M-134 (Was Anybody know this weapon?)

[Legbreaker]

The Australian army trialed an M134 mounted on an M113 in Vietnam. It was discarded as overkill - it was like ten M60s all firing at the same point...

As an aircraft weapon it's ideal. The movement of the aircraft and the generally longer ranges makes ordinary GPMGs rather inadequate while the higher volume of a gatling type, well, it's a bit harder to miss when you're pumping out several thousand rounds a minute....
Besides, as I understand it, aircraft weapons, at least helicopter door guns etc aren't exactly meant for pinpoint accuracy but more for supressing enemy by volume of fire.

[kcdusk]

To answer some questions, from what i heard in the show.

The Dillon 134 is brand new.

Re the spinning barrell, they said the new version improved accuracy (rather than degraded it).

Accuracy theory was they are both as accurate as one another, except since the 134 fires 4x as many bullets then everything being equal it should hit 4x as many times. But in practice, it hit something like 8 or 9x more often (see point above about spinning barrel and other improvements helping accuracy somehow).

[O'Borg]

A couple of mins Youtubing gets : Helicopter mounted M134 vs M240

[Legbreaker]

As the M134 is a heavier weapon, and MUST be fired from a decent mount (usually a vehicle of some type), it's no suprise that more rounds than otherwise expected hit the target.

Also, the rapid rate of fire is obviously going to have an impact with more rounds leaving the weapon before recoil becomes a factor.

Actual accuracy of the individual barrels with single shots on the other hand is something else entirely.