Yanks and their MG's

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by KnightFandragon

lolz, I read the part about the Russian guns carrying less explosives and such. That is displayed very well in IL2.....Ive flown the IL2M3 w/ those big 57mm wing cannons and also the LA5's and it became very obvious quickly that the Russian guns were simply not even remotly close to as powerful as the German/Allied guns. In game i also flew a Mig FS jet and had to unload basically all my ammo into 1 B17 to take it out. Also w/ the LA I ran out of ammo firing at 4 HE111s b/c the guns wuoldnt shoot em down. As for the British..or is it a French 20mm? the Hispano in the Spitfire, like 4-8 rounds downs a fighter and like 10-12 or so will down a HE111. As for the large caliber 50+mms I flew the Me262 UA w/ that 50mm and the Il2M3 w/ the 57mms and w/ the 262 it takes 1 or 2 rounds in the wing to kill big bombers, the Il2 its quite a few more. Im sure in RL it played out different but in game yeah....Russian cannons are kinda junky.

How good is your aim? The MiG-9 actually has very good cannons that do significant damage to the target aircraft. Several hits should be enough to finish off a B-17.

The Russians actually get quit a bit for their weaponry and there are a few other factors to consider that aren't strictly played out in the numbers.

The ShVAK 20mm cannon if we compare with the Hispano II fires at a higher rate (800 rounds per minute versus 600 rpm) and has a smaller round (20x99 versus 20x110) which means having a bigger ammo supply on the relatively small Russian fighters. Also if memory serves the ShVAK 20mm was very reliable through most of the war, even in dusty or dirty conditions whereas the Hispano had problems for years and it wasn't until later that the Mark II was made reliable.

Also the Russians have the best heavy machine gun with the Berezin UB 12.7mm.

I look at the three main cannons like this: The MG151/20 is a refined weapon with a very sophisticated high explosive MINE round. The Hispano is like a sledgehammer which fires the heaviest round at very high velocities. The ShVAK is more of a scalpel with high refire rate and good ballistics. Both ShVAK and MG151 can be fired through a propeller hub whereas the Hispano I don't think was ever fired from a synchronized installation.