[chuckfourth]

Hi Baggypants
Thanks for replying.
Yes my apologies, when I say mags I mean cans. The site I sourced this from said that there was 120 rounds per can, close enough to your 110.
Ive been talking about "practical" ROF you mention cyclic ROF for 50 cal of 400-550, actually flak 38 has a cyclic ROF of 200-450 and vierling of 1400-1800 (sources vary). So you could safely say that for game purposes the two weapons have the same cyclic ROFs, However my point is that the practical ROF of 50 cal has to be lower than the vierlings as the 50 cals barrel isnt swapped out.
This site details the "on and off" firing you mention.
URL REMOVED BY REQUEST FROM SITE -- NO LONGER VALID
"Describe the Rapid method of fire on the M2 .50 Cal.
Rapid fire consists of more than 40 rounds per minute, fired in bursts of five to seven rounds, at 5- to 10-second intervals."
So "Rapid fire" still only gives you at best a practical ROF of 84 still well below the vierlings practical ROF of 200.
Also we should be aware that the barrel becomes soft and hence bent and innacurrate well before "shoot through". so using cyclic ROF means you will very shortly have a useless weapon.
I would suggest that the detailed Rates of fire arnt for officers but for soldiers that are so tired they cant think and can only rely on whats been drilled into them at training in order not to "burn out there barrels", ie five to seven rounds, at 5- to 10-second intervals.
If by volume fire you mean accuracy it would appear to me that accuracy should be higher for the vierling than the quad as even though both have a similar cyclic ROF the ability to swap out the barrels in the vierling must give it a much better Practical ROF.(as sources would seem to confirm) and hence much better "volume" fire.
The ROF for both weapons doesnt matter during aircraft engagements as the targets are fleeting anyway. But for the common in-game useage as a type of sustained fire heavy MG the practical ROF becomes much more important than the cyclic ROF.
Effective ceiling for the flak 38 is quoted at 2200m

but Im more interested in the comparison af a 50 cal with say a MG42. what do you think?
Point to note
being hit by a 12.7 or 7.92 round is going to put you out of action either way.
MG42 puts a lot more rounds on target, (250 vs 84 per min)
so does it follow that
MG42 should have a better accuracy rating than the 50 cal?
MG42 should have a better Kill value than 50 cal?

Also of interest in-game the British 20mm hispano cannon firing ball gets the same Kill value as the German 20mm MG 151 firing HE, 10. This seems wrong to me.
Best Regards Chuck