Simple carbines, What if I just want a simple carbine? Options

[Wounded Ronin]

Earlier today I was reading through the gee-whiz threads on custom weapons and it got me thinking. In Shadowrun, there's always going to be another bigger, more fancier, and expensive gun...and if all else fails, make yourself the custom assault rifle with 7 points of recoil comp.

But, like, what if I have a character who just wants to use something that is simple and practical? For example, a simple sound suppressed semi automatic carbine for a stealthy run? I realized that there is no such simple carbine in either SR3 or the Canon Companion.

"Well, just take one of the SMGs!", you say. But the thing is that the single shot damage codes for the SMGs are generally very nerfed compared to the single shot damage codes from the heavy pistols, even though you'd think that you would be able to get an SMG in the same caliber as a typical "heavy pistol"; for example, it's easy to find combat handguns in .45 ACP as well as SMGs in .45 ACP, but SMGs invariably are weaker than heavy pistols in single shot mode.

So this brings me to the issue of what should be addressed in the creation of our theoretical simple semi-automatic carbine. Since it dosen't have burst fire or full auto modes, game balance would not be severely disrupted by giving it the same damage code for single shots as a heavy pistol or a sport rifle. On the other hand, though, because it is a carbine, it can use SMG ranges instead of pistol ranges.


Here are my ideas:

Simple Carbine in .45 ACP
Damage Code 9M
SMG ranges
SA mode only
10 round box magazine
Integral barrel mounted silencer


Simple Carbine in 5.56
Damage Code 7S
SMG ranges
SA mode only
5 round box magazine
Integral barrel mounted silencer (can 5.56 actually be suppressed well in real life? If not, just scracth the silencer for believability.)