Minigun

The M134 (or GAU-2/a) Minigun is a gatling-style machine gun commonly used as a door gun on helicopters. With current variants capable of firing 4000 rounds per minute, it is an ideal suppression weapon. The name is derived from the M61 Vulcan, a 20mm gatling gun used on almost every American fighter since the Vietnam War as well as many other aircraft, with the minigun being a "miniaturized" version as it fires a rifle cartridge, 7.62x51mm, instead of an autocannon round.

Call of Duty 4
In Call of Duty 4, the Minigun is used by Soap in Heat to provide supporting fire for his retreating SAS allies. The Minigun is attached to a downed helicopter (the same helicopter can be seen in the same position in Safehouse, but the minigun is not present) just past the church.

The Minigun can really do a lot of damage because of its high firing rate, but it needs to be spooled up and can overheat. However, keeping it spooled will not overheat the gun. It's also worth noting that the minigun is highly effective against the helicopters in the mission "Heat", it can normally down one in a short burst and will stop the troops getting off and engaging the player later on in the mission. On Arcade Mode a helicopter kill is worth 1000 points. A quick spray around will down them all very quickly.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (DS)
The Minigun is constantly used throughout the Helicopter levels in the game, where you usually need it to eliminate opposition or take out objectives. Unlike its console counterparts it cannot overheat and does not need to be spooled up before firing, making it an extremely effective weapon, however it does lack power and is somewhat inaccurate.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The Minigun returns in Modern Warfare 2. It is featured far more often than in Call of Duty 4 and also now has a much shorter and more realistic spooling time. It can be seen in the single player mission Team Player mounted on a Humvee. It is also seen on various helicopters, notably in the single player mission Of Their Own Accord. This same setup is used in the Spec Ops mission Big Brother. The new Sentry Gun, available in the campaign, special ops and multiplayer, also uses the M134. Additionally, in the mission The Enemy Of My Enemy, it is seen mounted to black SUVs used by Shadow Company. The HMMWV-mounted minigun is far more inaccurate than the other implementations, firing in a wide, but consistent circular spread; the miniguns mounted on helicopters fire with a much tighter spread. In real life, the minigun is very accurate, and does not have the circular firing pattern shown in the HMMWV version, as it only fires from the topmost barrel in battery, not all six at once. In Multiplayer, the Minigun appears in select levels, replacing the M249 as the standard stationary gun. This was most likely a balance issue, due to players in MW1 constantly going prone, shooting off a burst, then going prone again automatically due to the way the game handles it. Now, players have to expose themselves for the short spool time before being able to shoot.

The minigun appears in Multiplayer Maps Wasteland, Karachi, Rundown and Overgrown. It can be devastating at controlling choke points but the gunner is greatly exposed, particularly the head, avoid staying on too long or you might end up being the answer to a sniper's prayers.

Holding the left trigger zooms in and spools the gun barrels without firing, eliminating the "warm up" time.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Mobilized
The Minigun is used in the level Helicopter Insertion. In the mission, you are a gunner on a Black Hawk clearing a city along with helping out your allies. Some things that you take out include a gas station, cars, a bridge, some APCs and Tanks, along with a bunch of Insurgent Infantry.

Trivia

 * The miniguns in Big Brother and Of Their Own Accord appear to fire very slowly for a gatling type weapon (judging by the rate of explosions on target), this is probably to conserve ammo.


 * in the description for Big Brother, it says 'Vulcan minigun' but the M61 vulcan is what the M134 is 'mini' related to, the vulcan is a 'Rotary Cannon'. This weapon is far too small to be a Vulcan and the Vulcan fires 20mm rounds at 6000-6600 rpm resulting in a massive recoil force, theoreticaly enough to push a helicopter sideways or cause it to flip, it is for this reason that the 3-barrel, much slower firing 20mm gun seen on the chin of a super-cobra was designed. the rounds fired from the miniguns in big brother and of their own accord are probably 12.7mm(.50 cal) HEI rounds design for aerial gun platforms on helicopters like the blackhawk.


 * In Modern Warfare 2, the minigun does not overheat in Campaign but it does in Multiplayer. This was probably done for balancing reasons as a Minigun that never overheats and that kills very quick would be labelled over powered by most players.


 * In the mission "Heat", Soap is ordered to lay down suppressive fire on the approaching enemies using the minigun. This is not possible as the minigun requires electricity, which in turn is generated by the chopper. The wreckage suggests that the minigun is useless. However if the minigun had been found, it may use a jury-rigged power source like a car battery.


 * Also in Heat if you stay on the minigun after Captain Price tells you to fall back to the tavern Captain Price will repeat "Soap, get off the minigun," or phrases like that until you get off of the minigun.


 * In multiplayer mode, if you use a mounted minigun while wielding any sniper rifle, you can hold your breath while ADS with the minigun. It does not affect your accuracy, however.


 * In multiplayer if a player uses a minigun, they will not see their fingers on the trigger.


 * If a player is using a class set up with one man army, there is a glitch where a player can use one man army to switch to a class with riot shield and during the switch can use the Minigun, but once complete the person will have a riot shield in front of them as they use the minigun.


 * However, a new glitch has been discovered that involves the javelin. The glitcher equips the Javelin and uses any Minigun. The glitcher then spins the barrel using the zoom button, and the Javelin lock-on sound is heard. The glitcher then fires and a Javelin rocket is emitted. This glitch is not all that helpful, though, because the Javelin can be fired anyway, and the Minigun will not affect it in any way.thumb|right|300px|New Javelin on a mounted|Minigun Glitch