When I am down to 2 fifties thats my cue to leave....Strip
There are actually two types of .50s found on U.S. fighters. One is for a normal installation and one is for a synchronized installation. The P-40B uses a synchronized installation which has a lower rate of fire than the normal version. They are still the same in a bullet per bullet comparison.As for them using different characteristics, that's not how the system works. Lethality, rate of fire, muzzle velocity, armor penetration, etc, is not set on a plane by plane basis. There's a weapon file that is set up with all that information. None of that info is defined in any of the plane files, it just says go use this weapon for this hardpoint. These planes(with the exception of the P-40B) are all set to the same weapon. Now this is not to say that your perception is wrong. It's just that what you attribute as the cause of your perception may be what's wrong. For example, compare the FM2 versus the P-51B. They have identical guns(I did verify all of these). Yet you note that one is much more effective than the other. What other differences are involved that may account for the disparity? Is it really that you are using different weapons or is it that you are using the same weapons in a different way or against different things?
The only difference between .50s is between ground vehicles and aircraft. Aircraft .50s use a 36" barrel versus a 45" barrel on ground vehicles. That equates to something like an extra 100 fps M.V. for the GV .50s.That said, the F4U does hit harder on average(not at peak) due to the differences in their ammo loads. If you fire all of your guns together, both planes will have 30 seconds of fire. After about 20 seconds the P-51 will run out of ammo on 4 of its guns and be left with only 2 for the remaining 10 seconds. After about 28 seconds the F4U will run out of ammo for 2 of its guns and be leftwith 4 guns for the remaining 2 seconds. Over the course of 30 seconds, the F4U will deliver 25% more firepower.
The FM2 has the same number of rounds in all 4 of its guns so lethality remains constant through the entire ammo load when you fire all guns.Aircraft .50s have a fire rate of 800 rpm. FM2's duration of fire in minutes would be 430/800 = .5375 minutes or 32.25 seconds.BTW, another difference between the .50s in the aircraft and GVs is rate of fire. The aircraft .50s have a higher rate of fire.
