The Fastest Firing Machine Guns on Earth

Of German origin, the Rheinmetall MG3 of the early Cold War was derived from another gun on this list, the MG42 — one of the most feared weapons used by the Axis during World War II. The belt fed MG3 was introduced when Germany joined NATO in the 1950s, with minor upgrades over the MG42. It was one of the common machine gun types during the Cold War, and its many variants and derivatives are still used today, though light machine guns have replaced many.

After the U.S. military realized in World War I that water-cooled machine guns, such as the M1917A1, took up too much space in armored vehicles, John Browning developed the M1919A4, which was lighter with its air-cooled barrel design. The iconic M1919 was America’s answer to Germany’s MG42 during World War II. It was more maneuverable and could be mounted on tanks and aircraft.

Nicknamed “Hitler’s Buzz Saw,” U.S. troops feared the lethal German MG42, partly because of its rapid firing capabilities. Though it tended to overheat, the MG42 was considered to be light-years ahead of the U.S. Browning M-1919A4. Germany produced roughly 400,000 MG42s during the war, according to The National WWII Museum. Postwar variants are still in use today in armies around the world.

This prototype machine gun was the result of material shortages in Germany late in WWII. It was an attempt to reduce material and cost of production of the MG42. Engineering tweaks allowed the MG45 a faster maximum rate of fire but a significantly shorter effective firing range. Other problems included overheating, ammo consumption, and punishing recoil.

Another prototype, this one from the Cold War era, the West German boxy G11 looks like it should be used as a prop in a Science Fiction action movie. The lightweight machine gun is noted for its use of caseless ammunition, which eliminates the cartridge case in order to reduce weight. While this allowed for over 2,000 rpms, the G11 was a complicated and over-engineered gun.

The GAU-8 Avenger uses seven barrels to achieve its high rate of fire. The system was specifically built for the U.S. Air Force, to be mounted on the A-10 as a close-air support “Tank Buster.” During the Gulf War of 1990-91, this massive hydraulically Gatling-style autocannon destroyed about 3,200 military vehicles and artillery pieces, including 900 tanks.

The radar-guided, rapid-firing MK 15 Phalanx close-in weapons system can fire between 3,000-4,500 20mm cannon rounds per minute, either autonomously or manually. It is designed to protect naval vessels, providing a last line of defense from missile attacks, aircraft, and littoral warfare threats that have penetrated other fleet defenses. The system, which weighs up to 13,600 pounds, is an autonomous last-chance defense system.

The M134 Minigun is a six-barreled, air cooled, medium machine gun used primarily in aircraft of the U.S. military. The Gatling-style M134, which fires standard NATO rounds, relies on electric motors to power the barrels, resulting in a firing rate as much as 6,000 rounds per minute. In Vietnam, the M134 was mounted on helicopters and was used to protect the aircraft from ground-based small arms and RPG fire. The Minigun is still used today, mounted to land, sea, and air vehicles.

The leap in the rate of fire from the M134 Minigun to the Metal Storm experimental weapon is enormous as the latter can fire 1,000,000 rounds per minute. Rather, one prototype Metal Storm discharged 180 rounds in just one-hundredth of a second. While firing a million rounds of caseless 9mm bullets, fired electronically from the 36 barrels in the box-shaped gun, can easily cut through a tank, it would be difficult to use this heavy weapon to sweep across a battlefield effectively.