Steadicam mounted rifle
muck @ MP.net came across this photo of a G3 rifle attached to a Steadicam.
While it is very cool looking it is also very impractical. Shooting sticks are a much better idea. If the shooter need to lie down or quickly maneuver he just drops the sticks.
The correct use of a Steadicam. Photo from Wikipedia.
UPDATE: So it turns out this concept was used in the movie Aliens. I have not seen any of the Alien/Predator movies. Only in the past few years have I began to start appreciating sci/fi after reading a couple of the classics. Some Alien movie pictures:
“Colonial Marines Technical Manual” – Thanks to Jimmy for the scan
“M56 Smart Gun”. From IMFDB. Thanks to Linoge and Redfezwriter for the link.
The Smart Gun In theory was more than just a GPMG on a steadi-cam. In the technical manual, and in the script, the harness had servo motors that would absorb the recoil and assist in aiming.
The gun has a motion/IR tracker mounted on top, a computer under the breastplate, and a HUD that covers one eye. The gun could identify targets, track them and target them. The motors in the harness would allow it to boresight automatically. Basically the gunner just needed to pull the trigger. It would be rather similar to the targeting systems used in fighter jets.
Granted, it would have a simple manual override incase it targeted a friendly, (the gunner could just pull and aim elsewhere, and the software understood the movement). The fictional gun also used caseless ammo, which is smaller and lighter, allowing more rounds to be carried in the drum.
I think this is plasuible, and the technology to do it is pretty much here. Right now, weight would be an issue, but using polymers and titatium can alleviate that.
Otherwise, you can always go with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeWT-fuUyEY
Now we need to combine that with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2H2peoX174
as a steadicam operator let analize:
Steadicam, smooths up and down motion, unless you have a counterweight below the gimbal to counteract the recoil, the arm swings freely away and to the body.
the arm would assit for carrying, but anything 30lbs or more for more than 30 min, highly unlikely.
the gun with a ribbon of bullets, attached to anything other than the gimbal/stick/sled would deem the steadicam near worthless.
Very cool visual for the movies but extremely impractal for the real world.
speaking as an 0311 Infantry Rifleman with an FMF line company, i would say a stabalized self tracking firing platform for a medium machinegun at the fireteam level is awesome. Yes, i know the USCM structure says it was a squad, but 4 guys a squad does not make. Thats a fireteam. 3 of which make a squad. As for the weight? with 40 lbs of armor? another 40-60 pounds of gear-water-ammo? whats a few more? Especially if that few more provides you with a suspension rig that puts the weight of a med MG on your torso to allow you to shoot ACCURATELY while on the move?
You realize that the first image is pointless, yes? Unless the arm is compressed, it will do nothing more than a metal pipe. Even if you had the entire weight of the rifle on the end of the arm it still wouldn’t be enough.
back in the day my job was running an m1919a4 browning, (m.o.s. 0331) and that was enough of a load for me, my a.g. got to lug the tripod, along with a couple of guys to hump the ammo. no way would i want to hump a 40 pound load like that, to say nothing of using in in confined spaces. thats what grenades and tommyguns are for.
yes, jdun, reality’s all well and good, but the point that you’re missing is that it would look cool. specifically, super-cool. c’mon buddy; get with the awesome.
and as great as it is is that everyone went right to the aliens reference, i’m going to make the corny joke no one else wanted to:
“that’s what i call shooting from the hip!”
you’re all very welcome.
You know that’s what a sling is for.
Anyone carry 500 rounds of 7.62 x 51 in ammo cans? It’s not fun. For a gun (in Alien) to be effective you must have a crap load of ammo to back up the rate of fire. The ammo weight alone will kill you.
Glad to see I’m far from the only one who automatically recalled the good ol’ smartgun.
Still, has a ton of uses if you want to assassinate someone under the premise of being a camera man.
But if you put a SAW on it or something then it could help you hold it steady while you absorb the recoil.
I’m sorry but it looks awful! I’d rather get shot then be seen in the field with that.
I don’t see any kind of soldier wanting to use it.
What, no pics of the famous M56 SmartGun? MG3 on a steadycam – that was cool!
Very cool! Indeed, it’s impractical on a massive level. However, I’ve got to say I’m pretty curious how a steady cam mounted weapon would perform.
Very similar to what the production crew did the create the “Smart Guns” in the film “Aliens”. They mounted MG-42′s to modified steady cam rigs in order to create the unique prop firearms. Of course considering that they were only props and not firearms intended for real world use, I suppose they’re effectiveness would remain to be seen.
So who’s got an extra Steadicam we can use to test this out? hehe =P
The smartguns in the movie “Aliens” are MG42s mounted to steadycams (IIRC).
Ah but the most famous “Steadicam” long arms were featured in james Cameron’s ‘Aliens.’
Remember the M56 Smart guns were actually MG42 mounted on old school Steadicam brace.
http://www.imfdb.org/index.php?title=M56_Smart_Gun
Keep blogging!
Yeah, but now we are only about two steps away from this: http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/5082/colonialmarines4up6.jpg
Impractical? What could be impractical about moving us one step closer to the M56 Smart Gun (as seen in Aliens)?
‘Course, they just popped a dressed up MG42 on top of a steadicam mount for that one.
Besides, the best gun to put on a steady mount is a Smart-gun. Now I need to watch Aliens again…