Wow, I've been working on a plot bunny where Harry does the whole 'steal a battleship thing', but I had no idea it's already been done. That's disappointing.

 

The Centaurs didn't have wands and Hagrid didn't fight like a wizard. If somebody wanted to win a fight against a bunch of Death Eaters (or Aurors), a machine gun is a good way to go about it.

Loading? The Gatling gun has been used during the US Civil War. You can use that, or upgrade to a WWI Maxim gun, or to a WWII MG42 or to a Cold War FN Minimi or to the modern Mk 48 Mod 0. Even if you can't automatically conjure ammunition, you can definitely put a lot of ammo made by muggles in the usual way in a mokeskin pouch. A long chain in a small featherlight pouch will work splendidly. No reloading is required during a battle. Over short distances, no marksmanship is required. Harry's invisibility cloak is all a twelve year old muggleborn would need to liberate some guns and ammo from a British Army depot.

 

^:facepalm

Or Death Eaters simply transfigures that gun to a snake and you are screwed.

Or they crate a shield which makes bullets to ricochet back to you and you die.

Or they simply apparate behind you and then stun you, it is not like you can turn that weapon around that fast.

Or they animate an statue or something and put unbreakable charm on it then send after you. Let's see if your gun is going to be able to break that one.

Etc.

 

Everything you said still works if you replace "gun" with "wand" and "bullet" with "spell". Yes, the enemy fights back. If you shoot at them (bullet, spells, whatever) and don't disable them, they will shoot back. That is why infantry tactics were invented. For bows and arrows. Thousands of years ago.

Guns have a rate of fire hundreds of times better than wands, and have a range hundreds of times better than wands. They are equally lethal if you manage to hit someone. It takes only a few months to teach any able bodied muggle to be competent with a gun, and it takes a decade to teach a wizard to be a competent fighter. If the guns are in the hands of wizards who also can shield and apparate and heal serious wounds, the wizards with the better weapons will win.

 

Isn't this discussion stale like Snape's ass since forever?


It all comes down to preparation. If you are shooting at a wizard who isn't prepared, it is reasonable to think that a bullet travels faster than whatever shield he may pull off.
If the wizard had time to prepare, no bullets are going to help you. It it came to a longer war, someone, say, WWW would start making Anti-Bullet Hats instead of Shield Hats or something.

There, can we go home now?

 

There is no need for another Muggles vs. Wizards derailment.