Crank Gun

"With the PEPPERMILL, you will be slow, and you will be burdened, but you will also be unstoppable."

- Fink Manufacturing advertisement



The Peppermill, commonly referred to as the Crank Gun, is a Gatling Gun and Heavy-class weapon used by Motorized Patriots in Columbia. Although Booker can use this weapon, his only access to them is by defeating Motorized Patriots and scavenging one from the remains, or in some locations, Elizabeth can permit access to the weapon via a Tear. Reserve ammunition is rare and best-used for stronger enemies such as Motorized Patriots and Handymen, as opposed to weaker enemies, like citizens.

The Peppermill can do a minimum of 70 damage without being upgraded, and a maximum of 130 damage with upgrades applied to the weapon. It has a critical hit multiplier of 1.5x damage. At the most, it can fire up to 1,500 rounds per minute, but can only hold 100 bullets in a magazine and 100 bullets in reserve. It is important to note that the Crank Gun does not have useable ironsights and relies entirely on hipfiring. Weapon damage data from this post by MelodicMizery

Advantages

 * High damage per second
 * High rate of fire
 * Large-capacity magazine
 * Surprisingly accurate

Disadvantages

 * Only found by defeating Motorized Patriots/opening Tears
 * Elizabeth doesn't provide extra ammo for it
 * Slows player down when firing
 * Requires brief wind-up time before firing
 * Expends ammo quickly
 * Not upgradable
 * Extra ammo can't be purchased
 * Long reload time
 * Cannot aim down sights, must be fired from the hip
 * Completely useless with the "Tunnel Vision" Gear (-25% damage from hip firing)
 * Unaffected by Bullet Boon or Ammo Advantage

Behind the Scenes

 * The weapon owes its name to old-fashioned pepper dispensers, which require users to manually turn a crank to grind up the ball-shaped black pepper spheres into a fine grain.
 * Although hard to spot in-game, the Peppermill Crank Gun's muzzle flash is the shape of a star.
 * Subject Delta uses a machine gun that functions similarly to the Peppermill.
 * Although Booker is required to use both hands to fire the Peppermill, he is somehow able to fire it with only one hand whilst using a Sky-Line.
 * Considering the time period of BioShock Infinite as well as the access to weapons technology on Columbia, a hand-cranked, multilateral rapid-fire gun design would be seen as obsolete. In addition, such a weapon would not realistically be subject to the "wind-up" stage in firing, which affects the Peppermill.
 * The Crank Gun is the only weapon wielded in the game that cannot be upgraded by means of purchased upgrades.
 * A possible reason for the Peppermill's hand-crank design is the fact that the Motorized Patriots can't flex their fingers, and thus, they can't pull triggers.
 * Bullet Boon and Ammo Advantage don't seem to affect the Crank Gun.