What's The Difference Between

Jimmeh

<div class="IPBDescription">a gattling gun, a minigun and a chaingun</div> My mates brought up this question and i have no idea, any gun expert willing to help answer this please? (Google found nothing BTW)

kida

<img src='http://www.lesgrenz.homestead.com/files/22_cal_gattling_gun_fs.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~ejburnett/minigun.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://vwep.telefragged.com/sarge-loadedup.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Swiftspear

I'm pretty sure the term 'chain gun' refers to the fact that the gun is chian fed, thus some normal MG's could be considered chain guns. The term 'gattling gun' is dirived from the maker of the first machine gun style weapon, which just happened to have spinning barrels to prevent overheating. So I would assume that the term 'minigun' is the correct way to refer to those big guns with the spinning barrels and the ludicrous ROF, I have no idea how the term was derived though...

TychoCelchuuu

What in the world is that girl doing in the second pic? She looks crazy.

Zig

<b>a chain gun </b> feeds from a roller chain in a loop mechanism.

<b>gatling and minigun</b> are basically the same term for multi-barrelled, rotating machineguns.

[WHO]Them

<!--QuoteBegin-Jimmeh+Jul 24 2004, 11:17 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Jimmeh @ Jul 24 2004, 11:17 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> (Google found nothing BTW) <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
And thusly, now that we see that there is so little distinction between a chain gun and a minigun. Google has triumphed again.

Swiftspear

Gattling was the name of the guy who invented the gun in picture 1, so technically only <i>that</i> gun is a 'Gattling gun'. The nickname has stuck to other weapons, but its acctually incorrect termology.

Zig

<!--QuoteBegin-Swiftspear+Jul 24 2004, 10:48 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Swiftspear @ Jul 24 2004, 10:48 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Gattling was the name of the guy who invented the gun in picture 1, so technically only <i>that</i> gun is a 'Gattling gun'.  The nickname has stuck to other weapons, but its acctually incorrect termology. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
technically it is not the correct proper name for any modern firearm, but it is a Gattling-style weapon if it has multiple-barrels.

[WHO]Them

<!--QuoteBegin-Swiftspear+Jul 24 2004, 11:48 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Swiftspear @ Jul 24 2004, 11:48 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Gattling was the name of the guy who invented the gun in picture 1, so technically only <i>that</i> gun is a 'Gattling gun'.  The nickname has stuck to other weapons, but its acctually incorrect termology.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Along with kleenex and band-aids.......

<span style='color:white'>Ha. Ha. Ha.</span>

Swiftspear

<!--QuoteBegin-Zig+Jul 24 2004, 01:52 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Zig @ Jul 24 2004, 01:52 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Swiftspear+Jul 24 2004, 10:48 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Swiftspear @ Jul 24 2004, 10:48 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Gattling was the name of the guy who invented the gun in picture 1, so technically only <i>that</i> gun is a 'Gattling gun'.  The nickname has stuck to other weapons, but its acctually incorrect termology. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
technically it is not the correct proper name for any modern firearm, but it is a Gattling-style weapon if it has multiple-barrels. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yup.

Zig

<span style='color:white'>Related post nuked.</span>

[WHO]Them

<span style='color:white'>Related post nuked.</span>

BloodySloth

Gatling guns are operated by a hand crank and the bullets are held in a container on the top of the gun, and they fall one by one into the barrels as they rotate. Miniguns are basically mechanical gatling guns, and generally are chain-fed instead of the box of seperate bullets gatling guns have.

That's what I got from howstuffworks.com anyway.

Zig

<span style='color:white'>Related post nuked.</span>

AllUrHiveRblong2us

<span style='color:white'>Related post nuked.</span>

pardzh

Nuke-o-rama.

taboofires

Also notice that thing sticking out the top of gun #1? It's a clip, and somebody busily fills it while you fire. The chain idea is pretty much to elimate the whole two-man thing, or at least make reloading much much faster/less frequent.

There's also the Vulcan cannon, invented by Gatling, which is chain fed. It's very similar to the minigun that Hitman (codename 47) uses, as well as in other games.

So, basically, they're all miniguns. The specific names are just for certain models.

Any gun with multiple rotating barrels is technically a Gatling style gun, but there were (really poor) pistols of that type in the old west.

edit: oooh, figured out where "minigun" came from.

GE made a version of the Vulcan for helicopters (instead of fighter/bomber mounts), and called it the M134 Minigun because it used a lower calibre ammution. After that, the same model got used all over the place, so I guess the name stuck.

BlackMage

the a-10 thunderbird (aka warthog) uses the gau-8 avenger, it's technically a minigun but the thing is 6m long and fires 30mm bullets (HEAT or AP ... at 3900rpm, roughly 64/s ... pain) they call it a rotary cannon, main cannon or gatling gun

<img src='http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/gau-8-fig14.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<a href='http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/a-10-0415a10-2.jpg' target='_blank'><img src='http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/a-10-0415a10-2-s.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /></a>

<a href='http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/gau-8-99112d.jpg' target='_blank'><img src='http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/gau-8-99112d-s.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /></a>

edit: last two pics are clickable

edit2: point of this post, minigun != mini

Zig

taboofires, firstly it's <b>magazine</b>, not clip

secondly, a chaingun is a gun without multiple barrels that fires using a roller-chain mechanism.

just because a weapon is belt-fed does not make it a chaingun.

<b>edit:</b> Black Mage, <a href='http://frank.harvard.edu/~pratheev/my_files/A-10gau-8.avi' target='_blank'>http://frank.harvard.edu/~pratheev/my_files/A-10gau-8.avi</a>

Surge

Gotta love the GAU-8/A. Bullets big as my face.

Nil_IQ

Minigun is short for mini-chaingun AFAIK, and while it may not seem very "mini", they are at least man portable as opposed to a regular chaingun which would be a fixed emplacement or mounted on a vehicle.

Do not ask how I know these things, just know that I pwn you all with my useless knowledge skillz.

Zig

nil-iq, is it just me, or did you not read the whole thread before posting that reply..?

Nil_IQ

<!--QuoteBegin-Zig+Jul 24 2004, 03:55 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Zig @ Jul 24 2004, 03:55 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> nil-iq, is it just me, or did you not read the whole thread before posting that reply..? <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
No it's not just you, once again I have been pwned by other people actually knowing something about the topic in hand. And sobriety in this case, or lack therof.

Damn you alcohol. You win <i>this</i> time.

Zig

/me slips Jagermeister a $20