HI - CALIBRE
By D.S. O'Reilly and Eric 'The Sarge' Matherson
Page Four

Back to Xallen's Lair
However, the stopping power of the pistol is somewhat lacking when comparing to the .40 ACP, .44 or .45 pistol rounds.  This weapon makes and excellent backup piece, perfect for fitting into a boot or forearm holster.  When combined with a slimline holster, the weapon is practically invisible on someone wearing a jacket or suit.  And because its 9mm parabellum, the ammo is so easy to come by you can probably get it at your local McHughs.

Walther supplies a large capacity clip for the Walther, increasing the round count from ten to fifteen, but personally I think this detracts from the weapon's obvious primary purpose.  Walther also sells a frame made of polymers, although this is at three times the cost. A great weapon to take to a dinner party.  And while Sarge didnt think the weapon was worth buying, I am pretty sure I caught him making some Bond-esque poses while I was rigging up the truck's tailgate.  Which brings me to the next piece.
GE Vindicator Minigun

Now, I may be old fashioned, but when I think of General Electric, I think of my washing machine.  And its a reliable old girl, too.  But GE's weapons division really were slipping something into their coffee when they released the Vindicator onto the market describing it as 'man portable'. 

Yeah, right, as long as you dont happen to pull the trigger.

The Vindiator chambers 7.62mm rounds, and with 8 barrels on a rotating assembly, it spits out an extremely high rate of fire, making it one of the more effective light machineguns.  But the weapon has some major drawbacks, the first being weight.  The Vindicator weighs in at nearly twice that of standard light machineguns, infact, its weight is comparale to the RPK and Browning .50 calibre heavy machine guns.
The second drawback is that the weapon ires so rapidly that its nearly impossible to hold onto itwhile its firing, let along aim it with any reasonable accuracy.  You simply cant limit the rate of fire, the mechanism and your brain doesnt work ast enough to fire any less than 15-20 rounds for each squeeze of the trigger.  This means that really, you need the biggest and baddest gyro you can find, or a tripod to set this baby up on, and as much recoil compensators as you can find. 
The problem with recoil is compounded by the fact that because its a rotating barrel setup, you cant gasvent the barrels, putting a very finite limit on recoil compensation options.

The third problem with the weapon is that the barrel motor is electrically driven, which means its needs a battery if its portable.  And that means that to conserve power, the barrels arents always spinning.  Which means when you pull the trigger, you have to wait for the damn thing to spin up.  Sure, once it gets going, you're all set, if you dont fall over while hanging onto the lead hose.  But in that two to three seconds you're standing around waiting for the barrels to get up to speed, you're a big, fat, slow moving, profitable looking target.  Oh, and the barrel spinning is also loud, not that it matters once the thing starts firing.

Ideally, GE should give up on the marketting of the Vindicator as an infantry weapon, and bring the Vindicator out as a dedicated vehicle weapon.  Wiring the vindicator to vehicle power will stop the wait-time on the barrels if they're always spinning when the vehicle is running, and several large bolts connected to the chassis will help stem the problems from recoil.  This would also help the problems with ammo, because hooking it up to an ammo hopper means you dont hae to reload every third touch of the trigger.