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Comment by leroy_masochist | Hacker News Reader

"capable of firing more than 800 rounds a minute—in some models"

No -- in no models. Cyclic rate of fire != number of rounds you can put through the weapon within one minute. Even if you figured out a magazine that could reliably put 800 rounds through without a stoppage, you'd melt the barrel at about round 200-300.

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I'm not a gun expert, not clear what you're saying, but is it like saying that a downhill skier isn't going 120mph unless they travel 120 miles in an hour ?

Sort of. It's the understanding that a skier may travel 120MPH, but we understand that he's not going to do it for an hour - both because there isn't a suitable slope 120 miles long, and because his skis/legs/boots/whatever will self-destruct well before the hour is done. An M16 can fire at a speed of 800 rounds per minute, which it would do IF it didn't literally start melting the barrel in the process (I'm trying to find a recent video where someone actually tried to fire 800 rounds thru an M16 as fast as possible, and the barrel actually burst around 500 rounds).

I think your analogy has confused some people but yes, that's what he's saying. I believe he's confused "800 rounds in a minute" -- which is impossible -- with "800 rounds per minute" -- which is a rate of fire that can be reached but only for periods much shorter than a minute.

The original article is saying "The skier can travel 120 miles in one hour because he is going 120mph". The parent is saying that the skier can't travel 120 miles in one hour, because even if you could find a mountain that long enough that could create a reliable path without any trees, the skier's skies would fall apart from friction (analogy breaks down here?)

Firing a round heats the barrel. If you keep the heat going, the metal melts.

"X a Y" is colloquially used interchangeably with "X per Y" if TFA had said "800 rounds in a minute" you would probably be right.

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