> David Brewer wrote:
> They are not very different from Scimitars. They have the same
7.62 mm CHAINGUN? Are you quite sure it's not simply a recoil-operated
machinegun?
I suppose it'd be POSSIBLE to build a sub-20 mm chaingun, but the ROF
would be very slow, and I can't for the life of me figure out why you'd want
to, when
cheap, accurate, reliable conventional-action 7.62mm machineguns are
readily available.
--Rich Spainhour
This brings up a subject which I'd like to address because of my own
semi-ignorance:
Can someone explain to me the difference between a chaingun and a minigun? I
thought that both were types of gatling weapons, with revolving barrels. I do
know from the reading I've done that there do exist modern gatlings in both
5.56 and 7.62 mm. The 5.56mm, I'm assuming, would be a minigun, but if I'm
wrong, please correct me. If I'm correct, please tell me what the 7.62mm would
be, and again, how to differentiate between chain gun and minigun.
Thanks,
Brian Bilderback
> From: rspainho <rspainho@mines.edu>
> 7.62 mm CHAINGUN? Are you quite sure it's not simply a recoil-operated
> when
FWIW: A chaingun typically has one barrel, where a minigun is a multi barrel
gatling type. Doom had a minigun called a chain gun. A Bradley has a 25mm
Chaingun (the chain, driven by a motor works the feed, as opposed to having
recoil energy do all the work)
Michael Brown
[quoted original message omitted]
Thanks
> From: rspainho <rspainho@mines.edu>
> Thus, gatling guns (miniguns) and chainguns don't necessarily have
> Brian Bilderback wrote:
> This brings up a subject which I'd like to address because of my own
Nope...chainguns are often single-barrel. "Chaingun" denotes that the
weapon is
actuated by an electric-motor driven chain drive. Thus, when a round is
fired, the spent casing is ejected and the next round is chambered by a bolt
riding on a chain driven around a rectangular race by an electric motor. The
primary advantages here are: A) precise control of ROF, B) increased
reliability (electric motors are very reliable, plus duds don't result in
stoppages, the motor simply advances the next shell into the chamber), and C)
fewer moving parts.
A gatling weapon has multiple revolving barrels fed by a single receiver.
Since each barrel only "hosts" every second or third or fifth or sixth
bullet(depending on # of barrels, natch), they cool off more efficiently,
allowing a higher rate of fire. Miniguns are simply gatling machineguns
(i.e.
15mm or less, incl. both 7.62mm & 5.56mm), as opposed to gatling cannons (20mm
+).
Thus, gatling guns (miniguns) and chainguns don't necessarily have anything to
do with each other...the former is a barrel configuration, the latter is an
action type.
--Rich Spainhour
In message <01BFAC5A.BB1DF500.mwbrown@veriomail.com> Michael Brown writes:
> FWIW: A chaingun typically has one barrel, where a minigun is a multi
...so did the old GW game "Dark Future". I actually sent the designer, Richard
Halliwell a photocopy from a library book that
showed a 7.62mm chaingun and mini-gun. He wrote back saying that,
well, the figures look like mini-guns but the name chaingun is
much cooler.
Chaingun is, I think, a trademark of The Boeing Company. I've never seen a
multibarreled one.
> A Bradley has a 25mm
Also, Apache Helicopters have 30mm chainguns. Look at an Apache in profile...
that's a chaingun.
Excellent description of the differences between chain and gatling guns. Just
a to add a little bit:
Gatlings (or miniguns) tend to have VERY high rates of fire--in the
1200-3600 range(obviuosly, since the advantage of the design is that the
barrels don't overheat as easily as on a single-barreled weapon), wereas
chainguns are more sedate.
The 5.56mm gatling was known as the "GE six-pack" and was sometimes
mounted on jeeps and the like. Minigun more properly refers to the 7.62mm
version
(as this was introduced as a scaled-down version of the 20mm Vulcan,
hence a
"mini," IIRC). Of course, then there's the awesome 30mm GAU-8, but
that's another story in itself.
The 7.62 and the 20mm are used mostly on aircraft installations (though the
20mm is used as the gun portion of the American Phalanx CIWS and the old
M113-based AA vehicle whose name escapes me at the moment).
Rob
[quoted original message omitted]
In a message dated 4/22/00 8:17:16 PM Central Daylight Time,
> RobHofrich@peoplepc.com writes:
<< (though the 20mm is used as the gun portion of the American Phalanx CIWS
and the old
M113-based AA vehicle whose name escapes me at the moment). >>
PIVAD is the name of the gun mount.
[snip]
> The 7.62 and the 20mm are used mostly on aircraft installations (though
M163 Vulcan, IIRC.
> In message <01BFAC5A.BB1DF500.mwbrown@veriomail.com> Michael Brown
I think that says it all.... <grin> GW have never been ones to let facts
get in the way of coolness! ;-)
> Chaingun is, I think, a trademark of The Boeing Company. I've
I actually thought it was a Hughes Corp TM, but I could be wrong (or are they
part of Boeing anyway??)...
Not that it matters, they'll all be owned by Microsoft soon.... ;-)
Don't laugh, they ARE both based in Seattle. Boeing and Microsoft play a big
part in the history of Cascadia, my country in my alternate timeline. And
Boeing DOES own McDonnell-Douglas now, In Real Life.
Brian Bilderback
> From: Ground Zero Games <jon@gzg.com>
> I actually thought it was a Hughes Corp TM, but I could be wrong (or
> On Sat, 22 Apr 2000, Robert W. Hofrichter wrote:
> Of course, then there's the awesome 30mm GAU-8, but that's
speaking of GAU-8 and CIWS, there's a euro-NATO system called
'goalkeeper'
which does with the GAU-8 what phalanx did with the vulcan, and makes it
into an automatic CIWS mount. i'm entirely sure why they decided on such a
hefty gun - perhaps the admiralty were anticipating the soviets
retrofitting old T-72s with rocket motors for anti-ship use ...
tom
In a message dated 4/23/00 7:18:32 PM Central Daylight Time,
> thomas.anderson@university-college.oxford.ac.uk writes:
<<
speaking of GAU-8 and CIWS, there's a euro-NATO system called
'goalkeeper'
which does with the GAU-8 what phalanx did with the vulcan, and makes
it into an automatic CIWS mount. i'm entirely sure why they decided on such a
hefty gun - perhaps the admiralty were anticipating the soviets
retrofitting old T-72s with rocket motors for anti-ship use ...
> [quoted text omitted]
the Goalkeeper system is as old as the CIWS and has been pulled out of more
ships than it equips now in favor of the CIWS. The 30mm gun in the goalkeeper
and the 30mm gun in the GAU 8 share only the diameter of the bore.