When I started writing this page I may have overestimated the weight of a minigun. I based it off what I remember hearing the prop from Predator weighing, which was something like 160 pounds. Thinking about it now that may have included the belt and the backpack, or heck it may have been someone’s estimation of the total weight including the ammo. I actually timed all the firing time in the movie once cause I’m a big nerd like that. The “Schwarzenegger’s Forest Clearing Service” scene was the bulk of it of course, but all told it was very nearly 60 seconds worth, and depending on the exact model of the minigun that comes out to somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 rounds, and that adds up.

Turns out the GE M134 Minigun, which I think is what Blaine used, weighs 85 pounds (39 kg). (There’s a lighter variant but clearly this one is not that.) The prop for the movie was modified, for instance it had some kind of rifle grip on the bottom. It actually looked like a pump action shotgun but it was probably just a handhold. Anyway, Sydney could probably lift 85 lbs off the ground if she could get her legs and back into it, but picking it up when it’s already waist high mostly using her biceps would be… well, impossible according to this page. Also I can say the one on the table is modified and weighs whatever I want it to. :) If nothing else, six bayonets and the clamps to hold them on to the spinning barrels would probably add what, 10-ish pounds?

The previous page telegraphs this one a bit, and a few people in the comments called this outcome with comments like “Yeah, if she can lift it” which is why I wanted this page and the previous one to go up as a double page, but there’s only so much time in a week and I was still catching up from the previous double. Well one day I’ll have a bevy of unpaid interns doing backgrounds and making 3D models for me. :)


Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.