Rapid Fire: The Development of Automatic Cannon and Heavy Machine Guns for Armies, Navies, and Air Forces [Hardcover]

A. G. Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2000

The Development of Automatic Cannon and Heavy Machine Guns for Armies, Navies, and Air Forces. The development of all heavy automatic weapons of every nation during the 20th century is explained with easily understood technical descriptions of mountings, sights, ammunition feeds, and other mechanisms. Analyses of the weapons are presented in the historical contexts in which they were developed, and photos depict the weapons in use. Line drawings and a look into the future of heavy weapons.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Airlife Publishing, Ltd.; First Edition edition (July 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1840371226
• ISBN-13: 978-1840371222
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,652,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Knowledge, October 8, 2000

By 

Emmanuel Gustin (Mechelen, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rapid Fire: The Development of Automatic Cannon and Heavy Machine Guns for Armies, Navies, and Air Forces (Hardcover)

It should be evident that one cannot fully understand the history of combat aircraft, ships, or vehicles, without having some knowledge of the weapons that armed them. During the last century, heavy automatic guns have been an essential part of this armament. But unfortunately their study has been very much neglected, and with distressing regularity one finds information that is incomplete, misleading, or plain wrong. The existing literature about automatic guns and their ammunition is perhaps more reliable, but mostly limited to weapons of smaller calibre.

This book at last fills the gap by offering a wealth of information on these guns. Because it is virtually the only comprehensive discussion of this subject, it can be considered essential reading for anyone interested in the technical aspects of modern military history. The author has made the subject accessible to people without any previous knowledge about guns, but the work also contains enough extensive and detailed information to be attractive to the specialist. It is primarily a book about guns, but it does give careful consideration to the important relationship between gun design and application. It can be read as a history, but also consulted as a reference. Despite the specialist subject the book should appeal to a wide audience, encompassing researchers and modellers, people with an interest in guns as well as those with in an interest in aircraft, ships, or armoured vehicles.

Of the six chapters, the first two contain a technical explanation cartridges, guns, and related subjects. The basic operating principles behind different types of guns are clearly explained, and a brief history of their development is given. The advantages and disadvantages of different types of guns, related to their intended applications, are also discussed. The author has chosen to avoid formulas and extended discussions of ballistics, but the principles of gun action are illustrated.

The next three chapters then discuss these applications, in armies, navies, and air forces. It explains how the military of different branches and different countries approached the armament problems, and how this determined the development and isntallation of guns. The sixth chapter discusses future developments, and mentions some of the current experimental guns --- most of the book is limited to guns that saw service.

Of the five appendices the first is a history of anti-tank and heavy rifles. The second contains tables with complete data related to heavy automatic weapons, including service cartridges and guns up to a calibre of 57mm. The last three appendices contain scale drawings of cartridges and guns. The book concludes with a glossary, a bibliography, and an index.

Despite its technical subject "Rapid Fire" is well-written, clear and concise. The book has been well edited and produced, and a good balance between text and illustrations was achieved. The limitations of the work are a consequence of the need to pack an enormous amount of information in a compact format, in all 297 pages including about 30 pages of color photographs. I can recommend this book without reservations, and in the hope that when knowledge spreads, errors will no longer be repeated!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, a mine of information, July 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Rapid Fire: The Development of Automatic Cannon and Heavy Machine Guns for Armies, Navies, and Air Forces (Hardcover)

This book is a very well written history of large caliber automatic weapons. It gives a good coverage of the mechanisms and characteristics of the weapons, but it's real importance to me is it's well illustrated gallery of the rounds used in the weapons, complete with specifications of the rounds and the weapon and country using them, something that is rare to find in other works.In a library of over 1000 volumes on weaponry, this is one of the most used references I have.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for the technically inclined, November 10, 2002

By 

Robert L. (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rapid Fire: The Development of Automatic Cannon and Heavy Machine Guns for Armies, Navies, and Air Forces (Hardcover)

An excellent review of automatic weapons for the technically inclined. There is little or no operational history involved, but this book's detailed development histories of weapons and their ammunition is more comprehensive than anything I've seen since Johnson's books from the '40s. If you are into the details of automatic weapons and the ammunition they fire, you must have this book. If you are looking for operational military history of how these weapons were employed, this is not for you.