[IceFire]

I can't find the table right now with the listing... but IL-2 uses a fairly sophisticated system for weapons modelling. Its not done 100% right and they made some odd shotcuts in some fine details as things went along (mostly surrounding specific guns) but by and large its a lot more sophisticated than most people realize.

Weapon rate of fire is a very important aspect. Its not done properly for all weapons but it is taken into account for the synchronized weapons on the Russian and German aircraft. For example the UBK on the Hurricane II Field Mod has a different rate of fire and muzzle velocity compared to the UBS on the Yaks.

The weight of shells, the type of shell (AP, HE, MINE, API, APIT, T, etc.), individual velocity considerations (not all shells in a belting will travel at exactly the same speed or with the same ballistics), and so forth are all taken into account.

The only problem in my mind with heavy machine gun versus cannon modelling is that internal components aren't as completely modelled as I would like to see. Cliffs of Dover, Rise of Flight, and the forthcoming IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad are all taking the internal damage modelling several steps further. Damage to individual components can lead to cascading failures. IL-2 is a bit simpler and it surrounds hitting the internal component or not. So the type of damage that a .50cal does is largely internal while the 20mm and higher tend to do more of the "rip a wing off" variety of damage which IL-2 does fairly well. That said... the Browning .50cal, MG13, Ho103 are all fairly potent and can drop a fighter with not that many bullets. With US machine guns and the typical 6 gun arrangement you need to be very conscious of the convergence point.

In practice different units used different techniques but the IL-2 method for convergence on US aircraft is the point convergence. All bullets are set to converge onto a VERY small point. Its what some US aces used but the typical US pilot used a more scattered approach. It was a community request that changed it to point convergence. So it means that either you're going to be VERY good with the .50cals or you aren't and its really up to pilot skill to get the most out of it.

I still struggle, but the problem is with my aim... not specifically the weapon. When I'm having a good day I'll cut a FW190 in half with a short burst... or a bad day and I get superficial hits and nothing really happens.