Autocannon fire-rates

[sobek]

Can any of the technic-cracks tell me how the different fire-rates on the shipunov autocannon work? Wikipedia tells me its gas-operated so it must be quite difficult to get different fire rates.

 

cheers

[Yellonet]

Can any of the technic-cracks tell me how the different fire-rates on the shipunov autocannon work? Wikipedia tells me its gas-operated so it must be quite difficult to get different fire rates.

 

cheers

I'm not sure how this perticular weapon works, but on some other gas operated weapons you can adjust rate of fire simply by adjusting how much gas is lead back into the weapon, less gas = slower buildup of pressure, thus increasing the time for each blow back.

[sobek]

Sounds plausible, although im not sure wether such a system would be able to sustain fire at such little rpm as the 2A42 cannon can.

[Oakes]

Hmm, I'm guessing that the gun is fired electrically or possibly by hydraulics => the cannon cycles as fast as it can due to gas pressure etc but the firing system simply delays the firing of the cannon to get the desired rate of fire.

 

Only a guess though....

[Feuerfalke]

I'm not sure how this perticular weapon works, but on some other gas operated weapons you can adjust rate of fire simply by adjusting how much gas is lead back into the weapon, less gas = slower buildup of pressure, thus increasing the time for each blow back.

 

I honestly doubt that. The gas-pressure is not used to fire the gun, but to reload the weapon. If the pressure is decreased, this will not lower the rate of fire, but the chance that the pressure is not high enough to continue the loading and cocking mechanism, leading to weapons malfunctions.

 

I didn't look it up, but for the theory, I guess it's rather like having a semiactive weapon. That means when you push the trigger, one shot is fired, the mechanism loads the next bullet and you can fire the next shot, pulling the trigger again. That's how all automatic weapons fire in single-fire mode, just that a mechanism, hydraulic or electric, actually "pushes the trigger".

For the high rate of fire, it could be similar to the automatic fire switch on a rifle (the firing bolt is not held back to wait for the trigger to be pushed) or the mechanism for the trigger is just acellerated.

[Groove]

The trigger mechanism on the Ka-50 cannon is electronically controlled, thats why there are different rates of fire.

 

As Feuerfalke wrote - the gas operated reloading has nothing to do with the ROF.

[Yellonet]

I honestly doubt that. The gas-pressure is not used to fire the gun, but to reload the weapon. If the pressure is decreased, this will not lower the rate of fire, but the chance that the pressure is not high enough to continue the loading and cocking mechanism, leading to weapons malfunctions.

 

I didn't look it up, but for the theory, I guess it's rather like having a semiactive weapon. That means when you push the trigger, one shot is fired, the mechanism loads the next bullet and you can fire the next shot, pulling the trigger again. That's how all automatic weapons fire in single-fire mode, just that a mechanism, hydraulic or electric, actually "pushes the trigger".

For the high rate of fire, it could be similar to the automatic fire switch on a rifle (the firing bolt is not held back to wait for the trigger to be pushed) or the mechanism for the trigger is just acellerated.

As I said I don't know how the 2A42 works, but I know for a fact that other weapons work like that. For instance, with the swedish assault rifle AK5 you can change how much gas is lead back to push back the, it's only supposed to be used if the gun is quite dirty but using it anyway gives higher rate of fire because the reloading of a new round happens faster and when you hold the trigger the gun fires as as soon as there is a round in the chamber.

So yes, the gas blowback doesn't fire the bullet per se but you can't fire the round before the round has been chambered, thus having a direct effect on maximum rate of fire. But as Groove said, the 2A42 is electrically fired and that is likely how it lowers the rate of fire.

[Feuerfalke]

I think these are 2 different cases, Yellonet.

 

The Bofors AK-5 is a gasoperated gun. This means it uses the pressure from a fired shot to reload the weapon.

 

As all gasoperated weapons, it easily collects dust and dirt, which lowers the efficiency of the loading mechanism, thus increasing the chance of weapons-malfunctions and jams. Therefore you can increase the pressure used to overcome these problems.

 

Of course if you increase the pressure under normal circumstances the loading will be slightly quicker, but that means the gun is operating above design specifications, the surplus energy has to be absorbed by the bolt and firing mechanism and cause an additional recoil often off the axis of the original recoil. Beyond that it's definitely not like doubling your ROF.

 

By principle it's the same with an engine. You can run any engine at higher pressures to make it faster. It's just the question how long it will take that and if it's worth the effort. :smilewink:

[Yellonet]

That's true.

[Groove]

I think the best example would be a gas-operated gun which you would fire in single-fire mode.

 

You personally can alter the ROF as you wish. Of course there would be a limit in the ROF, and that would be the speed a new bullet can be loaded into the chamber.

[Feuerfalke]

I think the best example would be a gas-operated gun which you would fire in single-fire mode.

 

You personally can alter the ROF as you wish. Of course there would be a limit in the ROF, and that would be the speed a new bullet can be loaded into the chamber.

 

Exactly :thumbup: