imagine this, ONE MILLION rounds per minute

do you know how much that would HURT! im sure it would be the same feeling as being incinerated.

New Gun Fires 'Laser of Lead'
SYDNEY, Australia -- It may not be ready for George Bush's "first war of the 21st century." But it may well be ready if there's a second.

In perhaps the most audacious upgrade of high-speed weaponry since the introduction of the Gatling Gun, Australian inventor Mike O'Dwyer has developed a machine gun that can fire bullets at a rate of 1 million rounds per minute.


Firepower like this is causing the U.S. and Australian militaries to sit up and take notice.

Both are funding deeper research into O'Dwyer's ideas, which he cooked up in his garage during more than a decade as an Australian retail store executive.

Osama bin Laden, however, needn't worry. The research is long-term and isn't expected to yield any new lethal weapons anytime soon.

Even so, the implications of the new technology's ability to change warfare are immense. And somewhat amazingly, the theory is pretty simple.

Rather than use mechanical firing pins to shoot bullets one by one, O'Dwyer's gun holds multiple bullets in the barrel -- one behind the other.

Electronic charges set off in different parts of the barrel, just fractions of a second apart, fire the bullets in blindingly fast succession using traditional gunpowder.

The result is akin to a laser beam of lead and it offers several advantages over a regular machine gun.

First, the new gun is solid-state and electronic, meaning there are few mechanical parts to jam.

Second, more bullets can be fired with one squeeze of the trigger before the gun recoils.

But perhaps most remarkable of all, the unique ballistics of firing projectiles close together means that the bullets farther back of the pack actually push those in front of them, thereby increasing bullet velocity.

O'Dwyer has filed for at least 58 patents on the invention, and the U.S. and Australian militaries together have put up roughly $50 million for further research.

In the United States, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense, is engaged in several studies of the technology, says Jan Walker, a spokesperson for the agency.

DARPA's primary interest is developing a high-performance sniper rifle for special operations, Walker said.

"The technology offers high accuracy, low weight as compared to a .50 caliber rifle, increased lethality, a high rate of fire and electronic controls," Walker said.

Just how lethal? That depends on how many rounds you want to fire and how many barrels you want to put to use. In a test firing of 36 barrels, lashed together and firing full bore, the gun reduced a series of 15 wooden doors to toothpicks in just two-tenths of a second.

www.wired.com...

i wounder how it would be like to fire one of them Gatlin Guns! boom boom boom boom! mommy can i have a Gatlin Gun for christmas? omg i wanna see it in action!!!

what do you think

[edit on 4-9-2006 by worksoftplayhard]

It's called Metalstorm, and it's been pretty much something of a flop. Not much interest has led to the company being nearly bankrupt. They currently have enough operating funds to last until 2007, but beyond that is questionable.

How in blazes would you store ammuntion for soemthing that needs a million rounds a minute??!!

All the ammunition is stored in the barrels. You stack it round ontop of round. It uses electromagnetic propulsion IIRC to shoot the rounds out the barrell, so that they don't explode like a regular bullet and set off all the other rounds they're stacked on.

Originally posted by Daedalus3
How in blazes would you store ammuntion for soemthing that needs a million rounds a minute??!!

The million rounds a minute is what it theoretically could do. There is no way from what I have seen that this weapon could fire that many projectiles unless the barrels of it were extremely long.

They actualy had a show that showed it on TV on the Discovery Channel's "Future Weapon's" some time ago.

Metal Storm (Episode: Maximum Impact)

Potentially the world's most powerful automatic weapon, Metal Storm uses a system that combines gun barrel and magazine, so that the only moving parts are the projectiles themselves. Other automatic weapons have a magazine with bullets that are mechanically loaded into the barrel, but in the Metal Storm weapon, ammunition is preloaded and stacked in the combined barrel/magazine.

The bullets are fired electrically to generate a torrent of lethal force (up to thousands of rounds per second), especially with systems using a multibarreled configuration. This technology can be used for all types of munitions, and with no other moving parts, jamming is never a problem. Seen above is Metal Storm's remote-controlled Redback 40mm weapon system, recently introduced as a devastating counter to all types of threats.

Awsome to watch it firing like I did when the show was aired.

Another Metal Storm thread?

AICW: Australias new Infantry weapon by MetalStorm Inc

US Navy to start using metal storm

Machine gun, fires "laser of lead" 1 mill. RPM

CNN catches up with ATS

How about one of these for Home Security?

Highest Rate of Fire?

Can anyone name this machine gun for me?

metal storm enters aggrement with Lockheed martin for torpedo defense project


[edit on 9-4-2006 by intelgurl]

As i have posted on many a "Metal Storm" threads, yes you put bullet after bullet on top of each other, but what happens if you point the weapon at the ground? will the bullets fall out?

So this is supposed to like bird shot on steroids? To get that sort of destructive effect it would be a whole lot easier to simply lob a bomb filled with projectiles at an enemy - you'd still have a shredded door!

No. It's however many rounds stuck in the barrel of the gun and can be fired single shot, or multiple shots.

One million rounds per minute?

Plain daft if you ask me. What about barrel burn out? With such a high rate of fire, this will cause the barrels to overheat and warp.

How is that overcome?

Are we talking about caseless ammo because if so, that has inherant problems of it's own and I think I'm right in saying that's why H & K binned their prototype G10/11 with the over barrel mag. [Not too sure about that one]

Having said that, the electrical detonation of small arms ammunition is not really something new. I believe the Germans were looking at something like this for the Henschel and Arado jets at the end of WWII, but I think this was for volley fire up into the bellies of B17s etc but this idea never really got off the ground - pun intended!

It's called Metalstorm, and it's been pretty much something of a flop. Not much interest has led to the company being nearly bankrupt. They currently have enough operating funds to last until 2007, but beyond that is questionable.

Wow Zaphod58, didn't we argue about this one some time ago?

These "metal Storm" and Trophy hark kill "energy beam" threads pop up every month on the dot.

I'm actually tempted to ask mods to post ban on these, because it's like a never ending nightmare.

intelgurl, good job on pulling all of the thread together. I'm sure I left my mark on a few of those!

We have got to have a moderator address this one as it was addressed with all the "Trophy" threads.



[edit on 8-9-2006 by iskander]

Its the Metal Storm.

I've heard of it before and I've always thought that "one million rounds per minute" was in the realm of "your never going to need to fire THAT fast."

What would you possibly need a weapon that fires that many shells at once for? Not to mention how much ammo it would use. It would be grossly impractical. I mean if we're talking aircraft a S.A.M. does just as well much more efficiently and if the aircraft is using countermeasures than just use a vulcan cannon.

And they're calling this thing an "area-denial weapon"; what? If I could think of a more impractical way to keep people out of an area...so I assume they just fire that thing constantly at the area that they need to "deny"? I mean, use a machine gun if enemy soldiers enter that area. I mean the machine guns of WWI did a good enough job cutting down platoons of enemy soldiers but now we need this impractical overbearing thing?

You aren't firing that many at once. You're firing one round at a time, just very very very very fast.

This thread is a bit like being a member of my beloved TKA, nobody has answered my reply.

This was a very serious question:

1, How do they control rate of fire?
2. How do they prevent the barrels from overheating?
3. How do they prevent the barrels from warping?

To say, 'You aren't firing that many at once. You're firing one round at a time, just very very very very fast', is not a very helpful answer Zaph.

I am intrigued and want answers - NOW!

Originally posted by fritz
1, How do they control rate of fire?

The rounds are fired electronically...one by one. The computer can control the speed.

Originally posted by fritz
2. How do they prevent the barrels from overheating?

Each barrel holds only so many rounds (50?)...after they are fired a new loaded barrel replaces the old.

Originally posted by fritz
3. How do they prevent the barrels from warping?

See answer to your second question.

The whole idea behind the 1M rounds/min is aimed at area denial, basically to destroy incoming ordinance, whether it's artillery, guided missiles or rockets, but its got a lot of hurdles before it can be completely effective.

I actually did a tinWiki on this a while back, here's the link if you're interested in the read.

From what I know the point isn't that it fires quickly, its that it is a different firing mechanism (non-mechanical) that doesn't jam, overheat or wear out (although it can break due to electric failure).

I believe the AICW (Aussie version of the OICW) uses a metalstorm system to launch the grenades, and it uses a magnet in the trigger to provide electricity so it doesn't need a battery (can't remember the name of the effect...)

Video:

www.metacafe.com...

Originally posted by Zaphod58
All the ammunition is stored in the barrels. You stack it round ontop of round. It uses electromagnetic propulsion IIRC to shoot the rounds out the barrell, so that they don't explode like a regular bullet and set off all the other rounds they're stacked on.

It doesn't use electromagnetic propulsion... lol. Instead of a hammer it uses an electric charge to ignite the gunpowder of a bullet.


Actually in a special training class I have taken, I learned how to make a really simple gun with a bullet, some wire, and a battery. Don't try it at home.....


Also... on the show "MythBusters" they did a myth of a guy who had a short in his truck, which burnt out one of his fuses. In a desperate attempt, instead of replacing the fuse he used a bullet to close the circuit. It turns out, the very second he turned the key on his truck, the bullet fired and shot him in the crotch. The myth was confirmed.


So, with the right setup, you can make a gun that fires 500 million rounds a minute. Your only limitation is your electronic signal, and the amount of bullets and barrels you have.

[edit on 15-9-2006 by LAES YVAN]

i dont no if anyone menchoned this allready but there are videos of this thing in action.....(i dident read everyones comments to lazy to) but i een video of it once....holy crap....its awsome...has a lot of barrels like 12 i think....theay look like tubes then ya puh a button and BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! in seconds enough ammo to sulppy some small countrys..its amazeing....and i thought the fama was fast....this thing would literley shred you in half tear your body into so many chunks ya probley woodent fill a zip lock bag...in onley a few seconds.....it really i amazeing....the govermint is STUPIED!! if theay dont reconize the befints from it....sure it uses lots ammo..it would work well on battle ships i think.....even useing small bullets million of them would rip anyone appart on the decks..... anti-aircraft would be the best use for it..but hey it up to the govermint if theay got the braines to understand wut i just said....theay have no reasion/right to complaine when theay get there asses kicked in battles when this thing can clearley deliver the fireing force of a freggin platoon in a minute... lol


sry bad spelling