Re: [ME] Re: a really stupid question ...

[Brian McDonald <Brian_mcdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Robert J. Hansen" wrote:

>
> > strong gunner.  Also is it safe to say that 2000 rpm is round per minute
> and
> > not necessarily revolutions per minute and if this is the case what would
> be
>
> 6000 rounds per minute, six barrels = 1000 revolutions per minute.  If
> someone would be so kind as to provide me with the mass of the barrel
> assembly and the width of the weapon, I'd be able to come up with exact
> torque numbers.  They won't be pretty, though.
>
> Don't forget the far-from-insubstantial recoil of a 7.62mm round, multiplied
> by 100 per second.  The answer is no, a minigun is absolutely not a manpack
> weapon.

Probably the easiest way to deal with the torque problem is a counterweight
rotating opposite to the barrels.  That would be pretty easy though it would
significantly increase the weight of the weapon.  The things that kill it are
the ridiculous amount of ammo to carry and the power consumption problems.  It
would take some pretty SF tech to make this even vaguely possible as a weapon.

In case anyone thinks the torque problem isn't serious i had the dubious
pleasure of using a 3/4 horsepower electric drill one time.  I am a big boy
(over 300 pounds) and it seemed reasonable that i hold the bar to keep it
steady.  I had a 5 foot piece of pipe screwed into the side handle mount and i
still nearly lost the thing when it started to drill.  Interestingly enough it
was not a problem to hold the drill while operating until it bound in the hole
and tried to tear my head off.  Drill massed 20 kg and the bit another 5 kg or
so.  Had probably 13 kg in rotation at 300 to 400 rpm and i had no trouble
holding it.