Minigun (Fallout 3)

The Rockwell made minigun or CZ53 personal minigun is the most commonly encountered big gun in Fallout 3.

Characteristics
Since it is so common, the minigun is comparatively easy to find and repair, as well as one of the few big guns easy to find ammunition for; nearly every super mutant brute encountered with one has at least 30 5mm rounds for it. It is also carried extensively by Brotherhood of Steel units, Brotherhood Outcast units, Enclave soldiers, as well as occasionally on some raiders, and slavers. This is offset somewhat by the minigun's high rate of fire quickly using up ammo. Though it does use up ammo as quickly as the Gatling laser, the minigun is designed as a sustained-firing weapon, and its rate of fire of 20 rounds per second means that it can use up 240 rounds in only 12 seconds of continuous firing. Because of this, those who intend to make use of it should buy additional ammunition, which is generally quite plentiful and cheap at shops.

When firing the minigun without V.A.T.S., there is a wind-up time between holding the fire button and when it actually fires. It usually takes under a second to begin shooting. This can be negated by tapping the fire button repeatedly to keep it spinning while not actually firing.

A fully-repaired minigun can fire 3333 5mm tracer rounds, about 14 belt-feeder boxes, before breaking.

Variants

 * Eugene - A unique minigun which is available as a reward for completing Reilly's Rangers quest and has notably better firepower.

Bugs

 * Very rarely the minigun can actually jam while firing. The barrel will quickly move left and right as if the gun is repeatedly warming up but no bullets will fire.