Changes: M134 Minigun

Revision as of 02:04, 21 August 2014

"Time to let Old Painless out the bag..."

―Mac, referring to Blain's handheld M134 (from Predator)

The M134 Minigun is a 7.62x51 mm NATO, six-barreled machine gun with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It features Gatling-style rotating barrels with an external power source, normally an electric motor. The "Mini" in the name is in comparison to designs that use a similar firing mechanism but larger shells, such as General Electric's earlier 20-millimeter M61 Vulcan, and "gun" for a caliber size smaller than that of a cannon, typically 20 mm and higher.

Overview

The M134 has its origins in the 1860s, when designer Richard Jordan Gatling replaced the hand cranked mechanism on one of his Gatling Guns with an electric motor, a relatively new invention at the time. Even after Gatling slowed down the mechanism, the new electrically-powered Gatling Gun had a theoretical rate of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute, roughly three times the rate of a typical single-barrelled machine gun. However, the huge expense of the weapon meant it went largely ignored until the Vietnam War, when the United States military began experimenting with electrically-operated rotary guns, eventually leading to the development of the M134.

Today, the M134 is commonly used as a mounted weapon and/or door gun on contemporary aircraft and helicopters. It is chiefly known for its devastating rate of fire, up to 6,000 rounds per minute (100 rounds per second) although typically limited to 4,000 rounds per minute. Several modern variants feature selectable rates of fire for varying situations.

Appearances

In Predator, Blain memorably carries a handheld M134 as his weapon. It is later used by Mac. M134 Miniguns are also seen mounted in the door of the helicopter that covers the team's insertion into the jungle.

In Predators, Nikolai carries a hand-held M134 until it is destroyed by the Berserker Predator.

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 In {{P3}}, [[Nikolai Fedorov|Nikolai]] carries a hand-held M134 until it is destroyed by the [[Berserker (Super Predator)|Berserker Predator]].
-==Behind the Scenes==
-Blain's M134 in ''Predator'' was custom-built for the film (while there are rumors that such a system was tested by the US Navy SEALs in Vietnam, no such weapon ever entered production).<ref name="Bleeds">{{cite video|people=[[John McTiernan]], [[Kevin Peter Hall]], [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], [[Stan Winston]], [[Joel Silver]], [[John Davis]], [[Jim Thomas]], [[John Thomas]]|title=If It Bleeds We Can Kill It: The Making of 'Predator'|medium=DVD|publisher=[[20th Century Fox]]|date=2001}}</ref> The weapon was fitted with the handguard assembly from an [[M60]] machine gun (which was also used in the film by Mac) installed backwards under the M134's barrels, a rear pistol grip taken from normal (at the time) Minigun spade grips attached to the weapon via a custom Y-frame with an [[M16]]-style carry handle that mounts to the weapon's recoil absorbers<ref>http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Predator#GE_M134_Minigun_.28Handheld.29</ref> and a special harness, transferring much of the weapon's weight to actor [[Jesse Ventura]]'s shoulders.<ref name="Bleeds"/> The weapon also had its fire rate drastically reduced from 6,000 RPM to 1,250 RPM, partly to make the recoil manageable for Ventura, partly to conserve ammunition (as it was, the gun only had 4-6 seconds of usable ammunition in its ammo canister) and also to make the spinning barrels visible on-screen (at the full rate of fire, the barrels appeared to be stationary blur as they would spin faster than the frame rate on the cameras).<ref name="Bleeds"/> The weapon's power source was external, consisting of cables that plugged into the Minigun, leading down Ventura's pants leg and along the ground to off-screen batteries. These were only attached for shots where the weapon is fired as the actor could not walk when they were installed.
-The film's technical adviser, Kevin Dockery, had the following to say regarding the weapon's caliber:
-{{Quote|The Predator gun is an M-134. It was never a Microgun (XM-214). That story has been rattling around the Internet and elsewhere for years, that the Predator gun was a 5.56, it wasn't. Ventura had a hand in putting together the harness that held the gun, after all, he had to carry and handle the darn thing, and told me a bunch about it. When Dan had the gun (past tense I believe) he contacted me to see if Ventura wanted to buy the weapon. I'm going to do a writeup on the XM-214 including pictures of me holding one. It isn't a big deal to pick the microgun up and hold it cradled in one arm. Maybe when people see just how small the 5.56mm gun is, this story will start going away. The pack in the movie held all of four seconds worth of ammo and no batteries. In the first scene when Ventura fires the gun, you can see the cable for it in the dirt behind him. And the trigger didn't work. The special effects man handled powering the gun for several reasons, including safety. Something about them not wanting the actors injured if the gun was dropped and the trigger pulled.|'''Kevin Dockery'''<ref>http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Talk:Predator#Manpack_Mini-gun</ref><ref>http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Predator#GE_M134_Minigun_.28Handheld.29</ref>}}
-Ventura himself described firing the weapon as "like shooting a chainsaw",<ref name="Bleeds"/> no doubt referring to it's ability to chop down an entire swath of rainforest (even if this was achieved with special effects rather than live ammunition).
-[[File:Minigun_marks.jpg|thumb|The Minigun used in ''Predator'' after being modified for ''Terminator 2: Judgement Day''.<ref name="RPF-Minigun">http://www.therpf.com/f9/predator-minigun-setup-8188/</ref>]]
-The same M134 used in ''Predator'' was later used by [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] in ''Terminator 2: Judgement Day'' (directed by [[James Cameron]]), except the underslung M60 foregrip was removed and the upper cradle was cutoff (leaving some marks)<ref name="RPF-Minigun"/> and replaced with an overhead chainsaw-style grip.
-==Trivia==
-*In {{P1}}, when Blain breaks out the M134 he 'cocks' the weapon by rotating the barrels with his hand. In real life, doing so would actually cause the weapon to fire.
-*In reality, the M134 Minigun fires at 4,000-6,000 rounds per minute. When Mac opens up on the [[Jungle Hunter]], he fires continuously for almost a minute. Not only are there no visible shell casings on the floor when there should be thousands of them, there is no way a man could physically carry that amount of ammunition. The ammunition box attached to the Minigun (seen on Blain's back before he is killed) is also nowhere near large enough to contain sufficient ammo for such a prolonged period of firing.
 ==References==