Dumb question....

[unpunk01]

Okay...I'll be the first guy to admit that I am a FNG and this may very well be a dumb ass question so I apologize in advance. I have always wondered the differences between a machine gun and a cannon? Is it caliber? Feed? Charged warheads? I don't know. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i honestly can;t gove you a proper answer to that one, but there is no such thing as a dumb question here (unless it's from CC), you've admited to you being new to it, and so you can't be expected to know, and if you don't ask you'll never find out, i can almost garantee that someone on here will be able to help you out, we're all here to help and learn, so don't be afraid to ask any questions, it's the only way we learn........

 

[trackend]

I always thought that a cannon had the ability to fire explosive rounds at over 50 rounds a minute below this rate it becomes a QF weapon.
of course i could be talking a load of bollocks.

 

[cheddar cheese]

I must admit ive never knows this either. I just thought that if it was 15mm or above it was a cannon It probably something to do with the rounds itself though, as Trackend said 8)

 

[unpunk01]

I always thought that a cannon had the ability to fire explosive rounds at over 50 rounds a minute below this rate it becomes a QF weapon.
of course i could be talking a load of bollocks.

That's what I kinda thought it was...larger caliber, explosive rounds but the F-16 is equiped with a 20mm cannon...does that shoot explosive rounds? I never thought it did...I'm confused!

 

[trackend]

It's a bit complicated isn't it guys escpecially if you start bringing in the Genver convention that limits explosive, Incendairy,tracer and ball round ratios in a load. and bans dum dum rounds and I think DU is out side it as well

 

[Erich]

Most likely 15mm and larger. .50 cal US would be the limit / 13mm of the mg.

and yes most 20mm and 30mm fire AP and AP-I along with HE and HE-I

Even in Iraq the airborne 105 auto sprays AP and HE rounds

 

[plan_D]

It's size, above 13mm it's a cannon.

 

[BombTaxi]

This is a really tough one to call, as you may have guessed My 0.02 is that anything 15-76mm is a cannon...I have never seen an account of anything less than 15mm firing an HE round. To my mind, a cannon fires HE as well as the ball/AP/AP-I rounds fired by an MG. It is not necessarily automatic, but anything over 76mm, I would tend to class as a gun or mortar, obviously depending on design. Like I said, a very tough topic to call though.

 

[lesofprimus]

If u combine the top 3 posts, u have ur answer.... All three are quite correct.. It has to do with calibre of round....

 

[Erich]

BombTaxi German Luftwaffe mg 131's/ 13mm could fire AP as well as HE and HE-I. this to be found in veteran pilot and crew accounts for day as well as night fighters during the war. have seen yellow bodied HE 13mm rounds

E

 

[BombTaxi]

Thats me told then! Cheers for that info Erich! 8)

 

[superunknown]

Okay...I'll be the first guy to admit that I am a FNG and this may very well be a dumb ass question so I apologize in advance. I have always wondered the differences between a machine gun and a cannon? Is it caliber? Feed? Charged warheads? I don't know. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Here is a dumb ass answer for you, "Cannons are just big ass guns".

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

rather ironically that's more true than you think as the breech, or "ass" of cannons is generally larger than that of MGs.........

 

[plan_D]

Don't be a turd, lanc. I know it's hard but really that was weak.

 

[BombTaxi]

And in any case, incorrect. In British Army parlance, at least, a 'gun' is the next step up from a cannon. Hence the oft-repeated phrase of weapon instructors in my cadet section;

"Its not a bloody gun, its a weapon. Guns have TRACKS!!!!"

 

[mosquitoman]

rather ironically that's more true than you think as the breech, or "ass" of cannons is generally larger than that of MGs.........

Once more into the breach, dear friends

 

[plan_D]

Most Army instructors are turds though. Something with tracks is normally a tractor or a tank.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

or self-propeled artiliary/mortars (i know these are next to non-existant today)............

 

[plan_D]

Are they? What the hell is a M109A6 Paladin doing in the Iraqi desert then!?