Description

In service since the 1980s as an Army weapon, this electrically powered chaingun is now being proposed for a coax installation on the 25 mm Mark 38 Mod 3 platform. This chain gun is an open-bolt design with misfires automatically ejected. Empty cartridges are ejected forward.

Gun Characteristics

Designation 7.62 mm chaingun Mark 52
Ship Class Used On Surface ships
Date Of Design about 1980 (original design)
Date In Service Proposed for 2015
Gun Weight 1 30.2 lbs. (13.73 kg)
Gun Length oa 37 in (94 cm) with Flash Hider
Barrel length 22 in (55.9 cm)
Rifling Length N/A
Grooves N/A
Lands N/A
Twist N/A
Chamber Volume N/A
Rate of Fire 2 500 - 600 rounds per minute cyclic
  • ^
    Weight includes gun, barrel, short jacket, drive motor and feeder.
  • ^
    Gun takes 0.15 seconds to spin up to full firing rate.

Ammunition

Type Fixed
Weight of Complete Round N/A
Projectile Types and Weights 1a M80 Ball - 147-grain (9.5 g)
Bursting Charge Solid bullet
Projectile Length N/A
Propellant Charge N/A
Cartridge 7.62 mm x 51 NATO
Muzzle Velocity 2,809 fps (856 mps)
Working Pressure N/A
Approximate Barrel Life N/A
  • ^
    Available rounds include the M80 Ball, M62 Tracer, M276 Dim tracer and the M118 Special Ball (long range).

Range

Range of Ball projectiles
Elevation Range
Maximum about 2,000 yards (1,830 m)

Mount/Turret Data

Designation See 25 mm Mark 38 Mod 2 datapge
Weight
Elevation
Rate of Elevation
Train
Rate of Train
Gun Recoil

Additional Pictures

Sources

"MK38 Mod 2 Coaxial Machine Gun Presentation" by Jim McConkie, NSWC Dahlgren, presented at the NDIA Joint Armaments Forum, 14 May 2014
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7.62 mm Bushmaster Chaingun datasheet at ATK

Page History

15 June 2014 - New datapage
10 August 2016 - Converted to HTML 5 format
06 June 2018 - Reorganized notes
22 January 2019 - Corrected typographical error