We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2007 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:12:48 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2008 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification ...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... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html Mon, 23 Jan 2006 08:07:47 -0600 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... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39450 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39450 Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:15:44 -0600 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. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39435 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39435 Tue, 24 Jan 2006 13:57:15 -0600 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?]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39433 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39433 Tue, 24 Jan 2006 13:42:22 -0600 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... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39328 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39328 Mon, 23 Jan 2006 19:43:48 -0600 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... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39294 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39294 Mon, 23 Jan 2006 13:37:22 -0600 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. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39288 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39288 Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:08:01 -0600 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... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39286 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39286 Mon, 23 Jan 2006 10:23:14 -0600 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...]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39281 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39281 Mon, 23 Jan 2006 09:54:40 -0600 Countertop Chronicles, ASAP. We're number two so far, but Oleg's running away with it.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39279 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/01/time_for_a_gun_post.html#comment-39279 Mon, 23 Jan 2006 09:40:42 -0600