What I have read here is a lot of hot air coming from people who have
never fired either of these weapons, and probably have never fired on
either an aerial or ground target with any weapon. Spool-up time on a
M61? Have you ever heard one shoot? You sure as hell can't hear it
spool up. I've fired them in the air and on the ground in the firing
butts - all you hear on the ground is a very loud BRRRRR with the
individual shots indistinguishable from the first one. Watching the
gun itself you see it go from 'stop' to 'blur' instantly. The only
difference I ever noted was that the SUU23 pod gun had a slight
'tail-off' as it fired itself dry when you released the trigger. Note
that the 100 rps in the hydraulic driven M61 (25HP motor) in the
F4/14/15/16/ give these aircraft a real high-deflection (actually,
all-aspect) capability - and if a fraction of a second spin-up makes a
difference between a hit or a miss all I can say is the shooter
didn't see the opportunity in time. Even in the electric drive (15HP,
67 rps) gun in the 104A I've seen gun camera film which showed that if
the M61 gun had been firing the other aircraft would have take two
dozen rounds, from nose to tail, crossing at 70+ degrees with the
shooter pulling max G attainable in the situation, just not enough to
track him but enough to get a good shot in at close range - about 100
yards. How do you do this? You start shooting early and hose him as he
sails past. BTW that 104A installation had a 3-mil dispersion - I've
seen that proven in the firing-in butts, too.
Walt BJ -