Req. Information on Chain Gun

[SatoSix]

MP.net

Could anyone point me to some books, articles, websites, etc., covering the development of the Chain gun mechanism for automatic fire?

I've taken an interest in the Chain Gun mechanism after studying a disassembled Mk44 Bushmaster. The mechanism is deceivingly simple and marked a genuinely new approach to automatic fire for medium caliber machine guns. Before the advent of the Chain Gun most other machine guns were, in essence, variations of other modes of automatic firing. Be it the Gatling-type canons, revolver canons, gas operated canons, recoil-operated etc.

I've learned that the mechanism was developed in the early seventies by the Hughes Tooling Company as a private venture and scored very high on reliability-test by, among others, the USN. It was conceived as a coaxial machine gun for the M60, first adopted as the armament of the AH-64 Apache, later selected to arm the Bradley IFV and, as a coaxial machine gun, both the M1 and Challenger 2 MBT's.

However I would like to find more details since I'm considering writing an article/essay on the weapon. That is why I'm interested in finding more information on it's development, particularly regarding it's selection as the main gun of the Bradley IFV.

Thanks in advance,

Sato

[JUNKHO]

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[SatoSix]

Obviously I Googled it first.

However I'm looking for a more elaborate account of the development.

A book dedicated to the Chain Gun is what I'm really after.

[gafkiwi]

Don't know if it helps, but I once watched a video called "Machine Gun Magic" made by the Dillon family of "Dillon Precision". In it they had a small piece on McDonnell Douglas and the origin of the "their" chain gun unsure if this was the true origin

[mack_jigger]

Hi, don't know if you went there, but there's a lot of .pdf about the M134 minigun at http://www.dillonaero.com

Dillon made, no that's not right, he simplified/modified successfully the feeder/delinker so that stoppage would almost never happen. I think you'll find all you need there. At least I hope you will

mack_jigger

[REMOV]

Could anyone point me to some books, articles, websites, etc., covering the development of the Chain gun mechanism for automatic fire?

"The Machine Gun" by George M. Chinn. Focus on the (1) and (2).

[SatoSix]

Thanks for the info!

"The Machine Gun" by George M. Chinn. Focus on the (1) and (2).

Very interesting publication, unfortunately since it was published in 1952, there is no reference to chain gun type cannons. The Chain Gun was only developed some 15 to 20 years later.

Hi, don't know if you went there, but there's a lot of .pdf about the M134 minigun at http://www.dillonaero.com

Dillon made, no that's not right, he simplified/modified successfully the feeder/delinker so that stoppage would almost never happen. I think you'll find all you need there. At least I hope you will

mack_jigger

The chain gun type operation has, mechanically speaking, very little in common with gattling type cannons. The two are often mistakenly identified due to popular culture.