The
XM214 Automatic Gun (aka the Minigun) was
developed for use mounted in and on helicopters
and light aircraft. Like most G.E. Gatling gun
type weapons it has six rotating barrels and the
potential for a absolutely incredibly high rate
of fire. It is electrically driven, and has a
firing rate that can be adjusted from 1000 rpm
all the way up to a unbelievable 10,000 rpm. In
addition to that, it can be set to fire bursts
from 30 to 1000 rounds. A real drawback to the
higher rates of fire is off course the huge
ammunition usage (166 shots per second) , and
the power requirements, because firing it at
full power it requires some 3.2 hp to drive the
barrel assembly.
First seen in the movie "Predator" in 1987,
the hand-held Minigun has captured the harts and
minds of He-Men everywhere, be it in games or in
real life. The very image of Jesse Ventura as
Blain, spraying bad guys with a veritable hail
of bullets that issued forth from his Minigun
Painless was so powerful that the weapon has
been seen in both countless other movies *and*
in games.
Even in real life the idea caught on
surprisingly well. Apparently some of America's
Special Forces guys saw Predator and realized
that a hand-held Minigun would be a great asset
for clearing out landing zones real fast. Having
ample access to the needed equipment, they
started experimenting. And ran into some
problems.
The first was that the Minigun weighed in at
thirty pounds, which was heavy, but carryable. A
backpack with a thousand rounds of ammunition
and a linkless belt to the Minigun weighed in at
another thirty-five pounds. Backpacks with two
thousand rounds weighed in at sixty-five pounds,
and were totally unrealistic in size. Just the
gun and the ammo weighed in at sixty-five
pounds.
The second was that in the movie, the power for
the Minigun had been supplied by a pair of truck
batteries through a cable that simply ran over
the ground, and up into the Minigun. Since those
batteries weighed some 30 pounds each, it was
obvious that only one could be carried by one
person (in addition to all the other equipment
the soldier was to carry). Thus, the weapon
could never be fired at its full rate of fire.
The third problem was that even at "only" a 1000
rpm rate of fire the gun produces about 11 kg of
recoil *continuously*! And this amount of force
increases geometrically in proportion to the
rate of fire. Firing a large burst would result
in the gunner being spun around by his own
weapon, and spraying everything around him
indiscriminately with bullets. Including his own
comrades.....
After some experimenting it was thus realized
that the gun would simply be too heavy and
cumbersome to be ever used in real life combat,
and the concept was abandoned. No army in the
world has a hand-held Minigun in its arsenal.
But, this was for real life. In
games, where the gun-toting heroes all have
physiques like Jesse Ventura and regularly mow
down armies of enemies, a portable Minigun might
be feasible. If we take into account that in
recent years some manufacturers have made NiCad
battery belts for use with Video cameras which
weigh much less than truck batteries and can
supply enough power to fire a thousand rounds at
a firing rate of roughly 2,100 rpm before being
empty, the weight problem is slightly allieved.
Such a belt will weigh in at around six to eight
pounds, as opposed to the sixty pounds for the
old Truck batteries. It should be noted that
such a battery belt would be completely
discharged after firing a thousand rounds, and
will require some three to four hours of
recharging.
As for the recoil and aiming trouble, in a game
a Game Master might simply give the user of such
a weapon a appropriate penalty on his firing
skills (if any, the weapon has Munchkin written
all over it...), and be done with it.
With the weight of the weapon, ammunition, and
power supply down to around seventy two pounds,
the player gets a weapon which
will fire a thousand
rounds in less than thirty seconds, is large and
ungainly, and is guaranteed to scare the crap
out of anyone he points it at.
Note: Even in a game, this weapon is
military issue only! Should you wish to use it
in a game, you should keep in mind that not only
will it be very difficult to find the weapon (in
real life the military guards its Miniguns like
they are made of solid gold...), but firing such
a weapon with any degree of accuracy should also
take inordinate amounts of skill, and the
physique of a strong athlete.