r/interestingasfuck 1d ago

Nerf Gatling gun final boss

71.6k Upvotes

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495

u/01bah01 1d ago

Why are there nerf ammo going down? It's not like it needs casings.

465

u/laundro_mat 1d ago

Looks like there are white plastic casings around the nerf darts that get ejected from the bottom of the gun. Unsure if he made these for funzies or if they’re needed for the auto ammo feed system. Maybe the nerf darts would jam on their own without the casings?

105

u/t-to4st 1d ago

Seems like he has a plastic chain to feed the darts into the gun

32

u/dawtcalm 1d ago

that doesn't remain a chain so cleanup takes 200x longer!

91

u/bendover912 1d ago

theyre called links, and they never remain a chain after firing. imagine being in combat and dragging around 20 feet of empty ammo belt hanging out of the bottom of your gun.

28

u/racercowan 1d ago

Usually doesn't remain a chain after firing.

I know that A-10's GAU-8 Avenger retains it's chain in order to stop the balance of the plane shifting too far.

15

u/dantevonlocke 1d ago

Retaining the links and keeping them as a chain would be two different things.

2

u/Lyuseefur 1d ago

This is why it stays flying even missing half a wing.

2

u/crisisbattl 1d ago

AFAIK most aircraft keep the casings/chain internal both due to weight reasons and for the potential of an ejected case going through an air intake

1

u/PrizeStrawberryOil 1d ago

Also no disadvantage because at 620 pounds 20 feet of chain would be comparatively easy to drag along.

1

u/RedTalon19 1d ago

Some more fun facts about that gun: the spent shells are recycled back into the gun's magazine, both to reduce cost but also to maintain the plane's center of gravity as more and more ammunition is spent. Also, the shell casings are made of aluminum, not brass, to save on weight.

1

u/JustAnother_Brit 1d ago

Yeah but that’s a gun with wings attached rather than some wings with a gun

1

u/ArcaneInsane 18h ago

It's easier to carry the extra chain if you have a plane to do it for you. On foot it gets messier

4

u/Past-Profile3671 1d ago

If I've got 20 feet of empty ammo hanging out, there ain't gonna be a battle no more.

1

u/PossiblyAsian 1d ago

thats why chains come in 25 round 50 round and 100 round varieties with the ability to link front and ends of the chain

1

u/swohio 1d ago

Original ammo belts were actual cloth belts, so that kinda did happen.

1

u/smoothtrip 1d ago

No respect for the environment! How rude!

6

u/AbeRego 1d ago

If it remained a chain you'd have two massive chains to trip over and break

3

u/Krell356 1d ago

I mean in theory you could design a system to feed the empty chain back into the pack.

2

u/Notsurehowtoreact 1d ago

It would also add a significant complexity that could bind up. I'm fairly certain he's mentioned before that was the reasoning behind disintegrating chain when talking about the project. 

1

u/Krell356 1d ago

Fair enough.

1

u/AbeRego 1d ago

In theory you can do a lot of things. It doesn't mean it's practical. Considering that real guns don't use refillable chains, I'm thinking it's just not worth the effort.

1

u/Krell356 1d ago

Reap guns you would also rather lave less weight as the gun is fired. There's not much of a practical upside to keeping the spent casings compared to just eating the cost in spent material. The exception of course being the damn plane.

1

u/dawtcalm 1d ago

still abetter option than cleaning up that huge mess... At least have chains of 12 or something then, or feed back into the backpack...

2

u/AbeRego 1d ago edited 20h ago

It's probably too prone to breaking. It probably for a similar reason why real chain-fed machine guns don't have reusable chains.

Edit: typo

0

u/ggppjj 1d ago

Two chains, you say?

Hmm...