GAU-8 Ammo:Finray wrote:
I think the commentator meant the whole round including the explosive to fire the actual bullet. Wiki says the actual fired part is 30mm.
The round is called 30x173.
The projectile alone is 15oz (425g) for DU-API rounds. (or about 1 pound of projectile alone)
Diameter of the projectile is 30mm (1.18"), length of the projectile is about 173mm (6.8")
overall length of the projectile & cartridge is 290mm,
overall weight is 727g for cartridge/powder/projectile
From some insane range (4000'?), it can put 67 rounds a second into a 20' diameter circle.
Years ago, the A-10 pilots liked to fly very low over friendly troops, to be damn certain they knew who was where.
Low enough that you could make out the model of sunglasses they were wearing.
The sound of a GAU-8 going off overhead... a bit like the sky is made of a giant cotton bedsheet, and the A-10 pilot just started tearing it in half.
Or, like the world's angriest 25 ton mechanical wasp just took off.
Not the loudest weapon system in the world, but there's something about it that just sounds pissed off
(youtube videos don't capture the sounds properly. The audio is muffled to death, like the sound overwhelmed the microphone)
Last edited by rdx-fx (2010-10-07 13:10:50)
