Bira Gun

[DWalt]

Did anyone else see the Nepalese Bira mechanical machine gun on the latest Pawn Stars episode? They even fired it. I've heard of them but never saw one.

 

[sodacan]

I did. Pretty cool.

 

[Gunhacker]

It make me think along the lines of a twin fixed barrel Gatling gun.

 

[DWalt]

As they said, it was made on the same general design as the early U. S. Gardner gun from the post-Civil War period, which was later adopted by the Royal Navy. Gardners first had a single barrel, and later dual barrels, as the Bira has. That was one of the most interesting items I have seen on Pawn Stars. If Rick really and truly got the Bira for $20K, it's a real bargain. I wouldn't have hesitated to pay the original asking price of $30K. Or the whole transaction could have been staged.

The most interesting feature of the Bira Gun was the flat pan circular magazine, somewhat similar (at least in principle) to the later Lewis Gun and some Russian WWII MGs.

 

[vytoland]

even Mark Hall-Patton was eager to step up and fire this unusual gun......

 

[Richard Simmons]

Saw that episode. IIRC, Gary James had an article in Guns & Ammo sometime in the last few years about the Bira. As I recall from the article they were part of the huge stock of Nepalese surplus imported by Atlanta Cutlery Corp. Seems some of the guns were brought in without the magazines either by ACC or maybe someone else imported them and the mags were found in the stuff ACC imported? Can't recall for sure how it went. Regardless the article was pretty well done.