26 replies to this topic

[Sidewinder619]

I'm curious - are Rotary autocannons similar to today's gatling guns ie: GAU 30 on the A-10 and the 20 mm 6 barrel cannons on current fighter planes, except scaled up? From what I've seen, the AMS systems are multi barrel high speed weapons like the Phalanx system on navy ships So my question is this - are rotaries multi barrel OR single barrel revolver designs...

[Paladin Brewer]

They are multi-barrel in Battletech lore.

[Watchit]

It might also depend on the manufacturer, just like regular AC's come in various sizes

[LordDeathStrike]

standard and lbx autocannons are single barrel. rotary are multi barrel, hence the rotation.

the flaw of the rotary cannons is that they jam, and they jam alot. the bigger the round the easier the feeders jam due to weight and the speed you are trying to make the ammo belt feed at.

ill take standard ultra ac's over rotary any day for the sheer reliability.

[Hayden]

LordDeathStrike, on 08 April 2012 - 10:23 PM, said:

ill take standard ultra ac's over rotary any day for the sheer reliability.

And I'd even take it a step further and just stick with standard ACs, they'll never fail

[Reno Blade]

dont RACs unjam but uACs cannot be unjammed?

[Thorn Hallis]

The FedSuns Field Manual states that most autocannons, and especially LBX-autocannons, are multi-barrel designs. Guess that really depends on the manufacture.

[Soviet Alex]

Rotaries should always be modelled as multi-barrelled Gatling Gun designs. Hopefully if they are ever added to MW-O, we'll actually see the gun barrels spinning when it fires.

[Volthorne]

What I want to see is a "mini-gun revolver". Yep, you heard me. I want those revolver chambers spinning at mini-gun speeds. Accuracy AND RoF (rate of fire)!

[Alizabeth Aijou]

Eh, I don't think we'll be seeing RACs anytime soon, 3062 is still a few years away from now (3048).

[Wraith 1]

Quote

What I want to see is a "mini-gun revolver". Yep, you heard me. I want those revolver chambers spinning at mini-gun speeds. Accuracy AND RoF (rate of fire)!

Would you like some coolant with that? Or do you prefer to let your barrel melt when you fire a long burst?

[Sychodemus]

It is completely dependant on the artist's and/or author's interpretation. There are examples of Ultra ACs, AMS and MGs with single or multiple barrels (rotary or otherwise.) To my knowledge, RACs are almost always shown as multi-barreled and standard ACs as single-barreled. However, given that there is also an extensive use of cowlings, the truth is in the mind of the viewer/reader.

[Karel Spaten]

Wraith-1, on 09 April 2012 - 01:55 AM, said:

Would you like some coolant with that? Or do you prefer to let your barrel melt when you fire a long burst?[/font]

Indeed.

For the benefit of those who've never operated a sustained fire weapon - the multiple barrels on a minigun are intended to reduce wear and tear on any one individual barrel. Burst fire makes gun barrels hot - if the barrel gets too hot, it will warp. This is bad. Standard single barreled machine guns usually have the means by which to remove and replace the barrel quickly if needed (keep swapping them, allow them to cool). WW1 and 2 era heavy machine guns often had water jackets to help keep the barrel cool. The minigun has a separate motor rotating them so only one bullet in [number of barrels] passes down the barrel at a time. Usually, only one barrel is firing at a time.

[Alaskan Viking]

Of course they are gatling designs! A revolving cylander is just a primative means of storing cartridges in a firearm, a revolver has no faster firing rate then any other automatic loading mechanism. (such as spring loaded rounds from a vertical magazine column) The reason is that each time a round is fired from a gun the barrel heats up, eventually it will warp and the firearm will become inoperable this is true if the gun is a revolver or locking-breach design. This is usually countered in machine guns by water cooling systems, or air cooled barrels that can be changed rapidly. The gatling design is used in modern weapons because it disapates heat from the barrel faster. The rotating barrels share the heat among them and the movement circulates cool air around them faster...

SO WHY WOULD IT BE A REVOLVER?!?!?!

EDIT: I just noticed the post above this, which renders mine redundent...

Edited by Alaskan Viking, 09 April 2012 - 02:41 AM.

[John Clavell]

All the different weapon manufactures in Battletech do things slightly differently. Like some LRM20 launchers have 20 tubes and fire a single salvo, while others might be 10 tubes and fire two salvos. Some AC20's might fire two AC10 shots in a short burst, different from how the UAC's work. Some lasers might do a little bit more damage for slightly less range, or heat. Nothing is super standard when lore is considered. It would be nice to see some of this reflected in the game to be honest.

[EDMW CSN]

Hayden, on 08 April 2012 - 10:28 PM, said:

And I'd even take it a step further and just stick with standard ACs, they'll never fail

Plus Precision homing AC-20 shells.

[Felix Dante]

Reno Blade, on 09 April 2012 - 12:01 AM, said:

dont RACs unjam but uACs cannot be unjammed?

Correct

John Clavell, on 09 April 2012 - 04:36 AM, said:

All the different weapon manufactures in Battletech do things slightly differently. Like some LRM20 launchers have 20 tubes and fire a single salvo, while others might be 10 tubes and fire two salvos. Some AC20's might fire two AC10 shots in a short burst, different from how the UAC's work. Some lasers might do a little bit more damage for slightly less range, or heat. Nothing is super standard when lore is considered. It would be nice to see some of this reflected in the game to be honest.

Actually, one of the descriptions on the early Atlas was an LRM 20 that used a compact rotating barrels design to launch the LRMs if I remember correctly.

[Felix Dante]

Karel Spaten, on 09 April 2012 - 02:25 AM, said:

Indeed.

For the benefit of those who've never operated a sustained fire weapon - the multiple barrels on a minigun are intended to reduce wear and tear on any one individual barrel. Burst fire makes gun barrels hot - if the barrel gets too hot, it will warp. This is bad. Standard single barreled machine guns usually have the means by which to remove and replace the barrel quickly if needed (keep swapping them, allow them to cool). WW1 and 2 era heavy machine guns often had water jackets to help keep the barrel cool. The minigun has a separate motor rotating them so only one bullet in [number of barrels] passes down the barrel at a time. Usually, only one barrel is firing at a time.

Basically this is correct, but the mini-gun is designed that way to allow for faster shooting...as in more bullets put out per second.
Those extra bullets cause extra heat, and therefore require the extra barrels to reduce said heat.

Old BT autocannons basically fired like modern machine guns (firing multiple small shells as safely as possible to prevent jamming), some with faster rates of fire (Basically Ultra-autocannons, which can jam like modern machine guns), or tank cannons ("1 shot boom!" effect...although technically I believe these are recoiless rifles).

I am no expert however. Just a fan of guns in general.



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[Vexgrave Lars]

S E X Y

Edited by Vexgrave Lars, 09 April 2012 - 09:56 AM.

[William Petersen]

LordDeathStrike, on 08 April 2012 - 10:23 PM, said:

ill take standard ultra ac's over rotary any day for the sheer reliability.

I'd take a RAC-5 for the sheer awesome points. B-)

I've been trying to sort a design that has a RAC-5 in each arm, decent ammo stock to keep them fed, while maintaining 5/8 movement, fieldable armour, and a few fall back MLas. It's not really working out. XD RACs are *heavy!*