Re: 7.62 chaingun? was Re: UK Sabre CVR(T) type vehicle

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

----- Original Message -----
From: rspainho <rspainho@mines.edu>
To: <gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2000 4:11 PM
Subject: Re: 7.62 chaingun? was Re: UK Sabre CVR(T) type vehicle

>
>
> Brian Bilderback wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> 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
>
>