CLASSIC GUNS
A Sleeping Giant
Designed in Nepal in the late 1890s, the half-ton Bira Gun was the last of the mechanical machine guns.
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As those areas were particularly favored by the British due to their temperate climate during the summer, and because they were more than a little miffed that the Nepalese should have the nerve to attack at all, the authorities moved against the Gurkhas, and though initially rebuffed, British East India Company troops, led by General David Ochterlony, finally took command of the situation and ultimately threatened Nepal's capital, Katmandu.
The King of Nepal, deciding at this point that discretion was the better part of valor, met with the British and allowed them to establish a residence in Katmandu. He also gave them the right to cross Nepal and trade with Tibet. The Company was also permitted to recruit Gurkha soldiers, whom they would take full advantage of in the First and Second Sikh Wars, the Indian Mutiny, and well beyond.
For their part, the British agreed to supply the Nepalese with arms and ammunition, which over the years ended up amounting to some 430 tons of muskets, rifles, handguns, ammo, blades artillery and assorted other bits and pieces—which were stored in the old palace of Langan Silekhana in Katmandu. In 2003 International Military Antiques and Atlanta Cutlery bought the lot and brought most of it back to the United States, where collectors and shooters have been reaping the benefits of this treasure trove ever since.
While the British supplied Nepal with a wide variety of armaments, they were loathe to comply with the Gurkhas' requests for machine guns, fearing they would copy them (as they did a wide variety of other arms) and end up with many more repeaters than their benefactors felt was prudent for the area.
Not to be dismayed, the Nepalese decided to design a machine gun of their own. As they had no capability in producing fully automatic firearms, it was decided that a crank-operated mechanical machine gun, similar to the American multi-barreled Gardner, would be just the ticket. The inventor was General Gehendra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, one of the most able Nepalese military engineers of the time.
Nepal had a huge quantity of .577-450 British Martini-Henry ammo on hand, so it was decided that the gun would be chambered in that caliber. Work began, and by the mid 1890s the gun was finished. Named after the reigning king, Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah, and weighing in at some 1,000 pounds, it was completely handmade. Very few parts from one gun would fit on another, and in some cases individual screws were even numbered to specific holes!
It was mounted on an iron artillery carriage set upon an axle terminating in two beautifully fashioned teak spoked wheels. While most of the gun was steel and iron, brass was used for the wheel hubs, traversing and elevating wheels, some gearing, a curious receiver-mounted clinometer—without any degree markings—and a cast dedication plaque set off by red paint, which translated to: Bira Gun no. [serial number] Invented by Gahendra Shamsher Janga Rana Bahadur by the order of Gurkha Government Sri Sri Sri King Bir Shamsher Janga Rana Bahadur K.C.S.I [Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India] Ang Thong Ling Pimma Kang Wang Sprang, Prime Minister, Commander in Chief. Nepal [date--either 1896 or 1897.]
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