GE electric mini guns (GAU-2B/A)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Another one for you:
http://shoobe01.homeunix.net/~shoobe01/gun_photos/311.html
(Giving the link, because I even captured the caption)


Please do not confuse chain guns with miniguns. The GE electric-drive rotarys are Miniguns.

The chain gun is a single-barrel cannon driven by an electic motor that moves a chain (get it?) that then moves the bolt. Used mostly on armor, as in the 25 mm Bushmaster cannon on the Bradley.
m242_25mm_gun-s.jpg
 
Anyone have an image of the 3-barreled .50cal? I have the video on my harddrive, that thing is nuts, it puts the .308 and .223 minis to shame.

Kharn
 
The "minigun" is so nicknamed because it is a scalled down GAU-4 Vulcan 20mm rotary cannon (AKA M61 series automatic gun).
Click to expand...

This is where I get all picky :)

The GAU-4 wasn't the same as the M61 series because it was gas-operated rather than powered by a motor. That's because it was designed solely for use in a gunpod (the SUU-23/A) so it couldn't afford the weight of the big electric motor and battery. So it just had a little motor, or a spring, to get it going until the gas power could take over.

The 7.62mm Minigun was electric powered, like the M61A1 and A2.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum
 
Please do not confuse chain guns with miniguns. The GE electric-drive rotarys are Miniguns.
Click to expand...

You can thank id software for much of the chain gun/minigun confusion. Back in the original Castle Wolfenstein game, there was a weapon called a chain gun even though it was obviously a rotary. The term carried over into id's followup projects Doom and Quake, and now a whole generation of video game players think "chain gun" when they see a rotary.
 
In the first picture there a second mini gun on the floor of the cargo area of the helicopter. All you can see is the grips and the trigger. Also in the rear of the helicopter there are many boxes of ammo.
 
You can thank id software for much of the chain gun/minigun confusion. Back in the original Castle Wolfenstein game, there was a weapon called a chain gun even though it was obviously a rotary. The term carried over into id's followup projects Doom and Quake, and now a whole generation of video game players think "chain gun" when they see a rotary.
Click to expand...

Man you could really mow down the Nazis with that thing too. I remember all the weapons in Wolfenstein fired the same ammo. So, i guess it was a 9mm "chain" gun. It still ruled over the third reich though.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top