And it might be worth pointing out the 30 pounds of ammo will last less than one minute of continous fire. (Which is why real machine gunners --as opposed to action movie figures – are trained not to fire continously, of course. )
The FN-MAG (M-240) has been used by the Israeli military since 1970 or so; it was the main squad-level machine gun until it was replaced by the 5.56mm Negev in the late 1990’s. It’s still used in weapons companies, on vehicles, in fortifications and so on.
M-249, for reference. slightly higher muzzle velocity (3000 instead of 2850 ft/s), but 1/4 of the firing rate (1000 vs 4000 rounds per minute). Figure slightly more than 1/4 of the force I listed earlier.
Nothing ruins a good movie, such as Predator, faster than unrealistic scenarios involving U.S. military weapons.
Thanks, all.
I’ve always been a bit curious as to what the theoretical limits of practicality were when it comes to big guns in combat situations, particularly from a military perspective. I kind of figured that the closest equivalent would be SAW gunners or the poor dudes who have to lug around the anti-armor weapons.
I suppose this is what happens when you momentarily lose sight of the fact that you’re watching a movie about fighting an interplanetary big game hunter in the jungle. I found myself coming to the realization that you didn’t need an 8 foot alien badass to take this guy out, you just needed someone who was willing to hide for the 4 or 5 seconds it would take to blow through all that ammo.
My suspension of disbelief continued to be sabotaged later in the movie when someone else picked up the minigun and unloaded it into the jungle for what seemed like a solid minute. Not that it doesn’t look badass as all hell, mind you.
The movie Commando makes the Predator movie look very realistic, and that considers the presence of the alien hunter in Predator.
There were more memorable quips in Commando, though.
Classic Ah-nahld dialog aside, Commando and Predator are classics that benefit by ignoring details.
Add Rambo to the list! Cheesy dialog and use of weaponry.
That’s debatable - Predator just spread the quips around to more actors. And it had big pussy jokes.
Considering that the average movie revolver holds about fifty rounds, I’d say it’s pretty much to scale.
Of course, if it were practical for a single soldier to carry and use a machine gun, why would we equip anyone with anything less than that?
Where do you think they filmed Commando?
Horse pucky.
Gunny could do it with one hand!
He did fire a water cooled Browning .30 from his arms on TV. 
Who was the first Hollywood “heavy weapons guy” - the big goon with a huge gun and a bunch of ammo belts slung over his chest? I’m tempted to say it was Adam Baldwin’s character Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket - was there an even earlier example of this cliched character?
Depending on the thought process behind how you run your military, folks in leadership positions or other types of specialists might forgoe the heavy weaponry.
Met one Captain who maintained that if he had to pick up a gun to shoot a bad guy, then he made a critical mistake earlier in the fighting, because his job was to take in the big picture and lead his troops.
Alternately, some type of specialist (engineer, radio operator, etc.) might find that their own equipment weighs too much to combine with your standard issue 20mm action movie autocannon with 5 million round drum magazines. 
Predator is a measurably better movie. I can prove it.
Count the governors.
Predator 2
Commando 1
A few reasons:
First of all, not every soldier can be a machine gunner. There’s a certain amount of size and strength required.
Second of all, soldiers have to carry other things besides machine guns and machine gun ammo - radios, mortars, rockets, stretchers, granade launchers, spare ammo and water, etc. Very few troops carry just their rifle and magazines in the field.
Third of all, no matter how big and strong a machine gunner is, he’ll still be slower and less maneuverable than a rifleman, and much less efficient in close quarters battle (urban warfare). A good infantry unit finds a way to balance out its light and heavy troops.
So how does Predator stack up against The Running Man? I think the presence of a real-life game show host boosts The Running Man up into the lead as a superior action film.
I was designated machine gunner during Basic Training, but it was because my Section commander was a bit of a jerk - I was not only the smallest, thinnest person, but also the only female. Thank you Master Corporal :mad:!
During CAP (Phase 2 Infantry), we took turns as the machine gunner, same with being the radioman - but we split up the extra boxes of ammo amongst the group.
Rambo: First Blood Part 2 came out 2 years earlier, and had this classic scene.