Did anyone watch Mythbusters Wednesday night?

[catmandu57]

At the end of the program Jamie came up out of a black suv with a massive machine Gatling gun, i believe they called it an M60. It made me wonder if blackwater was using these in Iraq. These guns are scary heavy ordinance, I forget the rate of fire, but it sounded like one shot being fired just zip. Something like this could cut through a barricade in no time flat.

[TomInTib]

1. It is a wicked weapon.

However, due to a design flaw, the M60 is not capable of extended fire.

Even though it can pop about 10 rounds per second, the barrel will fail after about 100 rapid-fire rounds. They designed a lightweight barrel for mobility, but the barrels melt so easily that the gunner has to carry extra barrels. Brilliant, that.

It also cannot be used overhead.

But the M60 can definitely mess stuff up.

[shadowknows69]

2. M60 isn't a gatling style though is it?

[backscatter712]

4. That's my impression:

I thought an M60 was a conventional machine gun.

The weapon Jamie fired was definitely a Gatling gun, probably a minigun. The vehicle it was mounted in looked like one of the SUVs the Secret Service rides around in as part of Presidential motorcades. If the POTUS ever gets in trouble on the streets, that hatch pops open, the minigun comes out, and people get turned into hamburger...

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!

[TomInTib]

10. Link-belt fed.

I missed the "Gatling" part in the OP.

My eyes went directly to M60, since I have spent way too much time around those things.

As far as I know, the only "Gatling" (revolving barrels) style weapons are used on attack helos and A-10 Warthogs.

But, as always, I could be wrong.

[backscatter712]

15. Having actually saw that show,

the weapon that Jamie was firing was definitely a six-barreled Gatling gun.

[TomInTib]

17. Yeah, I was just commenting on M60.

Check out Bluebear's clip downthread.

Wow

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

21. There is a company, Tom...

That makes a minigun, in 7.62mm, that can and has been mounted on/inside Suburbans and other vehicles of that type, including Hummers. On the Subs, you push a button and the roof hatch opens and up it comes, ready to do its thing. In Iraq, ther have deployed these miniguns on hummers and Bradleys. Seen the videos myself.

One of these would be just the thing for the next traffic jam, huh? ;-)

[TomInTib]

22. Yikes!

Goodness...

Talk about tearing some s*it up...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPlwQWDZYf4

[catmandu57]

3. It made me take notice

Scary weapon if blackwater has some of these things and they get turned loose on the population it may get a little dicey.

[shadowknows69]

5. Yeah dicey as in "cuisinart" dicey

Not much left to a man after a burst of that.

[tularetom]

6. That wasn't a M60

M60 was used in Vietnam and could only fire about 10 rounds per second for about 10 seconds. It also had a tendency to jam.

This was a rotating gatling type gun with multiple barrels and I believe they said it could fire 3000 rounds per minute (that's 50 per second) and it appeared too big to be handled by one person so it must be mounted.

[TomInTib]

11. Usually on choppers or A-10 Warthogs. nt

[fenriswolf]

20. ah ha gotcha

you obviously havn't seen predator. (joke)

[bahrbearian]

7. Check this Video out ,, was it like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPlwQWDZYf4

[tularetom]

8. It was exactly like that even mounted like that

[backscatter712]

16. Agreed.

Even had the split circular hatch. It was just like that.

[TomInTib]

13. Whoa!

I wonder what the barrel-life is on that weapon.

[backscatter712]

18. Probably halfway decent.

Considering that we have six barrels, and only one barrel is firing at a time, while the rest are either in the process of shell extraction or loading the next shell, and the barrels are actually moving, that will help keep them cool.

[Wcross]

9. -

m60



Gatling gun

[shadowknows69]

12. See freeps?

A couple of us tree hugging liberals know our guns too. Take note.

[qdemn7]

14. That is an M134 Minigun

NOT an M60. They fire the same ammo, but are completely different operationally. One is gas-operated, the other is electrically driven.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M134

http://www.dillonaero.com/

http://www.garwoodindustries.com/

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/m134.htm

[alfredo]

19. When I was in the green I was a lowly 05h20. I had no

combat training. One night during a tense time in the region we got an alert saying a force of 3,000 were marching on our position. I was directed up to the machine gun nest guarding the front gate. I've never handled an M60, but I was named squad leader. My feeder was so scared his body was quaking. I wasn't doing so good myself. I knew we had enough ammo for 5 minutes of sustained battle. I was dead, no doubt about it. I was dead.

An hour or so later the alert was called off. We never heard a thing about it after that night. I don't know if there really was a threat or not. They never told us it was a drill or the real thing.