Chain gun

A chain gun is a type of machine gun or autocannon that uses an external source of power, rather than recoil, to cycle the weapon. "Chain gun" is a registered trademark of McDonnell Douglas.

Related Topics:
Machine gun - Autocannon - Recoil - McDonnell Douglas

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The primary advantage of chain-driven weapons over their recoil-actuated counterparts is their reliability. Rather than being dependent upon recoil to actuate the system, a chain gun instead depends on an external motor. The motor drives the chain, which slides the bolt assembly back and forth to load, fire, extract and eject cartridges. Since the speed of the motor controls how fast the weapon fires, another advantage of the chain gun is its ability to accurately control the rate of fire.

Related Topics:
Recoil-actuated counterparts - Recoil - Motor - Cartridge

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In the case of a round not firing properly, the chain gun continues on, ejecting it along with the spent casings. In a recoil-actuated weapon, a misfire can cause serious problems, especially in the case of fully automatic weapons.

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