The Fastest Firing Machine Guns in the World

The Rheinmetall MG3 general purpose machine gun was derived from another gun on this list, the MG42 – one of the most feared weapons used by the Axis that could be fired by a single soldier. The MG3 is lighter than the MG42. It also has a slower maximum rate of fire, considered an improvement because it uses less ammunition, reducing instances of overheating. The MG3 gun and its many variants and derivatives are still used today. They’ve been manufactured under license by numerous companies or governments including Italy’s Beretta, Mexico’s Ministry of National Defense, and MKEK of Turkey.

The M1919 Browning was America’s answer to Germany’s MG42 during World War II. Versatile and highly reliable, the M1919 could chamber 10 different cartridges and could be mounted on tanks and aircraft. It had a tendency, however, to overheat more frequently than its Nazi equivalent. The typical rate of fire for the M1919 series is up to 600 rpms, but the AN/M2 variant can spit out up to 1,500 rpms.

Used by the Axis during World War II, the MG42 was nicknamed “Hitler’s Buzzsaw” by U.S. troops. Facing one was a frightening experience for a battle-hardened Allied solider ordered to take out a Nazi machine gun nest. Because of its higher firing rate, the MG42 also overheats sooner than its successor, the MG3, which came out in 1959. The MG42 still fulfills a need in the general-purpose machine gun class.

The MG45 resulted from an attempt to reduce the cost of production of the MG42. Engineering tweaks allow the MG45 a faster maximum maximum rate of fire, but a significantly shorter effective firing range. However, time ran out for the Nazis before they could mass produce and deploy the weapon, and, in any case, overheating, ammo consumption, and punishing recoil were factors that tampered the gun’s effectiveness compared to that of the other German general purpose machine guns on this list that are still used today.

This oddball Cold War-era German machine gun looks more like a “Star Trek” prop than something that would be used by troops patrolling the perimeter of the Berlin Wall. But this was no plastic prop. It fired a unique type of lightweight caseless ammo at a rate of 33 bullets per second. The gun also had an internal buffering system that would absorb a lot of recoil instead of passing it to the operator. Despite these qualities, the G11 was a complicated, over-engineered gun requiring a special armorer to completely disassemble. The bullet chamber also had to be replaced frequently. Defense cuts during German reunification in 1989 put an end to the G11 project.

The GAU-8 Avenger is the gun that gives the A-10 Warthog ground support aircraft its unmistakable “brrrrrrt” when fired, which to U.S. ground forces is a joyful sound indicating that the enemy in the distance is being obliterated. During the Gulf War of 1990-91, this massive hydraulically driven seven-barrel Gatling-style “autocannon” shattered more than 900 Iraqi tanks and 3,200 military vehicles and artillery pieces. The gun is roughly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, not including its eight-foot-long barrel.

The MK15 Phalanx is a Close-In Weapon System (CIWS, pronounced “sea-wiz”) designed to protect naval vessels from missile attacks. Like the GAU-8 Avenger and the M134 Minigun, the MK15 Phalanx is a Gatling-style gun. The system, which weighs up to 13,600 pounds, is an autonomous last-chance defense system. The latest version of this radar-guided giant machine gun can expel 1,550 20mm rounds of its magazine in about 20 seconds. As the name suggests, it’s the last line of defense of a warship from an incoming missile.

In a way, the six-barrel Gatling-style M134 could be considered the small sibling to the A-10 Warthog’s massive GAU-8. It fires standard NATO rounds, but at a much higher firing rate than other guns using the same ammo type. In Vietnam, the M134 was mounted on helicopters, offering protection from ground-based small arms and RPG fire. The gun was less prone to overheating and its high firing rate could mow through the dense jungle and thatched village huts that Viet Cong soldiers used as cover. The Minigun is still used today, mounted to land, sea, and air vehicles.

Like the weird, overly engineered Heckler & Koch G11, the Metal Storm has never been deployed. Essentially, it’s a proof-of-concept. One prototype Metal Storm discharged an astonishing 180 rounds in just one hundredth of a second, creating a devastating wall of caseless 9mm bullets fired electronically from the 36 barrels of this boxy-shaped gun. But the bulky Metal Storm has limited applications in actual combat, and there are other weapons that can be as effective with a less ravenous maximum rate of fire, such as the MK-15 Phalanx. Australia’s DefendTex currently holds the rights to produce the weapon.