Real rate of fire

[Adam Helmer]

Minihuntur,

Gil pretty well covered the differences.

Rate of fire used to be applied to bolt guns (or semis like the Garand) such as the SMLE where it was stated 20-25 rounds per minute were expected from a seasoned soldier. Thus rate of fire applied to the human factor.

Cyclic rate of fire can be mechanical or electronic. A M1919A4 .30 caliber aircooled machine gun had a cyclic rate of about 600 rounds per minute. That was the rate of fire, presupposing there was ammo on establishment. The Vulcan 20 MM aircraft gun is electrically fired and can do several thousand rounds per minute cyclic rate.

Hope this helps.

Adam