gun, Union Repeating Gun, Agar Gun
Overview
The Ager Gun, nicknamed the 'Coffee Mill Gun' for its grinder-like loading hopper and officially the Union Repeating Gun, was a hand-cranked, single-barrel rapid-fire machine gun used in the American Civil War. Operators dropped reusable steel tubes, each holding a .58-caliber paper cartridge and percussion cap, into the gravity hopper, and turning the crank chambered, fired, and ejected them at up to about 120 rounds per minute. Personally championed by President Abraham Lincoln, it was an important predecessor to the Gatling gun but was condemned by Ordnance officers for overheating, jamming, and heavy ammunition consumption, so it saw only limited frontline use.
Specifications
| Overall Length | 1422 mm (55.98") |
| Barrel Length | 889 mm (35.00") |
| Action Type | Muzzleloader |
| Firing Mechanism | Percussion |
| Magazine Type | Internal |
| Effective Range | 730 m (798 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 910 m (995 yd) |
| Rate of Fire | 120 rpm |
| Barrel Rifling | Right Hand |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
Calibers
- .58 Caliber · primary — also known as .58 Minie, 14.7mm
Features
- Firing modes: Manual
- Feed systems: Gravity Hopper
- Features: Hand Cranked, Gravity Hopper Feed, Reusable Steel Cartridge Tubes, Interchangeable Barrel, Field Carriage Mounted
Service history
Operators
- Union Army · adopted 1861 · as Union Repeating Gun
- Confederate States Army
Conflicts
- American Civil War (1861-1865)
Production
Estimated total produced: 60 · Production years: 1861-1862
About 10 bought at Lincoln's direction plus ~50 ordered by Gen. McClellan; sources vary ~54-64
Origin
Country of origin: United States
Designer: Wilson Ager
Discontinued: 1865
Notes
Inventor Wilson Ager (also spelled Agar); some sources credit the underlying mechanism to William Palmer and/or Edward Nugent. Roughly 50-60 made (10 ordered by Lincoln, ~50 by Gen. McClellan). Confederate forces used a few captured examples. 'Ager' and 'Agar' are interchangeable spellings of the same gun.
Background
President Abraham Lincoln personally attended the field trials, judged the gun 'worth the attention of the Government,' and ordered ten himself, making it one of the first rapid-fire weapons bought for the U.S. military. A captured Ager gun was reportedly fired skyward near Reams' Station, Virginia in 1864 at an observation balloon, in what is sometimes described as the first anti-aircraft use of a machine gun.