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Re:Centrifugal Machine Guns by 6nf on Sunday December 08, 2019 @10:53PM (#21740285)
Modern bullets are not spheres because spherical projectiles don't want to fly straight, especially when you impart a bunch of spin on them first.
Re:Centrifugal Machine Guns by notduncansmith on Sunday December 08, 2019 @11:51PM (#21740472)
It's true that the spin from a centrifugal gun is unlikely to make bullets fly straight, although ironically "impart a bunch of spin on them" is also one of the foremost techniques for making bullets fly straight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifling

> In firearms, rifling refers to the helical groovings that are machined into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel, for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting. This spin serves to gyroscopically stabilize the projectile by conservation of angular momentum, improving its aerodynamic stability and accuracy over smoothbore designs.

Re:Centrifugal Machine Guns by catalogia on Monday December 09, 2019 @12:21AM (#21740561)
Relating to spinning spherical projectiles, some airsoft guns impart backspin on the spherical plastic pellets they fire to flatten their trajectory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hop-up_(airsoft)
Re:Centrifugal Machine Guns by pzs on Monday December 09, 2019 @12:13PM (#21744302)
It's called the Magnus effect [1]. I learned about it from my wife, who learned about it when she did a tennis instructor course.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_effect

Re:Centrifugal Machine Guns by DrStalker on Sunday December 08, 2019 @11:40PM (#21740441)
I imagine such a weapon would be more of a suppressing fire tool than something intended to shoot accurately.
Re:Centrifugal Machine Guns by rocqua on Monday December 09, 2019 @04:50AM (#21741458)
You still need some accuracy for supressing fire. Especially in the vertical direction. You might wanna keep a horizontal line saturated with lead, but vertical dispersion of targets is usually much lower.
Re:Centrifugal Machine Guns by jbms on Monday December 09, 2019 @08:32AM (#21742426)
Turn it sideways 90 degrees.