ABERDEEN, Md. — A former Northumberland resident will appear on a new television program on the History Channel in July to show off a new machine gun that fires 50 rounds a second.
Travis Steffen, 28, an Iraq war veteran, spent a day recently with retired Gunnery Sgt. R. Lee Ermey at the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Steffen works for a military contractor at Aberdeen testing weapons and equipment under extreme conditions.
The new show, “Locked and Loaded,” highlights military weaponry, Steffen said. Ermey previously hosted “Mail Call” on the History Channel and was the drill sergeant in the movie “Full Metal Jacket.”
Ermey and Steffen spent most of a day on the firing range, where Ermey fired a new M-134 mini-gun.
“It’s an electronic Gatling gun,” Steffen said. “It fires 3,000 rounds per minute, or 50 rounds per second.”
He said the 7.62 mm weapon has six barrels that rotate at high speed.
During the taping, Steffen explained to Ermey how the weapon operates and its capabilities. He said multiple takes were necessary before the director was satisfied.
“I have a better idea now how they make these shows,” Steffen said.
To demonstrate the M-134’s firepower, Ermey aimed it at a cinder block wall and fired it, Steffen said. A high-speed camera was trained on the gun to show how the barrels rotate and actually showed bullets leaving the barrel.
“They used a split screen, to show him firing the gun and bullets striking the wall,” Steffen said.
The wall disintegrates under the hail of bullets, Steffen said.
“It was actually me firing at the wall” for that scene, he said.
Steffen said that the director wanted to be sure the target was being hit for the shots of the gun blasting the wall.
Ermey was actually pretty accurate, once he got the hang of firing the weapon, Steffen said.
Meeting Ermey and spending some time with him was a thrill, Steffen said. Although Ermey and the crew were on the base for several days taping segments for a show about the facility, where all sorts of military gear is tested, only a few employees were able to meet Ermey and be featured on the program.
“We drop them, drag them through the mud, freeze them, put them through all kinds of conditions,” Steffen said of his primary job, testing weapons and equipment.
Steffen also participates in testing vehicles, ammunition, and explosives under a variety of circumstances. He recently took part in testing the new MRAP vehicle. It’s a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected truck that will replace the Hummer and other small vehicles.
-- E-mail comments to wlaepple@dailyitem.com
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