Comments for Time for a gun post...

Time for a gun post...

2006-01-23T14:07:47Z

...and not just because we've been nominated at Countertop Chronicles for "Best Gun Pron" in the Gunnies, either!

A topic covered in the gunblogs, I know by Murdoc and others, as well as me... Metalstorm gets closer to entering service. This is an ugly little spud.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Next month a new high-explosive munition will be fired in Singapore and then tested again by the U.S. Army, heralding what may be a sea change in weaponry: a gun that can fire 240,000 rounds per minute.
That's compared to 60 rounds per minute in a standard military machine gun.

Metal Storm Inc., a munitions company headquartered in Virginia but with its roots in Australia, has been developing a gun that can shoot at blistering speeds, albeit in short bursts as each barrel is reloaded.

Company website with video click here.

Speaking of Murdoc, I'll let him have at this story.

Speaking of machine guns... take a look at the durability (not to mention reliability) of the latest rendition of that venerable old pig, the M60. Do me a favor - right click and save as - don't stream it. Right-click and save-as here.

I'll close this post with a picture of a new Castle Armory acquisition - a M1886 German Shrapnel round - that has a very interesting (to the Armorer) time fuze. Subject of a future post.

Comment from cw4(ret)billt on 2006-01-24

2006-01-24T21:15:44Z

And the Mk 18 could dump them down the spout as fast as you could crank it. Of course, your arm would be ready to fall off after about thirty seconds...

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2006-01-24

2006-01-24T19:57:15Z

I actually meant to get into that in the post, but saw a shiny object... There's a conflation of the MK19 40mm grenade launcher with machine guns. I was posting this for the geeks, and forgot that normals might drop by... ...and then the shiny thing walked by, er, caught my attention.

Comment from lawhawk on 2006-01-24

2006-01-24T19:42:22Z

Quick question/fact check:

That's compared to 60 rounds per minute in a standard military machine gun.

According to FAS, an M-16 can go 90 rpm and 900 rpm. (A true expert would have to verify these for this research jockey). And I'm sure that there are other guns in the arsenal that have similar or higher rates of fire. Anyone care to have at it?

Comment from SangerM on 2006-01-23

2006-01-24T01:43:48Z

The M60 was fun to shoot. It was also easy to take apart (cock it, lift the feed tray cover, and pull the retaining pin - oh yeah, stand to the side). Also a lot easier to haul up and down the lava and mud hills in Hawaii than pieces of .50 cal. But I was only a temp-hire-grunt, and as soon as I could, I went east-way east-to wear the 1AD patch instead of that electric strawberry. And my first PSG was a 60 guy in vietnam, and he LOVED the thing, but then he was a healthy 6-4 montanna swede on whom it looked like an M16 did on the rest of us. He's the one who taught me how to take 'em apart in a hurry. Of course, he also taught me how to make candles out of the wax wrapping on 4.2 mortar shell cartons, and how to roll my own one-handed (I never could get that right, though). A real product of the era...

Comment from Sgt. B. on 2006-01-23

2006-01-23T19:37:22Z

The M60 series machine gun? *shudder* Ugh! The trigger housing group is held on by a forward retaining pin, which, in turn, is held on by a leaf spring that hooks onto the trigger retaining pin, and the forward trigger housing retaining pin. It drops off, the forward pin goes, and you lose all ability to control the firing of the weapon... The M60E3 was even worse, as they tried to lighten the weight, and put the bipod assembly on the gas tube... Waaaaaay too much dependance on spring loaded detent pins... Nope, didn't like the M60, but it was the only thing we had...

Comment from Blake Kirk on 2006-01-23

2006-01-23T17:08:01Z

The Metalstorm ideas look useful, and I can think of a number of military applications. For that matter, science-fiction author John Ringo has envisioned multi-barrelled Metalstorm packs firing 105mm APFSDS rounds from a heavily modified M1 tank chassis as a HEAVY Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) system. Evidently the barrel packs would be easily ejectable and replaceable, rather like MLRS six-packs are today. Changing the subject a little... As someone who spent a LOT of time as an infantry company armorer in the late 70's and early 80's keeping a sextet of Hawgs functioning, I'm duly impressed by the M60 video. However, when I was an armorer, the problem was never with NEW guns, but rather with the older guns that had been beaten around a great deal. Consistently, the two biggest maintenance problems with the M60 were excessive play in the reciever due to loose rivets or cracked welds connecting the longitudinal rails to the front plate, and wear and spalling on the camming surface on the front of the operating rod yoke. The M240 has its own quirks, but receivers that become loose over time is not one of them, and it uses a vastly different mechanism for locking the bolt. The M60 was based on a great concept: marrying the action of the Lewis Gun to the feed mechanism of the MG42. The concept just wasn't implemented as well as it might have been.

Comment from SangerM on 2006-01-23

2006-01-23T16:23:14Z

I have been following metalstorm for years!! They actually have ideas about ways to use that technology for more than just bullets that kill, including firefighting, etc. The technology is really impressive, and has had the U.S. interested for a loooong time. Glad to see it coming along nicely...

Comment from cw4(ret)billt on 2006-01-23

2006-01-23T15:54:40Z

Hey, John - Remember my e-gram when you first ran the MetalStorm story, about my vision of a deuce-and-a-half full of bullets and batteries following each GI? Heh. Now we know why SecDef is turning those six ARNG combat brigades into truck drivers...

Comment from cw4(ret)billt on 2006-01-23

2006-01-23T15:40:42Z

Okay, kids, nip over to Countertop Chronicles, ASAP. We're number two so far, but Oleg's running away with it.