New machine gun capable of firing 1 million rounds a minute

www.wired.com ^ | Sept. 28, 2001 | Stewart Taggart

[webster]

SYDNEY, Australia -- It may not be ready for George Bush's "first war of the 21st century." But it may well be ready if there's a second.

In perhaps the most audacious upgrade of high-speed weaponry since the introduction of the Gatling Gun, Australian inventor Mike O'Dwyer has developed a machine gun that can fire bullets at a rate of 1 million rounds per minute.

[dieBartdie]

We looked at this thing for last minute ship defense. It's practically useless - the rounds go everywhere.

[aculeus]

Can you imagine the recoil on this thing?!

Actually the article claims lesser recoil.

Imagine the ammo bearers!

[Robert A Cook PE]

Way Cooooool.

Let's see: 1 million rounds in one minute, a tripod, and a lot of replacement machineguns and replacement barrels.

I can see it now.

Sarge, we've just been warned about an attack tonight..... Put the first million mom machine gun over in that corner, put the second one in that other corner, and park the 2 million ammo trucks behind the mess hall.

Make sure all the drivers get something to eat, and find out how many have even one ammo clip for their M-16.

[testforecho]

I don't know if you have read any of the Hammer's Slammers series by David Drake, but that photo looks similar to the anti personnel system that the tanks used. Not the same, though, as in the books the anti-personnel weapon was a replaceable strip that was essentially a big claymore mine designed with a proximity sensor to take out infantry/incoming missles.

[gnarledmaw]

bang

[aruanan]

test test

[Diogenesis]

We looked at this thing for last minute ship defense. It's practically useless - the rounds go everywhere. "

In the killing of cancer cells by radiation therapy, the penumbra has saved many.

Terrorists are a lot like cancer.

[ScreamingFist]

"Party poop."

LOL. This reminds me of the GE "SixPack", a 10,000 round per minute man portable mini gun (yes, the one in Predator). They made six of them. The only problem was lugging enough .30 cal around to make it useful. A classic example of "Can you carry this to the fight for me?"

[Diogenesis]

font fix?

[Robert A Cook PE]

No, read it more carefully please.

There IS just as much net recoil force, since that is strictly determined by the physics of the number of bullets, their individual masses, and their speed.

What DOES happen is that there are many, many "hundred" bullets released from the barrels BEFORE the recoil (of the first few dozen bullets) jerks the barrel enough to disturb the aim.

Of course, once those first few hundred get shot somewhat accurately ----- THEN the recoil of the next few hundred throws the gun all over hell and creation........

[techcor]

Yep, read about this awhile back (I think in Discover). Cool name "Metal Storm". I want some of these mounted on one of those UFO looking hovercraft so that our military could use them to go into canyons, etc. and stay safer. If you had them on the hovercraft, and it spun while firing them off, you'd have a "metal tornado".

Now that would take care of some of the terrorist camps (at least better that a 2 million dollar missile hitting a 10 dollar tent).

[B4Ranch]

I wonder if someone with an electronic signal emitter could set this off from a distance. If we could, so could the enemy. Right?

[gieriscm]

A million rounds a minute? I need a faster reloading setup. Time to call Midway...

[Don Myers]

Just don't stand in front of this thing. I imagine it must eat up some barrels. Is this a one-time use thing? Can you imagine how much it would cost to feed this sucker?

[AmericanCheeseFood]

You now owe me a kb as drool is more then likely going ot ruin this one .

Bang.

Cheese.

[ScreamingFist]

"THEN the recoil of the next few hundred throws the gun all over hell and creation........

Exactly right. Why not just use a frangible metal in front of an explosive charge? Oh wait, that's called a land mind. LOL!

[Don Myers]

"If we could, so could the enemy. Right? "

Well, if it were pointed toward the enemy, who would care, except the enemy?

[RandallFlagg]

WHEEE! However, I'll take the Navy's CIWS (Close-In-Weapons-System) (See-Whiz) (Christ!-It-Won't-Shoot) (Artoo-Detoo-With-A-Hard-On) anyday..

[gc4nra]

Waste of ammunition, but who cares!!! I'll take two.

[gc4nra]

"Waste of ammunition, but who cares!!! I'll take two. "

With appologies to Col. Jeff.