Was just playing Call Of Duty and it got me wondering. Thanks in advance.
In: Engineering
So high powered can mean a lot of things. There are guns that work with electricity and without. A “[machine gun](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/BundeswehrMG3.jpg/250px-BundeswehrMG3.jpg)” usually means a gun that is operated by recoil. That is, some of the power of the explosion that propels the bullet is harvested to make the reloading mechanism work (this is also how semi-automatic guns work, only they fire once, reload, and stop until you let the trigger loose and pull it again). Basically, the bullet fires, the expanding gas pushes the bullet out of the barrel, and while there is pressure in the barrel, some of that energy is used to throw the bolt back, ejecting a new shell and loading another. This could theoretically happen almost as fast as the bullet travels, but in reality the mechanisms take time to operate. The faster they operate, the faster the rate of fire.
There are other classes of guns though. Some examples are [autocannons](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocannon), [mini-guns](https://youtu.be/ddIIeoQ4K9M), and [chain guns](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_gun). Although some guns in this category operate by the explosion of the gunpowder as well, in many cases, it will have multiple barrels that spin around (or in some cases, a single barrel with a rotating drum, similar to a revolver that can unload and reload a chamber as it spins). An electric motor spins the barrels, and as they move it ejects a spent casing, puts another bullet in, and then fires the bullet when it gets into place. These operate much faster than a conventional machine gun. They fire so fast that it’s usually impossible for a human to carry one around and fire it (due to weight, recoil, amount of ammo needed, ect.). Usually they are attached to vehicles, and can range from normal rifle-caliber, all the way up to 2 inches or so. A 2 inch wide, high explosive bullet coming your way along with a few hundred of his friends over the course of a second will absolutely ruin your day.
Note that I’ve been a little loose with the terminology here to hopefully make it easier to understand. Gun aficionados often get butthurt when you use the wrong terminology, so if you want to know more, it will help to learn the proper terms.
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