Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests

Heavy Tri-barrels

Join us in talking discussing all things Honor, including (but not limited to) tactics, favorite characters, and book discussions.
Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by Evilnerf   » Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:58 pm

Evilnerf
Ensign

Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:53 pm

I realize this may seem like a pedantic question, but is there anywhere that indicates what the caliber of a 'Heavy Tri-Barrel' is?

The standard tribarrel is 4-5 mm, There is also a 10 mm and a 25 mm version from what I can find from my research.

I'm trying to figure out of the 10 mm is the man-portable version they talk about in Cauldron of Ghosts.
Top
Re: Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by Hutch   » Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:30 am

Hutch
Vice Admiral

Posts: 1831
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 12:40 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama y'all

At a guess (for mounting in armored vehicles and assault landing ships), I would thing the 2000-year granddaddy of this bad boy would be used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger
***********************************************
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

What? Look, somebody's got to have some damn perspective around here! Boom. Sooner or later. BOOM! -LT. Cmdr. Susan Ivanova, Babylon 5
Top
Re: Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by MaxxQ   » Sat Jun 28, 2014 12:25 pm

MaxxQ
BuNine

Posts: 1553
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:08 pm
Location: Greer, South Carolina USA

Hutch wrote:At a guess (for mounting in armored vehicles and assault landing ships), I would thing the 2000-year granddaddy of this bad boy would be used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger


Very good guess.

The twin tribarrels carried on the Condor pinnace do, in fact, use 30mm rounds, although since there's no casing - grav accelerated, not chemical - you can fit *a lot* more rounds into a given volume.

But obviously, that size is not what the OP was asking about. He was specifying "man-portable", in which case, yeah, 10mm sounds about right.
Top
Re: Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by Weird Harold   » Sat Jun 28, 2014 3:51 pm

Weird Harold
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 4478
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:25 pm
Location: "Lost Wages", NV

MaxxQ wrote:
Hutch wrote:But obviously, that size is not what the OP was asking about. He was specifying "man-portable", in which case, yeah, 10mm sounds about right.


The OP was asking about something like this:

Image

As featured in the movie Predator. The GE M134 is chambered for 7.62x51 NATO.

From: http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/GE_M134_Minigun

A distinctive invention of fiction is the hand-held M134 minigun, a concept which was popularized by the film Predator. Physically demanding even for a slowed-down minigun firing blanks, such a weapon would be impossible for a human being to either carry or operate. This fact has not stopped it appearing frequently in other works, especially in video games. Generally such depictions will totally ignore the weapon's need for external power, and sometimes even forget it requires a source of ammunition.


There is a version of the minigun that fires BBs with compressed air.

I don't know of any version chambered for 5.56.

Honorverse grav accelerators don't have the kind of recoil problems 7.62x51 produces, but the physical size of a "Heavy Tribarrel" in 10mm would probably require contra-grav to make it man-portable. The 25mm version would require even more contra-grav and recoil suppression to be man portable.

All that aside, with three calibers available, and contra-grav to make them man portable, I would expect the designations to be Light, Medium, and Heavy for 5mm, 10mm and 25mm respectively.
.
.
.
Answers! I got lots of answers!

(Now if I could just find the right questions.)
Top
Re: Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by MaxxQ   » Sat Jun 28, 2014 3:55 pm

MaxxQ
BuNine

Posts: 1553
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:08 pm
Location: Greer, South Carolina USA

Weird Harold wrote:
The OP was asking about something like this:

Image

As featured in the movie Predator. The GE M134 is chambered for 7.62x51 NATO.

From: http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/GE_M134_Minigun

A distinctive invention of fiction is the hand-held M134 minigun, a concept which was popularized by the film Predator. Physically demanding even for a slowed-down minigun firing blanks, such a weapon would be impossible for a human being to either carry or operate. This fact has not stopped it appearing frequently in other works, especially in video games. Generally such depictions will totally ignore the weapon's need for external power, and sometimes even forget it requires a source of ammunition.


There is a version of the minigun that fires BBs with compressed air.

I don't know of any version chambered for 5.56.

Honorverse grav accelerators don't have the kind of recoil problems 7.62x51 produces, but the physical size of a "Heavy Tribarrel" in 10mm would probably require contra-grav to make it man-portable. The 25mm version would require even more contra-grav and recoil suppression to be man portable.

All that aside, with three calibers available, and contra-grav to make them man portable, I would expect the designations to be Light, Medium, and Heavy for 5mm, 10mm and 25mm respectively.


Hmmm... maybe it's just me, but when I hear "man-portable" in the Honorverse, referring to heavy weapons like this, I'm thinking the "man" is in battle armor, which textev says increases his strength.

I don't recall Ah-nold wearing battle armor.

Edit: On further thinking, since one doesn't have to worry about tiny little things like Pyrodex exploding in the casing/chamber, the barrels and other parts do not necessarily need to be made of metal - high-strength and lightweight composites should be sufficient, so the weapon may be lighter than you might think. I still think you'd need to be in battle armor (or the civilian equivalent) to handle one though. I suppose the battery pack probably weighs a hell of a lot... but that's just a guess on my part.

Of course, there's also the possibility that the rounds may be *less* than 10mm. Anthing above what the OP quoted as 4-5mm would likely be considered "heavy", so maybe 7.5mm?

Also, there's nothing that says countergrav *isn't* used, and there's textev all over the Stephanie Harrington books about portable countergrav units for people and objects (the treecat cages have them), so yeah, there may be a CG unit on the weapon as well.
Top
Re: Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by Weird Harold   » Sat Jun 28, 2014 4:29 pm

Weird Harold
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 4478
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:25 pm
Location: "Lost Wages", NV

MaxxQ wrote:Hmmm... maybe it's just me, but when I hear "man-portable" in the Honorverse, referring to heavy weapons like this, I'm thinking the "man" is in battle armor, which textev says increases his strength.


I seem to recall "Shoulder mounted tri-barrels" as an option for marines in battle armor but also tri-barrels carried by unarmored people as well (San Martinos, IIRC, so your thought about battle armor isn't that far off. :lol: )

MaxxQ wrote:Of course, there's also the possibility that the rounds may be *less* than 10mm. Anthing above what the OP quoted as 4-5mm would likely be considered "heavy", so maybe 7.5mm?


With recoil suppression and contra-grav, I'd expect a caliber higher than 10mm rather than lower. With Honorverse materials and Honorverse tech even the 30mm pinnance tribarrels could be an option. :shock:
.
.
.
Answers! I got lots of answers!

(Now if I could just find the right questions.)
Top
Re: Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by MaxxQ   » Sat Jun 28, 2014 4:40 pm

MaxxQ
BuNine

Posts: 1553
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:08 pm
Location: Greer, South Carolina USA

Weird Harold wrote:With recoil suppression and contra-grav, I'd expect a caliber higher than 10mm rather than lower. With Honorverse materials and Honorverse tech even the 30mm pinnance tribarrels could be an option. :shock:


Sure, as long as you don't mind swinging around 3.5 meter barrels and the loading/launching/rotation mechanism, and carrying a 4 meter x .8 meter ammo drum on your back.

Edit: Don't forget that countergrav gets rid of weight, but not mass, although I'm sure you already know that ;)
Top
Re: Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by Weird Harold   » Sat Jun 28, 2014 5:32 pm

Weird Harold
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 4478
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:25 pm
Location: "Lost Wages", NV

MaxxQ wrote:Sure, as long as you don't mind swinging around 3.5 meter barrels and the loading/launching/rotation mechanism, and carrying a 4 meter x .8 meter ammo drum on your back.


Oh, I'm sure a man portable version would have shorter barrels and a smaller magazine than the Pinnace installation. :D

MaxxQ wrote:Edit: Don't forget that countergrav gets rid of weight, but not mass, although I'm sure you already know that ;)


We really need a tongue in cheek smilie. :roll:
.
.
.
Answers! I got lots of answers!

(Now if I could just find the right questions.)
Top
Re: Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by saber964   » Sat Jun 28, 2014 7:50 pm

saber964
Admiral

Posts: 2423
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:41 pm
Location: Spokane WA USA

Well look at the weapons we have now.

M249 SAW LMG fires a 5.56mm round

M60/240 GPMG fires a 7.62mm round

M2HB HMG fires a 12.7mm round

Then you get into the cannon area with

20mm
25mm
30mm
Top
Re: Heavy Tri-barrels
Post by Lord Skimper   » Sat Jun 28, 2014 8:39 pm

Lord Skimper
Vice Admiral

Posts: 1736
Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2013 12:49 am
Location: Calgary, Nova, Gryphon.

There is a man portable 14 (14.5?) mm Gatling gun. It needs a tripod to fire it but it is very devastating. There is also a single barrel light 30mm. Canon not grenade. Again man portable but requires a small tripod to fire. Either could be used with powered assault armour. They had a competition of these in IDR years ago. The 14mm Gatling gun won.

There is also the Austrian Steyr (pronounced Stir) AMR( Anti Material Rifle). It too was a 14.5mm but with a high velocity 5.56 mm solid tungsten fin stabilised dart / sabot. Capable of penetrating 40mm of rolled homogenous Armour. It fired a three shot burst which fired fast enough that it fired all three shots before the recoil affected the shooter.

It was called the AMR 5075, the current version is the 15.2mm IWS 2000.

http://www.steyr-aug.com/amr.htm
Last edited by Lord Skimper on Sat Jun 28, 2014 10:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
________________________________________
Just don't ask what is in the protein bars.
Top

Return to Honorverse