“A devastating 6-barrel machine gun that features Gatling-style rotating barrels. Very high rate of fire (2000 to 6000 rounds per minute).”
— Grand Theft Auto V description on Ammu-Nation and Social Club.
The Minigun is a recurring machine gun in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, based on various US minigun models, appearing as a heavy weapon since its introduction in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. In Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, it is manufactured by Coil.[1]
Design[]
3D Universe[]
The Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto Advance renditions are based on a man-portable version of the M134 Minigun, whereas the Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories versions are based on either the M197 tri-barreled Gatling or the GAU-19 heavy machine gun.
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
Although the Minigun is not available for use in Grand Theft Auto IV or its episodes, it is still featured, with some limitations, as a vehicle-mounted weapon for the Annihilator attack helicopter.[2] It is modeled after the M134 Minigun.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars[]
“The last word in multi-barreled firepower. Originally designed for mounting on vehicles, now used by macho men as a side arm.”
— Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars description.
Based on the HUD icon, the Minigun has a simpler design, having a traditional firing mechanism fed with a green box mag with a star painted on its side.
Grand Theft Auto V and Online[]
The Minigun returns in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, once again based on the M134 model. The Minigun is colored gray and appears to be a smaller model compared to previous games. It appears to have a trigger group somewhat similar to the KAC ChainSAW.
Performance[]
3D Universe[]
The Minigun has an incredible rate of fire and can annihilate most vehicles in nearly less than a second around a certain radius.
In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the minigun mows down targets level with the player; however, it is impossible to aim manually. Instead, it shoots upwards automatically towards helicopters, similarly to the Rhino's tank cannon and the Hunter's machine gun turrets.
In GTA San Andreas, thanks to the new aiming system, it is possible to aim the minigun in any direction, making shooting elevated targets much easier. However, it can pose a danger if the target aircraft were to explode and fall on the player. It is almost 100% accurate as there is no recoil, but it cannot lock on to a target, though this is not much of a problem due to the very high power of each individual round and the amount of ammo the player can carry. A mounted Minigun with unlimited ammunition is used in three missions: Air Raid, The Da Nang Thang, and Up, Up and Away!.
In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, the player can both lock onto a target and shoot manually with the minigun.
3D Universe Overview[]
| Damage | Fire Rate [?] | Range (m / ft) |
Ammo Specifications/ Capacity |
Reload Mechanism | Reload Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 140 (GTA Vice City & GTA San Andreas) | 1 (GTA Vice City) | 75 / 246 (GTA Vice City) | 500 (GTA Vice City) | N/A | 350 (GTA Vice City) |
| N/A | 1800 RPM (Vice City, Liberty City Stories & Vice City Stories)
2400 RPM (San Andreas) |
Cannot be determined | 500-round belt | N/A | N/A |
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars[]
The Minigun is powerful enough to split a person in half. It can also destroy unarmored vehicles in a matter of seconds, being one of the most destructive weapons able to take out multiple enemies.
Grand Theft Auto V and Online[]
Unlike in the previous games, the Minigun does not reload. Instead, the belt size depends on the "maximum ammunition" of the weapon, which can be increased up to 9,999 rounds when the shooting skill of the playable character is at its maximum. Furthermore, its rate of fire is increased to 3,000 rounds per minute (twice as much as the one in the 3D Universe games).
Compared to its 3D universe iteration, it is significantly less powerful, dealing only half of the damage of the 3D Universe minigun per shot. However, considering its very high fire rate, it deals tremendous damage per second. A burst fire is at least 2 rounds, which will kill any unarmored NPC. Against vehicles, continuous fire will quickly set the engine on fire and destroy it, instead of causing them to explode like in the 3D Universe. Lacking automatic aiming and cover, the Minigun is not suitable for fighting enemies on foot, but is great against helicopters, planes, motor vehicles and multiple enemies.
GTA V and Online Overview[]
| Damage (per shot) [?] |
Fire Rate [?] | Range (m / ft) [?] |
Ammo Specifications/ Capacity |
Reload Mechanism | Reload Speed [?] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 (24) 22.5 |
0.02 (3000 RPM) |
120 / 394 | 15000 | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | 2000 - 6000 RPM | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | 3000 RPM | N/A | 595 - 9999 rounds | N/A | N/A |
 |
Damage | 30% 30% | |||
| Fire Rate/Speed | 100% 100% | ||||
| Accuracy | 40% 40% | ||||
| Range | 55% 55% | ||||
| Clip Size | 90% 90% | ||||
Customizations[]
Grand Theft Auto V and Online[]
| Rounds & magazine | GTA V | GTA Online (Unlock) |
|---|---|---|
| Rounds x 100 | $50 | $150 |
| Tints | ||
| Black | Default | Default |
| Army | $100 | $5,000 (Kill 100 players) |
| Green (Collector's and Enhanced Edition) | $200F | $5,250 (Kill 200 players) |
| Orange (Collector's and Enhanced Edition) | $400F | $5,500 (Kill 400 players) |
| LSPD | $600 | $5,750 (Kill 600 players) |
| Pink (Collector's and Enhanced Edition) | $800F | $7,500 (Rank 50) |
| Gold (Collector's and Enhanced Edition) | $1,000F | $10,000 (Rank 75) |
| Platinum (Collector's and Enhanced Edition) | $1,500F | $12,500 (Rank 100) |
- F Free for players that have the Special/Collector's edition of the game.
Image Gallery[]
In-game model[]
Grand Theft Auto Advance (Inventory icon).
Grand Theft Auto Advance (Pickup icon).
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (mobile version).
The Minigun on Rockstar Games Social Club (Grand Theft Auto V).
Tommy Vercetti using the Minigun.
Carl Johnson using the Minigun at Las Venturas Airport.
A Minigun in the first mission of Zero.
Mounted Minigun in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Mike with a Minigun.
GTA Advance sprites.
Toni Cipriani using a Minigun.
The Minigun positioned on the side of the Annihilator in Grand Theft Auto IV.
Huang Lee using a Minigun in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
The Minigun as seen in a GTA V official trailer.
Vehicle-mounted variation seen in the Valkyrie and Valkyrie MOD.0, with a flash hider, iron sight and spade grips.
Vehicle-mounted variation seen in the Dune FAV, with a railed top, scope and stock.
HUD icon[]
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, 10th Anniversary edition.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Grand Theft Auto Advance.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, mobile version.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Unused).
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online.
Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, enhanced version.
First Person Gallery[]
Holding.
Aiming.
Locations[]
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City[]
- Little Haiti - On the top floor of the remains of the drug processing plant west of the Little Haiti Well Stacked Pizza Co. after completion of Trojan Voodoo.
- Little Haiti - Available to buy from Phil Cassidy's Place after completion of Boomshine Saigon ($10,000).
- Ocean Beach - Spawns inside the Ocean View Hotel after collecting 60 Hidden Packages.
- Downtown - Spawns on the roof of the Hyman Condo after collecting 60 Hidden Packages.
- Starfish Island - Spawns outside the Vercetti Estate after collecting 60 Hidden Packages.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas[]
Minigun's locations map
- Kincaid Bridge - On top of the southern arch of the bridge. It's not accessible until the desert and Las Venturas are unlocked, because an invisible wall is blocking the player to get the weapon. To reach the top of the arch, the player will need a jetpack, parachute or helicopter, or can also drive a Brown Streak below the arch and use the train as a platform.
- Roca Escalante - On the bottom-most level of an underground parking lot, in front of an elevator. Caution must be exercised when approaching the parkade as the previously empty structure will usually suddenly spawn a large number of vehicles when entered.
- Rockshore East - On top of some scaffolding in the building site, requires climbing and jumping skills, parachuting from a plane/helicopter, or a jetpack.
- Tierra Robada - Inside Mike Toreno's ranch after completing Vertical Bird.
- Area 69 - Inside the base in a control room, in the second room after entering the underground. The room is accessible during the mission "Black Project", though it is possible to enter outside the mission using glitches (doing so will give the player a 5-star wanted level).
- In addition, Carl uses mounted miniguns in the missions Air Raid, The Da Nang Thang, and Up, Up and Away!, though only briefly in Da Nang Thang. If Carl is equipped with his own minigun, he can use it in lieu of the mounted one in Up, Up and Away!
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[]
- Bedford Point, Staunton Island - Can be bought at Phil Cassidy's Fully Cocked Gun Shop upon completing the mission More Deadly Than the Male. ($10,000)
- Obtainable via Slash TV side-mission.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories[]
- Vice Point - Can be bought from the Ammu-Nation shop after completing the storyline mission, Farewell To Arms for $15,000 but the price decreases to $11,500 if the player completes Phil's Shooting Range challenge.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars[]
- Available in Ammu-Nation after the mission Wi-Find is completed and the Fully Cocked License is purchased.
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- Trevor will automatically be given one for the mission The Paleto Score, but it will not remain in his inventory afterwards.
- Can be purchased at Ammu-Nation after completing the mission The Paleto Score, for $15,000.
- Spawn in a room on the top floor of the Fort Zancudo control tower. If picked up, another should spawn after 30 seconds. Sometimes, there will be a soldier sitting on a chair in the room, that will engage the player upon entering. Obtaining the Minigun is extremely risky due to the large presence of soldiers and Rhino tanks, unless Invincibility cheat is in use.
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
- Can be purchased at Ammu-Nation after reaching Rank 120 for $50,000.
- Commonly found during Crate Drops.
- Spawns as a pickup during Survival at waves 7+. If one is picked up by a player who has not yet reached Rank 120, or who has not yet purchased one, it will remain in their inventory when returning to a Free Mode session after finishing the survival, but will disappear if the player joins a new session or starts any activity.
- Will be carried by opponents in Gang Attacks if a player over Rank 120 is participating in the attack. Can be picked up by lower ranked players following the same rules as the survival weapons.
- Given to the player that requested a Ballistic Equipment. It has unlimited ammo until the player is killed or removes the armor.
- Can be found inside Facilities. Can be picked up and used by any player, but will follow the same rules as the survival and Gang Attack weapons if picked up by players under Rank 120 or who have not yet purchased one.
- Can be obtained from one of the bank robbers during the Robbery in Progress client job, with once again the same rules on keeping it beyond a session in place.
Oversights[]
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas[]
- It is possible to acquire a minigun with 30,000 ammo in the mission Up, Up and Away! by taking a Jetpack to the mounted minigun and equipping a sniper rifle, then the player has to leave the jetpack while in the marker, and quickly aim the sniper rifle. If done right, the player will be on the mounted minigun with the sniper rifle. The player has to exit the mounted minigun, and they will see that they have a seemingly infinite minigun. Do note that using the mounted minigun again will cause the player's minigun to disappear.
- Another way to acquire the mounted minigun from Up, Up and Away! is to enter it and stand idle until the soldiers or the helicopters kill Carl. When he respawns at a nearby hospital, he will have the gun in his inventory. This can only be done while dating Katie, which allows the player to keep his inventory after being taken to a hospital.
- It is possible to acquire a minigun with 99,999 ammo by finishing Air Raid with onMission=$0. This can be done by having a phone call in memory and letting it ring during the black fade when starting Blood Bowl. Once the player hears the phone, they have to start holding the "action" key, which is
by default. The player can release it now, and once the timer of Blood Bowl is running out, the player has to start holding again. Once the mission has failed, the player should hear the phone ring for a second, after which it will stop ringing. Now the player has to continue holding until they start Air Raid and skip the intro cutscene. If any mission markers appear, the player has successfully started Air Raid with onMission=$0. The player can decide to kill Zero to fail the mission, or just pass it. Once the player spawns outside Zero's shop, they will have a minigun with 99,999 ammo, if they have not shot a single bullet yet. - Killing a motorbike rider with the minigun and then quickly entering the vehicle makes the minigun usable on bikes for drive-by shooting, although this is only possible with the drive-by cheat, allowing the player shoot in all directions while driving, like in the HD Universe. This also works with several other guns, but not all of them. Those several guns can also all be used in cars, as well as bikes, unlike the minigun. Confirmed on PS2.
- The glitch also makes the player's companion (Grove Street gang member or random ped, using cheats) stretch their arm out and grab the left handlebar, if the player is using a motorbike. This is most common on the PCJ-600.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[]
- There is a glitch that allows Toni to max out minigun ammo for free. First, obtain one via Slash TV (or buy one from Phil Cassidy's Fully Cocked Gun Shop). Next, go to Shoreside Vale, equip the minigun, then trigger the AWOL Angel side mission. Fail the mission by shooting the driver, and Toni will gain 100 rounds for the minigun. Repeat this process and the ammo gained doubles for each subsequent failure (200, 400, 800...) until the ammo is maxed out.
Trivia[]
General[]
- It is to note that real miniguns are only designed to be mounted weapons. A modified man-portable version would be extremely impractical, and highly encumbering to be carried in a gunfight like a traditional firearm. The M134 weighs 85 pounds (39 kilograms) by itself, not counting the immense amount of ammunition it requires (~65 pounds (29 kg) for just 20 seconds' worth of firing); note that the rendition in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is based on a model that is even heavier (especially in terms of ammunition). Moreover, the electric drive motor requires an external power source.
- The XM214 Microgun was an attempt at a man portable rotary cannon, designed in 1966, by General Electric. It weighed 25 pounds (11 kilograms), used lighter 5.56×45mm ammunition and had a rate of fire between 6,000-10,000 RPM. Despite being much more portable than other models, it was still designed with an external power source and was intended to be fired in a mounted position. The weapon was ultimately rejected by the US Military, but a successor, the XM556 Microgun, is currently in development. This variant is scaled down further, weighing only about 16 pounds (7 kilograms), and has a rate of fire between 2000-6000 RPM.
3D Universe[]
- In the files of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, there is a minigun named "minigun2". This is the part of the minigun that is spinning when being fired.
- In the remastered version of GTA San Andreas, all the non-scoped weapons automatically lock onto enemies simply by tapping the fire button. Due to this, the minigun can have far more devastating effects, being able to mow down a large crowd of enemies or vehicles in only a second. This makes the minigun an ideal weapon for gang wars.
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- Originally, the barrels would have two barrel clamps (circle-shaped parts holding the barrels) besides the ones at the end of these. The current version only has one thick clamp. Most pre-release materials, as well as the HUD icons, depict the original version of the Minigun.
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
- As of the Further Adventures in Finance and Felony update, a rare Golden Minigun inside a Weapons & Ammo crate can be purchased through the SecuroServ network for $23,000. It is apparently made of 24 karat gold and cannot be used as a conventional weapon. It can be sold for $115,000. Interestingly, Brucie Kibbutz appears to be the buyer, as the company interested in purchasing the item is called 'BK Exec Lifestyle Ltd'.
- Vehicle-mounted variations can be seen in various armed vehicles, most of them reusing the same model with certain changes.
- The versions used first in the Valkyrie as side minigun turrets are technically based on the GAU-17/A, a pintle-mounted version widely used for gunship helicopters like the UH-1 Iroquois (with the Valkyrie being based upon a modernized version of the said helicopter).
"Is It Suitable for Children?", painting by Nilsson.
- In Grand Theft Auto Online, as part of The Diamond Casino & Resort update, the player can buy the "Is It Suitable for Children?" painting for the Master Penthouse, which depicts a minigun, with the Swedish text "Detta är inte en minigun", which roughly translates to "This is not a minigun". This is a reference to René Magritte's The Treachery of Images, a painting of a pipe with the text "Ceci n'est pas une pipe", the French for "This is not a pipe".
See Also[]
- Widowmaker - Futuristic equivalent introduced in the Arena War.
References[]
- ↑ Screenshot
- ↑ WeaponInfo.xml - GTA IV
<weapon type="MINIGUN"> <data slot="HEAVY" firetype="INSTANT_HIT" damagetype="BULLET" group="RIFLE_ASSAULT" targetrange="100.0" weaponrange="400.0" clipsize="750" timebetweenshots="36"> <damage base="1000" networkplayermod="2.0" networkpedmod="1.0"/> <physics force="500.0"/> <reload time="3000" fasttime="3000" crouchtime="3000"/> <aiming accuracy="1.0"> <offset x="0.0" y="1.0" z="0.0"/> <crouchedoffset x="0.0" y="1.0" z="0.0"/> </aiming> <pickup regentime="0" ammoonstreet="500"/> <controller> <rumble duration="60" intensity="0.3"/> </controller> <flags> <flag>GUN</flag> <flag>CAN_FREE_AIM</flag> <flag>HEAVY</flag> </flags> </data> <assets> <effects> <muzzle fx="muz_minigun"/> </effects> </assets> </weapon>
