BrennanHawkwood
SOC-12
Click on the 'Legacy of the Aldenata' link at the top of the CotI webpage...
Heavy Machine Gun
- Thread starter slyen2002
- Start date
BrennanHawkwood
SOC-12
Another option is reading the first book of the series free online from the Baen Free Library http://www.baen.com/library/. The first book in the Legacy of the Aldenata is A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo of course.
What makes a modern weapon a cannon as opposed to a rifle is solid vs explosive ammunition.
A cannon can fire ball or solid shot, but was designed to fire explsive ammo.
A flare gun or a shotgun may be capable of firing explosive ammo, but they were not designed to.
If you make a handgun with the intent to load explosive ammo, it is a cannon.
A note to consider, fuzes for explosive ammunition are normally spin armed. The rifling in the barrel spins the projectile. The fuze has a spring loaded weight which locks a cyliner in place until it experiences a centrifugal force that moves it out of place, allowing the cylinder to rotate in line with the primer. With everything aligned, the fuze will cause the projectile to detonate when it hits anything. THe projectiles are fuzed this way to keep the shells from detonating in the magazine, feed chute, chamber, or barrel.
The Vulcan cannon was origionally an M61 20MM cannon mounted on a modified M113 APC.
A cannon can fire ball or solid shot, but was designed to fire explsive ammo.
A flare gun or a shotgun may be capable of firing explosive ammo, but they were not designed to.
If you make a handgun with the intent to load explosive ammo, it is a cannon.
A note to consider, fuzes for explosive ammunition are normally spin armed. The rifling in the barrel spins the projectile. The fuze has a spring loaded weight which locks a cyliner in place until it experiences a centrifugal force that moves it out of place, allowing the cylinder to rotate in line with the primer. With everything aligned, the fuze will cause the projectile to detonate when it hits anything. THe projectiles are fuzed this way to keep the shells from detonating in the magazine, feed chute, chamber, or barrel.
The Vulcan cannon was origionally an M61 20MM cannon mounted on a modified M113 APC.
Just to be anal,
Many "cannon" including tank main guns and some anti-tank guns have no explosve rounds, or only as an afterthought.
A much more widely accepted definition is anything 20mm or over is a cannon. A handheld weapon that fires an explosive projectile is generally considered a "grenade launcher."
"Vulcan" is the name given by GE to the M61 auto cannon they made for the Air Force. This gun was also used in the Navy's "Phalanx" CWS and the Army's M163 and M167 "Vulcan Air Defence Systems".
And the difference between Aldenata and the Real World is that no M60A4 was ever adopted. The M60 of Vietnam can still be found in Air Force, Navy, and some reserve units, but it has been widely replaced by the M240B. AFAIK, outside the USA only the Australians adopted the M60, and they still haven't forgiven us.
The M240 is the co-ax version of the Belgian MAG machine gun, the most widely used GPMGs in the world. Surplus M240s were fitted with buttstocks and bipods by the USMC and Army Rangers to make the M240G. Then the Army wised up and bought the M240B to replace the M60s.
For another HMG, Google on "XM312", a 12.7mm weapon due to enter service starting next year. About 14 Kg plus 4 Kg tripod
http://world.guns.ru/machine/mg39-e.htm
Many "cannon" including tank main guns and some anti-tank guns have no explosve rounds, or only as an afterthought.
A much more widely accepted definition is anything 20mm or over is a cannon. A handheld weapon that fires an explosive projectile is generally considered a "grenade launcher."
"Vulcan" is the name given by GE to the M61 auto cannon they made for the Air Force. This gun was also used in the Navy's "Phalanx" CWS and the Army's M163 and M167 "Vulcan Air Defence Systems".
And the difference between Aldenata and the Real World is that no M60A4 was ever adopted. The M60 of Vietnam can still be found in Air Force, Navy, and some reserve units, but it has been widely replaced by the M240B. AFAIK, outside the USA only the Australians adopted the M60, and they still haven't forgiven us.
The M240 is the co-ax version of the Belgian MAG machine gun, the most widely used GPMGs in the world. Surplus M240s were fitted with buttstocks and bipods by the USMC and Army Rangers to make the M240G. Then the Army wised up and bought the M240B to replace the M60s.
For another HMG, Google on "XM312", a 12.7mm weapon due to enter service starting next year. About 14 Kg plus 4 Kg tripod
http://world.guns.ru/machine/mg39-e.htm
There were a couple of problems with the M60 (feed jams, possible to reassemble the gas system so it looked alright but wouldn't work) but mostly they wore out.
Tripod is harder to set up than a bipod, but it is much more stable. Also, with a bipod the shooter is the "third leg" which limits accuracy and the heavy recoil of a HMG would be too punishing.
The OICW is now the "XM29". The caliber has increased to 25mm, and it uses the same warheads as the XM307 (was OCSW), including a new thermobaric (fuel-air explosive) round. It still has weight problems, so the XM25 may be deployed first (2008?)
The XM25 is the XM29 without the 5.56 secondary, but with a new APERS (flechette) rounds for close quarters.
http://www.atk.com/ProductSheets/Category/SoldierSystems/2012709.htm
Tripod is harder to set up than a bipod, but it is much more stable. Also, with a bipod the shooter is the "third leg" which limits accuracy and the heavy recoil of a HMG would be too punishing.
The OICW is now the "XM29". The caliber has increased to 25mm, and it uses the same warheads as the XM307 (was OCSW), including a new thermobaric (fuel-air explosive) round. It still has weight problems, so the XM25 may be deployed first (2008?)
The XM25 is the XM29 without the 5.56 secondary, but with a new APERS (flechette) rounds for close quarters.
http://www.atk.com/ProductSheets/Category/SoldierSystems/2012709.htm
Many, many problems with the M60. In general, it was a very poor GPMG. Barrel change in particular was problematic, required a glove, and you changed not just the barrel but also the gas system and the bipod. Contrast this with the excellent MG-3 (MG-42) or the HK-21 where you changed only the barrel.
The M-240 (FN MAG), while not the best, is far superior to the M-60 that it replaced.
note: i dont know if anyone has said this or not but here goes...
"A cannon is a firearm with a long berral and who's caliber is larger then that of rifle."
note2: this was paraphased from Minipato disc two eisode 1 :Roar Revolover Cannon! the fallowing is also from the same seires/episode
"We probably could call it the 37mm Manuverable Rapid Fireing Field Gun if we really wanted to... but that would take up to many Chinese characters and wouldn't look to pretty when all is said and done."
note3: this was more acuratly takeing from the episode then the quote above it. for refrenace the 37mm rapid firing part is correct however the end may be out of order.
"A cannon is a firearm with a long berral and who's caliber is larger then that of rifle."
note2: this was paraphased from Minipato disc two eisode 1 :Roar Revolover Cannon! the fallowing is also from the same seires/episode
"We probably could call it the 37mm Manuverable Rapid Fireing Field Gun if we really wanted to... but that would take up to many Chinese characters and wouldn't look to pretty when all is said and done."
note3: this was more acuratly takeing from the episode then the quote above it. for refrenace the 37mm rapid firing part is correct however the end may be out of order.
Minipato is a series of supplemental segments/episodes for Patlabor. I don't have it but the people who work on Patlabor also worked on the Ghost in the Shell movie with Shirow. They seem to be fairly knowledgeable and Shirow's a gunbunnie if there ever was one. ^_^
Uh, I seriously doubt anyone's lugging around a 18.1" rifled bore naval gun.
BTW the 18" guns of the battleship Yamato were technically "Naval rifles". Kind of restricts cannon, if they are bigger.
Wikiepedia has some good general entries for autocannon, cannon, machine gun, rifled, rifle, etc. at http://en.wikipedia.org fwiw. Far better than I can sum up. Being a Wiki if there's an entry for a term every instance of it in another entry should be linked. Very handy and free.
Casey
a gun in the navy is a cannon in the army simply because the grading is based off of a ship's-size standerd rather then a man-sized.
a note on the Yamato:
the Yamato's guns where so poorly desigened that she couldn't hit anything. now of course this is based off of the maajor guns, not the AA guns. however i am not sure of the smaller guns on the sides.
on a seprate note because of this fact i wonder how quicly a Montana would have wiped her out!
a note on the Yamato:
the Yamato's guns where so poorly desigened that she couldn't hit anything. now of course this is based off of the maajor guns, not the AA guns. however i am not sure of the smaller guns on the sides.
on a seprate note because of this fact i wonder how quicly a Montana would have wiped her out!
http://www.combinedfleet.com/guns.htm
might help.
o.o The AA guns were based on the Hotchkiss. I guess they could be worse.
Well, I like the Patlabor series, but fan-flack put out by a studio hack is not "authoritative". Hell, I wouldn't trust Miletus without confirming with Smith & Smith, or Hogg, or Ezell, or Janes...
I got snide about rifle is because any weapon with rifling in th barrel is a "rifle". But even if you use "rifle" in the sense of a shoulder arm, shotguns have substantially bigger bores. Which means that Grandpa's Remington Wingmaster is a "Cannon". The definition still doesn't work.
BTW, English speaking armies use "gun" exactly the way navies do. But they also have howitzers which are lumped together with guns as "Cannon".
My own definitions:
Heavy Machine Gun;: A crew-served (i.e., too big for one man to carry and use) fully automatic projectile weapon firing high velocity projectiles 10-19mm in diameter
Cannon: A crew-served (i.e., too big for one man to carry and use) projectile weapon with s bore of 20mm or more firing moderate to high velocity rounds
I got snide about rifle is because any weapon with rifling in th barrel is a "rifle". But even if you use "rifle" in the sense of a shoulder arm, shotguns have substantially bigger bores. Which means that Grandpa's Remington Wingmaster is a "Cannon". The definition still doesn't work.
BTW, English speaking armies use "gun" exactly the way navies do. But they also have howitzers which are lumped together with guns as "Cannon".
My own definitions:
Heavy Machine Gun;: A crew-served (i.e., too big for one man to carry and use) fully automatic projectile weapon firing high velocity projectiles 10-19mm in diameter
Cannon: A crew-served (i.e., too big for one man to carry and use) projectile weapon with s bore of 20mm or more firing moderate to high velocity rounds
Hmm. Another interesting point: We're headed for microgrenades fired from belt fed auto GLs. When I can pack enough explosive into a 20-25mm projectile (grenade), the distinction between an AGL and a cannon becomes more one of velocity/range/barrel length than of projectile size or type. I don't think you'll see the AGLs putting out KE penetrators or saboted submunitions, but you do see that from cannons.
I always thought the definitions were:
LMG: 1 man to carry and operate, one to help carry ammo and to load
HMG: 2-3 man crew, 3 makes moving much easier, generally larger calibre, hence ammo ways more, and usually so does the firing mount (tripod), so the extra guy comes in handy
GPMG: Something sort of half way between (Medium MG?)
SAW: A glorified upscale AR that is fed from a belt and has aspirations of being an LMG one day
I always thought the definitions were:
LMG: 1 man to carry and operate, one to help carry ammo and to load
HMG: 2-3 man crew, 3 makes moving much easier, generally larger calibre, hence ammo ways more, and usually so does the firing mount (tripod), so the extra guy comes in handy
GPMG: Something sort of half way between (Medium MG?)
SAW: A glorified upscale AR that is fed from a belt and has aspirations of being an LMG one day
Don't forget the OICW... even though its still being developed it is meant to fire 20mm shells THROUGH walls. however if the can just get the weight reduced...
As for a SAW "being a glorifed AR", I always considered it a LMG but then it explains how someone can carry it and a bunch of ammo like you would a rifle.
Similar threads
