Charts & Graphs

Lock and Load

Rates of fire for weapons throughout the ages.

Weapon Date RPM*
Harquebus 15th century 1
Wheel-lock musket 1517 1
Flintlock musket c. 1610 2
Gatling gun 1862 200
Maxim gun 1884 600
Lee-Enfield rifle 1902 20
Thompson submachine gun 1919 1,200
Bren gun 1937 500
M-1 Garand Rifle 1937 24
Kalashnikov AK-47 1949 600
M-16 assault rifle 1959 800
General-purpose machine gun 1956 1,000
M-134 minigun 1963 6,000
SA-80 assault rifle 1985 770
Metal Storm (fired by electronic ignition) 1997 1 million

* RPM = rounds per minute