Can a human actually fire a handheld Minigun the way they do in movies and videogames?

Question

Adam Huberty · Answer

The answer here is a really big, no.

It was tried once by US Army Special Forces and the results were practically catastrophic. Even in the movies you’ve seen it done in, there’s a lot more happening off-screen to make it look real than you could imagine.

(Old Painless, a heavily modified GE M134 Minigun used in the movies Predator and T2: Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

The one everyone knows was designed around Jesse Ventura’s personal preferences for the movie Predator (it helps that he was actually an armorer when he served on a US Navy Underwater Demolition Team during the Vietnam era - UDT was a part of Naval Special Warfare and was a close relative of the SEAL Teams). It has an M60 handguard to hold onto, and is fitted with a harness, so that he could carry it for the movie. Arnold later used the same gun for T2, with slightly different modifications.

What you don’t see on screen is that neither of them are carrying the batteries for it, (Miniguns are electrically operated) because they were simply too heavy for either Ventura or Arnold. The wire leading to the batteries were hidden down their pants’ legs. It also has a supply of ammunition that can be exhausted in seconds (a Minigun fires up to 6000rpm, and a human just can’t carry enough of the 7.62x51mm ammunition it fires to make it useful). Even significantly reducing its ammunition consumption (you can slow it down) to about 1250rpm, the one they used fired its total ammunition supply in seconds. Even at that sedate rate, the ammunition canister for it held only 550 rounds which it could exhaust in 26.4 seconds. And carrying 550 rounds on top of the batteries and gun would be back-breaking work. Neither Ventura, nor Arnold after him, both extremely strong body builders, could even do it. And remember, that’s only 26.4 seconds worth of ammo, at only 21% of the gun’s actual potential rate of fire.

Next, they used blanks in those movies, for obvious reasons. But if they hadn’t, the recoil force is so extreme it can’t be controlled. Blanks don’t produce recoil the way live rounds do. The one time US Army Special Forces tried this, the gunner was literally spun halfway around by the force of the recoil. The only reason he didn’t kill anyone behind him was, fortunately, the gun had consumed all of its ammunition by the time that 180 degree spin was complete.

(You can’t carry this bad boy with enough ammo to make it useful and couldn’t control it even if you were able to carry enough ammo.)

Jiri Srahol · Answer

You mean, something like The Rock did?

Oh, I wish this to be true. He looks so badass!

Unfortunately, the guns are quite heavy and when operating, they have a big recoil. Also (although not your biggest problem), they heat up quite quickly.

I do not believe that one single human could shoot more than one bullet without being subject to action-reaction scenario. Physics works on everyone.

Anyway, here is the clip:

https://youtu.be/3xZW-TGgfCU
Even only in a movie… I still find it hilarious.

Lee B. · Answer

Sort of. the one in Predator is a real gun. Probably the only one and is in a number of movies. But there’s no way anyone is going to carry enough ammo to do more than a few second burst. And even then it’s not something you’re going to carry around. It’s a heavy gun. The latest with the lightweight mod is 41 pounds, and that’s just the gun not the carry mount in movies or games. It’s electric powered so you’re going to need batteries. When most of these movies came out, lithium ion wasn’t a thing so we’re talking over a hundreds pounds of lead acid batteries. Even with LiOn, it’s going to be like 60 or 70 pounds. 
It fires 2000 rounds per minute at it’s slowest setting… I guess it could be less. 33 rounds per second. 100 rounds of 7.62x51 (.308) is about seven pounds. So 140 pounds to fire for one minute.

That’s not even talking about the recoil. Sure the weight of the gun will help, but 33 rounds is going to make that thing bounce, and push back. Maybe if you can do a half second burst, but it’s still going to have some wild shots from how much it’s moving. The M60 at just 650 rounds per minute moved a lot when firing from the bipod, and was hard to control when firing from the shoulder.

But then, maybe someone who can walk around carrying twice his body weight won’t be bothered as much by it.

The only games this would be plausible in, would be futuristic ones where the character has power armor.

Lim Kagen · Answer

They don’t.

Gun fired

Most of the guns you see being fired are in fact rubber prop guns.

Rubber prop gun

These things look like the real deal but without any moving parts.

Which is why they don’t cycle back the bolt when fired.

Note that the slide doesn’t move back

This is because It is more economical to use rubber guns.

Sure,we can always use real guns with blanks.

Blanks

But most of the time,they just add a muzzle flash in post-production to make the gun fight look convincing.

Post-production

As for scenes you see blood spilling out of someone’s chest,that’s just what is called a squib.

Squib

It gives the impression of the actor being shot when he/she is perfectly safe,leaving their clothes like this.

Clothes

Hence,they don’t fire the guns you see in the movies.

That’s all folks!

Kevin Inouye · Answer

Define “fire’.

Back in the 40s they were a lot more cavalier about these things, and when they wanted to show bullet hits on scenery they’d actually hire a marksman to miss… safety rules (partly thanks to unionization or performers through groups like SAG, now SAG-AFTRA.

So the typical options for props we see firing on screen include:

1. rubber or other non-guns, with CG effects. Certainly the safest, not always the most realistic. They can do a lot with CG these days but don’t always have the time, budget, or talent to do it right (bad matches, lighting issues, no shell casings, no slide or bolt movement, too uniform on every shot… these are all ‘tells’ of bad CG muzzle flash) and often the actor doesn’t look convincing, whether due to lack of weight (La Femme Nikita dual wielding Desert Eagles? Those suckers should weight about 10# each) or muzzle flip (especially if they have a bad grip), or just looking like nothing is happening. A slight flinch or something can be a good thing for many characters, and even blanks will produce that. My take on recoil is that it’s like accents- if you’re really good, do it, but a bad one is worse than none at all.
2. Gas blowback airsoft. At least the actors all have something to respond to, and the CG guy knows what to cue off and the slide motion is already there. These work without the plastic bbs (usually they should be modified so they can’t actually fire bbs).
3. Propane or other pyro ‘non-guns’. These can give a nice muzzle flash, but generally have no shell casings, bolt or slide movement, etc. (but that can be CGd in if they bother).
4. Blanks. All the bang, flash, and bolt/slide movment and ejected shells of a real round, but no projectile, so still no real recoil. Sometimes if you get a good look at the shell casings you can tell they’re blanks.
There are a few other less frequently used options like cap firing model guns that were popular in the 80s, but generally that’s it. So “fire”? Maybe. Depends on what you mean.

Billy Hell · Answer

To answer your question directly - no. In all my years of handling weapons a live shot was never fired. I was a weapons specialist on movies in LA for many years. There were multiple places in LA to rent weapons. This was in the 1990’s. I can tell you we did use actual weapons on some shows. It was my job to make sure nothing bad happened and let me tell you that was easier said that done with many of the actors I worked with. For large scenes with extras we always used rubber guns. There were also specially built guns that just fired blanks. I once worked with an anti-aircraft gun that used propane to blow a flame out the barrel to simulate firing (sound effects were added later). We did have guns that would make a “hit” on a wall or car. This would look like sparks coming off the surface. These are guns you don’t see on camera but were fired off camera. They shot balls filled with different materials. Some would create sparks, some would create puffs of smoke or dust. Since they actually fired paint ball like projectiles only trained set people would fire them. In my experience it was usually someone on the stunt crew and usually there was a stuntman in the scene where they were being shot.

When I had a gun on the set it stayed with me until it was time to shoot the scene and then I immediately took the gun back as soon as the scene was over. Have I seen actors wave guns around ? Have I seen them point them at people? Did I ever have to take a gun from an actor due to stupidity? Yes on all counts.

Sauryanshu Chhetri · Answer

To answer that question, You have to know how a bullet works.

A typical bullet has a casing and a projectile. It is the projectile that is fired. The trigger is pulled, the firing pin strikes the bullet and sets off an explosion that propels the projectile (Remember! Not the casing) out of the barrel. The casing is ejected either manually in bolt action rifles, or automatically by semi-automatic or automatic rifles.

In the movies, real bullets are fired. It's not computer animation. But what happens is that the bullet used is a blank. That is, the bullets have a casing, but not the projectile. Thus the firing pin strikes the part of the bullet that ignites the explosion, called the primer(Therefore the sound), but due to the absence of projectile, nothing exits the barrel. And the blank casing is ejected.

Also, rubber guns are used. For instance, there is a scene where there are a lot of soldiers. Rubber props are the guns.

Hope you got your answer

Martin · Answer

There's a 5.56mm version dubbed the “microgun” apprantly designed to fit to fast attack buggys.

but kind of pointless.

the minigun exsists because hitting a Target from a helicopter is really really hard, getting a lot of rounds very quickly in the same area improves your chance massively.

a ground vehicle doesn't really need that capability and 5.56 is frankly a bit weak for a mounted weapon.

you could make it manportable although the ammo wouldn't be still outside of a range toy doesn't really solve any problem.

Alexander Domanski · Answer

Not unless you're the Terminator no. Because if you did try firing a minigun from the hip you'd look like a Gmod ragdoll.

Antoon · Answer

Yes, but actually no. Someone has tried it on YouTube somewhere and this was his finding:
1. You still need a big-ass battery and a big-ass magazine or ammo box, so you won’t be moving around with it. You’re still stationary, just without the benefit of actually having the weapon fixed.

2. The recoil is astounding, and makes it all but pointless. He was only ever able to fire very small spurts before the cannon started pushing off to the right. It was impossible to control.

Vlad Drakulov · Answer

Yes, if he can lift it. But for a very, very short time.

Robert Carioto · Answer

Original question: IS CARRYING,AIMING ,AND FIRING A GUN IN REAL LIFE AS EASY AS IT’S SHOWN IN MOVIES,TV, AND VIDEO GAMES? Well,yes and no. Let’s start with video games. Video games are totally unrealistic. In a video game you’re using game controller,you’re not handling a real firearm. You’re not aiming like you would with a real firearm ,and you’ve have the computer assisting you. As for movies and TV, the actors are not really aiming the guns, they are just pointing them. Aiming a real gun entails dealing with the weight and recoil of the gun. If using iron sights,you have to align the sights, control your breathing and use proper trigger control/ There’s a lot more to firing a real gun than that shown in movies and TV.

Reed Guy · Answer

My 1st grade teacher Mrs Radden told me I can do anything if I try hard enough. I’ve tested this theory many times over the years and have since concluded that she was so full of shit.

Bill Parker · Answer

Some years ago, at the Knob Creek, Kentucky machine gun shoot (held spring and fall every year until recently), a girl, age 16 IIRC, was allowed to fire a mini gun on the firing line and the mount broke, allowing the gun to impact the girl, and killing her.

I realize that the girl wasn’t someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but no human can effectively hold a minigun in their hands and fire it.

The answer is a bit different for the M60 machine gun. I often fired mine on the bipod, and once fired it handheld. I won’t say I fired it “effectively” while holding it but it’s doable.

Jacob Lucas · Answer

Yes. Not only is it feasible, it has been done.

Meet the babies of the Special Operations Executive, Britain’s premier mayhem agency during the Second World War. These include the Delisle Carbine

and the Welrod pistol

These are two weapons that were developed for use by assassins and British Commandos during the war, in situations where having a silent weapon would be very much beneficial.

Note that I said ‘silent’ and not ‘suppressed’. These weapons were truly silent. As in, there was one occasion during the trials of the Delisle carbine where a designer walked into the woods several dozen feet away from the big-shots who were currently hemming and hawing about the Carbine joining the Commando’s armory. The man then fired several shots from the Delisle carbine, only a few dozen feet away from these seasoned military personnel.

They didn’t believe him when he said that he’d fired the weapon. He had to show them the casings. The Delisle carbine was so quiet that the only significant noise it produced was the action cycling and locking into battery. The Welrod wasn’t so fabulously silent, but it was pretty damned quiet too.

The way they got these weapons so quiet is pretty simple. Note the massive suppressor on the Delisle carbine: that provides a lot of space for gas to stagnate, and the baffles in there helped a lot. Additionally, both of these weapons fired .45 ACP, a subsonic cartridge. The result was those two fine pieces of engineering you see above.

So yes, it is very possible to suppress a firearm to the point shown in games and movies, and it’s been done before, too.

Anonymous · Answer

The shotguns power as portrayed in most movies and video games is vastly different from the real world effects. MythBusters did a myth regarding this. In short, taking a shotgun shot to the center of your chest from a short distance away will result in your body simply dropping to the ground. Not flying back or anything of the sort. Just dropping to the ground as if your legs have suddenly given out.

In terms of range, again, what you see in video games couldn’t be further from the truth. Games would have you believe that unless you’re a few steps from your intended target, the spread of a shotgun would do little more than tickle the intended target. Shooting at targets 25-yards away with shot didn’t spread anywhere near what video games would leave you to expect. Granted, the spread was fairly large, but you could still easily see the focus. The impact was also deep enough to cause a lot of harm and bodily injury. I know hunters who have killed animals with shot from a shotgun at a range of about 30 yards.

But that brings us to the shotgun slug, which works wonderfully at distances of up to about 100 yards. So as long as the target is within roughly 100 yards and you’re using the correct shotgun shell, you can effectively hit and kill a target. But again, don’t expect a human to fly upon impact.

Can you hit a target further than 100 yards with a shotgun? Sure, I wouldn’t doubt it. But 100 yards is the longest range I have personally seen someone hit a target effectively.

D P Black · Answer

Yes but no.

There are a few weapons out there that were built specifically to be silent, like the Delisle Carbine, which was reportedly fired within several dozen feet of a group of seasoned veterans. None of them took notice.

Note how it is bolt action.

The big problem with making silent semi-automatic firearms as seen in games and movies is twofold:

1. Cycling and escaping gas makes noise.
2. Most of the guns you see in video games and movies use “supersonic ammo”. A “silent” gun would be best with subsonic ammo like 45ACP.
Note that the carbine above is bolt action to reduce action noise, chambered in 45ACP, and designed to be suppressed to all hell.

The secret to silent guns is something that reduces action noise(bolt action is ideal), a wicked good suppressor, and subsonic ammo. Most of the ones that are silent like the movies were specifically designed that way, and are outside the norm.

All this boils down to is that just screwing on a suppressor does not make your gun movie quiet.

Michael Florian · Answer

Competition shooters, snipers, and other trained individuals can be extremely accurate.

The top sniper was able to hit a man at just over two miles.

This Texas man was able to hit a target at over 3 miles away.

This man, Jerry Miculek, is a professional competition shooter. He was able to hit a target at 1000 yard with a revolver.

With enough training, a shooter can be quite precise.

Ed Tsoi · Answer

Just do a simple calculation and the answer will say no on the question.

This had been done after T2 was released.

A typical 7.62 NATO round will generate a felt recoil of app. 22 ft.lb., if firing at 5000 rounds per minute, the force of recoil for 1 sec. will be

22 ft lb X 5000 /60 = 1830 ft.lb.

That implies even if there is one person that can carry and hold the minigun with the battery and ammunitions, he will probably be knocked down in less than a second once he pull the trigger.

Samuel Knight · Answer

Realistic, but painful.

UNTIL RECENTLY.

This is your average M134D minigun unit. It’s heavy, bulky, but as the once famous FPS Russia demonstrated, you can carry one. He used a shoulder strap and an ammo box on his back, as well as the car battery used to power one on him.

But I’m about to blow your mind. There was a weapon featured at Shot Show that wowed everyone.

This is the XM556 Microgun, which is significantly smaller and lighter than a minigun, and much more, more practical. Need a size comparison?

This is FPS Russia shooting an M134D.

And this is just some dude holding an XM556.

So you wanna hold a minigun? Get a microgun! Shoots the same bullet, similar rate of fire, and you can even hide it in a backpack!