Heavy Weapons
The drums of aircraft cannons such as the M61 Vulcan and GAU-8 Avenger resemble drum magazines for small arms, but function in a different manner. That is, the rounds are stored nose-facing-in, and are kept under positive control by partitions running the length of the drum, and are driven forward by an externally powered helical auger. This makes their operation very reliable, even when operated at rates of fire of several thousand rounds per minute.
Read more about this topic: Drum Magazine
Famous quotes containing the words heavy and/or weapons:
“that blessed mood,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world
Is lightened:—”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“I have always been of the mind that in a democracy manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91)