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It's also mentioned in an XKCD "what if": https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/ > The GAU-8 Avenger fires up to sixty one-pound bullets a

It's also mentioned in an XKCD "what if": https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/ > The GAU-8 Avenger fires up to sixty one-pound bullets a second. It produces almost five tons of recoil force, which is crazy considering that it’s mounted in a type of plane (the A-10 “Warthog”) whose two engines produce only four tons of thrust each. If you put two of them in one aircraft, and fired both guns forward while opening up the throttle, the guns would win and you’d accelerate backward. > To put it another way: If I mounted a GAU-8 on my car, put the car in neutral, and started firing backward from a standstill, I would be breaking the interstate speed limit in less than three seconds.

tomp 13y ago
> To put it another way: If I mounted a GAU-8 on my car, put the car in neutral, and started firing backward from a standstill, I would be breaking the interstate speed limit in less than three seconds. More likely, you would have a cabrio in 1.62 seconds.
- nunb 13y ago
  you mean you'd have to cut off the roof to mount it? http://i.imgur.com/CFtOzAD.jpg http://i.imgur.com/CFtOzAD.jpg ;)
  - dylanrw 13y ago
    And make sure everyone was clear of the 'exhaust' for a few miles.
deleted 13y ago
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JohnBooty 13y ago
When you (jokingly, obviously) mention mounting it on a car, does this imply that you think the gun is mounted on the A-10? When we look at cutaway drawings of the A-10, we see that it's almost more like the A-10 is mounted on the GAU-8 Avenger. Seriously, it's a pretty major part of the fuselage! http://www.foodman123.com/cut42.jpg http://www.foodman123.com/cut42.jpg http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/5306/v38136usa10fairchildrep.jpg http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/5306/v38136usa10fairchild...
ilovecookies 13y ago
The next part is the funniest though... As good as this gun would be as a rocket pack engine, the Russians built one that would work even better. The Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30 weighs half as much as the GAU-8 and has an even higher fire rate. Its thrust-to-weight ratio approaches 40, which means if you pointed one at the ground and fired, not only would it take off in a rapidly expanding spray of deadly metal fragments, but you would experience 40 gees of acceleration. This is way too much. In fact, even when it was firmly mounted in an aircraft, the acceleration was a problem: [T]he recoil … still had a tendency to inflict damage on the aircraft. The rate of fire was reduced to 4,000 rounds a minute but it didn't help much. Landing lights almost always broke after firing … Firing more than about 30 rounds in a burst was asking for trouble from overheating … But if you somehow braced the human rider, made the craft strong enough to survive the acceleration, wrapped it in an aerodynamic shell, and made sure it was adequately cooled... ... with a GSH-6-30, you could jump mountains.

tomp 13y ago

> To put it another way: If I mounted a GAU-8 on my car, put the car in neutral, and started firing backward from a standstill, I would be breaking the interstate speed limit in less than three seconds. More likely, you would have a cabrio in 1.62 seconds.

nunb 13y ago
you mean you'd have to cut off the roof to mount it? http://i.imgur.com/CFtOzAD.jpg http://i.imgur.com/CFtOzAD.jpg ;)
- dylanrw 13y ago
  And make sure everyone was clear of the 'exhaust' for a few miles.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

JohnBooty 13y ago

When you (jokingly, obviously) mention mounting it on a car, does this imply that you think the gun is mounted on the A-10? When we look at cutaway drawings of the A-10, we see that it's almost more like the A-10 is mounted on the GAU-8 Avenger. Seriously, it's a pretty major part of the fuselage! http://www.foodman123.com/cut42.jpg http://www.foodman123.com/cut42.jpg http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/5306/v38136usa10fairchildrep.jpg http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/5306/v38136usa10fairchild...

ilovecookies 13y ago

The next part is the funniest though... As good as this gun would be as a rocket pack engine, the Russians built one that would work even better. The Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30 weighs half as much as the GAU-8 and has an even higher fire rate. Its thrust-to-weight ratio approaches 40, which means if you pointed one at the ground and fired, not only would it take off in a rapidly expanding spray of deadly metal fragments, but you would experience 40 gees of acceleration. This is way too much. In fact, even when it was firmly mounted in an aircraft, the acceleration was a problem: [T]he recoil … still had a tendency to inflict damage on the aircraft. The rate of fire was reduced to 4,000 rounds a minute but it didn't help much. Landing lights almost always broke after firing … Firing more than about 30 rounds in a burst was asking for trouble from overheating … But if you somehow braced the human rider, made the craft strong enough to survive the acceleration, wrapped it in an aerodynamic shell, and made sure it was adequately cooled... ... with a GSH-6-30, you could jump mountains.