[Rogue Trader] Big Guys performing HMG Suppression Fire from the hip . . . NOT.

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

I'm looking through the core book, checking some hypothetical character concepts.

I quickly recognized the Bulging Muscle talent, better known to me by the name of Army of One (p. GF17 of GURPS). So I decided to look up what kind of badass weapons a big guy can employ. The results were . . . underwhelming.
The most rapid-firing weapons (Heavy Bolter and some other weapons) have a rate of fire equalling 10 . . . but RT rounds are, unlike GURPS, 5 seconds long, resulting in a whopping 2 shots per second. Having a full load consist of 60 bolts is kinda aggravating.

To further insult the heavy weapons, the Storm Bolter has a RoF of 4 (again, per 5 seconds), a load of the same 60 bolts, no need to use a bipod, is lighter, produces twice the number of hits per margin of success, and also counts as a weapon suitable for suppressive fire.

Now, at first I thought that this is another wackiness of WH40K, but then I checked the RoFs and ammo loads of historical machine guns, and was surprised that some of them weren't that far off. E.g. the Rheinmetall MG42, 7.92×57mm has a RoF of 20 per second and only 50 shots, which take 5 seconds to reload. Hmm. 2½ seconds shooting, 5 seconds reloading. Or perhaps the heavier Maxim, shooting 5 times per second for 5 seconds (25 shots), and spending the other 5 seconds to reload.

Now, I'm no military type. What are the requirements for a weapon to qualify as an MG/suppression fire weapon?

Thanks in advance!