Quick question for my military readers.

How long does it take to reposition a minigun? Can't find it through google search for some reason.

Comments

[TinMan]

What do you mean? What weapon system are you talking about?

[Knight Breeze]

5144333 An M134 minigun on a tripod. Currently behind some sandbags, but needs to be moved to provide suppressing fire.

[TinMan]

5144335
Honestly they're not going to be using a minigun, 99.9% of minigun will be mounted on large vehicles (like helicopters or ships) because of the massive amount of ammo they go through and the fact they need a battery to work. The weapon system you were looking for is the M240B medium machine gun (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M240_machine_gun) or the m249 SAW (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M249_light_machine_gun) both have already mounted bipods and are considered crew-served weapons. Which means one person is firing while the other person is spotting and reloading. And the time it takes for them to reposition is as fast as they can get suppressive fire and get their asses up and moving. But if you want an heavier weapon that you could "realistically" find as a front line heavier emplacement weapon you could use a M2 heavy machine gun (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Browning ) or the Mk 19 grenade launcher (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mk_19_grenade_launcher) both weapon systems are much heavier and take more time to set up because they both need tripods and both are much more dangerous to fire with friendly's around.

[Knight Breeze]

5144356 thank you, the m240b will work perfectly. Like I said before, not a whole lot of experience, and I want to get this right.

Gotta say, I'm probably throwing up all sorts of red flags at the fbi with my search history.

[TinMan]

5144365
If you wanted a weapon system that I think would be cool to show off in the story is something called the Phalanx CIWS it's a single unit that they put on ships and outside of bases to destroy incoming missiles mortars aircraft hell it's considered an anti-everything gun all it needs is power and ammunition put one on the side of the castle bam! I think it's so cool cuz it does everything by itself all you have to do is load in what you wanted to fire at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS

[TinMan]

There's also a missile based one as well the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-116_Rolling_Airframe_Missile

[tkepner]

I’ve seen miniguns mounted on jeeps and trucks, so, as fast can you reposition a car or truck.

[HorseWordFan]

I've read some weird blog post openers in my feed, but this one still managed to get a doubletake out me.

Anyway, for your slack-jawed amazement, here is a video--one of many that can be found--of the Phalanx system that TinMan mentioned, intercepting an attack at night.

[Cogsworth Wingthrop]

The military has armed dune buggies with heavy machine guns and they have those small four man ATVs. Not sure if they would fit through the portal.

[Knight Breeze]

5144356 another quick question, how many people usually on a gunner team?

[TinMan]

5144443
This should help.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squad

[TinMan]

5144443

This is a rifle Squad made up of three fireteams and led by the squad leader. A rifle platoon is made up of three rifle squads led by the platoon Commander and platoon sergeant.

qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-57b1b79b3b2cb44f6dcdaaaef36d7da9-c

[TinMan]

Hope that's not too confusing.

[Arxsys]

5144374
There’s the CRAM ground version too. The ‘oh shit’ IDF siren ‘whoowhoo’ just makes it weirder. (No practical experience with it, just secondhand info. I’m just a photographer that deals with firearms and militaria )

Shame a MH-60M DAP won’t fit through the portal. Those things are a blackhawk’s pissed off bodybuilder brother. 2 M134 miniguns, up to 2 m230 30mm chainguns (same ones on the Apache) up to 4 m261 rocket pods, 16 hellfire missiles, a gau-19 Gatling gun (rare .50 bmg miniguns with vibration issues) and air to air missiles, or a mix of contents above.

One is on my list to get close and photograph whenever I get to the museum at Fort Rucker.

[Knight Breeze]

5144446 That doesn't really answer my question, but in a way it sort of does. I was asking specifically about the team that mans a m134b, not about a whole squad's makeup, but from this I'll probably be able to guess that it's usually around 2-4, depending. Most likely 4.

[D48]

5144655
For a lighter gun like that it's typically 2, but you only actually need one. The second person carries more ammo (ammo gets heavy fast and those guns aren't light), spots targets while the gunner is engaging, and generally helps out, but is not strictly necessary to operate the weapon. That said, it's not uncommon for everyone else to carry extra ammo for heavy weapons (especially mortars) in addition to their other kit and they all work together as a team so the line can be a bit fuzzy in practice.

That said, I'm not an infantryman so this isn't my area of expertise. The ideal solution would be for you to sit down with an actual infantryman, draw a map of the area, walk through the scenario, and then have him proofread the finished writing to get it as realistic as possible.

[MillionsBane]

As some other guys said, the term "minigun" refers to the M134, which is not exactly a man-portable weapon. It can be moved by a person but the whole multiple barrels, thousands of rounds of 7.62, and an electrical supply for the motor make it prohibitive. There was a prototype "microgun" chambered in 5.56 that was man portable but it was never really acquired in meaningful number.

For sustained fire the heavist man portable weapons you typically see are around 7.62 caliber and usually have a gunner and an ammo carrier (because the gun weighs three times what a typrical infantry rifle does). For emplaced positions automatic grenade launchers and heavy machine guns are more common, with one man to move the gun, and another to move the tripod. For more effectiveness you also have a man to move sandbags to hold the legs of the tripod in place, or in firm soil can dig small holes to put the legs in.

[TinMan]

5144458
Not going to lie I just want to read a scene were the bugs try to attract Canterlot and get lit up by four or five CIWSs like the video 5144385 posted.

[Bubbabob]

Man, that question is making me really excited for the upcoming chapters.

[Timuri]

5144788
Having seen the two CIWS turrets on one side of my carrier in action back when I was in the Navy, I'll second that. The things are accurate enough to chew up along the chain that had been holding the target that one of our jets was towing. The FCs had to manually turn them off to make sure they didn't follow the chain far enough to chew up the jet's tail. And that was a couple miles out.