Runner Gear- Illegal and otherwise, Cool ideas from an unlikely source Options

[Black Mamba]

I have recently re-acquired my collection of Marvel Comics short-lived series, "Punisher Armory." The series of 10 mags details the Punisher's tools and strategies for putting them to use(read- "wreaking havoc & mayhem"). I found the series VERY useful when I was running SR2 on a weekly basis back in 1992. A few of my favorites are the Folding Ares Submachine Gun and the shotgun shells loaded with piano wire(read- "monowire travelling through the air at high velocity"). All items listed in the books are, as far as I've been able to tell, real-life items. I snagged my copies off of AtomicAvenue.com.

[Snow_Fox]

For weird gear I've always enjoyed trips to Home Depot and EMS. All that home construction tools and outdoors campuing/survival/climibng gear.

Seriously, look at some of the small, battery powered tools. no the ones with the big ol' honking grips for battery pack that are as big as a gun but smaller stuff you charge on a wall socket. Already pretty dare powerful imagine they could be even better in 60 years.

[Black Mamba]

Fox,

What's EMS ?

[Fortune]

My guess would be Eastern Mountain Sports.

[Karaden]

Now, I'm not a guns expert, or a physics major, but I'm decent enough at physics that I can safely say I really really doubt that stuffing wire of any kind into a shotgun shell is going to do anything for you except hit your target with a bit of wadded up wire, if it even manages that.

[tisoz]

[Slump]

Mythbusters did fire chain from a cannon. The range they tested at wasn't great, but the chain pretty much stayed balled up and behave much like a 25 lump of metal would when hitting their dead pig dressed in a pirate costume. Most of what I've read about firing chain from a cannon implies that there is a weight or something on one end so it twirls around to strike as much surface area as possible, to try to take out masts and sails.

Wire, on the other hand, I doubt would do very much. It's too bulky to get much mass in the same volume as a bullet. If it did unwind and spread out, unless you were point blank, I'd imagine that it would lose velocity too fast to be usefull.

Some sort of double-barreled system with weights attached to wires would probably be more effective, like those netguns, but with monowire.

edited for clarity

[Stahlseele]

[Kyoto Kid]

...bolo rounds re definitely for real. As a matter of fact many states have banned them along with what are known as Dragon's Breath rounds. which create a fireball effect.

[nezumi]

Using chain shot is pretty straightforward. It's a pair of cannon balls attached to each other by a chain. The balls are pretty important.

In the case of a shotgun, the wire would have to be flexible enough that it would bend when even a small amount of weight is applied. I was under the impression that piano wire, being a wire, would not meet that criteria, so it would basically be a ball with two bits of lead on each end (presumably we're talking about a 12 or 10 gauge, with the maximum amount of lead on either end of the wire as you can suitably fit in). I don't know how flexible monowire is, nor do I know how effective actual bolo rounds are. I can say that at anything less than Medium range, there would likely be no effective benefit from them. At long range, I can't see them adding a lot you wouldn't already be suffering by virtue of getting hit by a teacup full of lead moving faster than the speed of sound. Then again, Shadowrun monowire is the stuff of magic that can actually cut air molecules in half.

[Karaden]

[Slump]

I would imagine that by making the balls have different aerodynamic shapes you could cause the wire to go taut with very little difficulty. The unstable drag would probably start the spinning. Depending on shape and load, you might even be able to cause it to spin in a consistant manner, which would allow you to correct for the spinning, making it fairly accurate, with practice.

[Kagetenshi]

Actually, it's very easy to make them start rotating—just give them different aerodynamic characteristics. It'd probably be hell to make them at all accurate like that, but as long as they didn't travel perfectly along the same path, they should start spinning pretty well.

~J

[Snow_Fox]

Chain shot, likewise 'bar shot' two halves of a cannon ball linked by an iron rod, were used in the age of sail, they were used to cut rigging, the lines used to manipulate the spars and turn the ship, no rigging, no steering. This is a bad thing in a fight.

The Myth busters episode showed the chain as a wide angle weapon than cut a pig carcass nearly in half.

[Karaden]

I'd love to see the aerodynamic properties that would cause them to spin like that.*edit* especially given the limited technology of those times *edit* Maybe someone could find a youtube video or some sort of proof that anything like that could actually happen, untill then I can't really invision it working.

As for bar shot, it has fairly similar problems of getting the inital rotation, but does at least seem slightly more plausable then doing it with wire/chain since you don't have to worry about them going taunt in the first place.

Hmm, never seen that episode of mythbusters. They fired a chain shot at a pig and cut it in half?

[Kagetenshi]

[Siege]

[Stahlseele]

aren't bolo-rounds and Dragons Breath Rounds in SR allready?

[Kagetenshi]

Yes, though Shadowrun calls them bola rounds, presumably to avoid creating the impression that the rounds contain artificially intelligent tanks.

~J

[Snow_Fox]

[Karaden]

Shame that I've just missed it being avalable on their Online TV thing, as I'm very curious as to how it worked. Of course, it still leaves the question as to if it is actually any more effective then a plain old cannonball (when it comes to injuring people)

[Kagetenshi]

I bet it would be—because it would create a larger volume of damage, and if you're hit by something like that with the medical technology of the day you're probably dead anyway. That said, my understanding is that chain shot was primarily an anti-rigging device, as it's almost certainly still vastly inferior to grapeshot in an antipersonnel role.

~J

[nezumi]

Chain shot had lower penetration and lower range (because it's less aerodynamic) and was less accurate, however it caused damage over a wider area (because it's not a single piece), and was especially good for catching things like ropes or spars (since it's basically a line). That's why it was used for, surprise, short-range shots at sails, ropes and spars. It would still kill a man just as dead, but would not be able to penetrate the hull of most combat ships. Grapeshot spread out the damage over a wider area (instead of a line for grape, imagine the spread of a shotgun). It still caused a lot of nasty damage to people, but now instead of one or two guys with a cannonball, it hit a bunch of people in an area. Plus it could be fired out of smaller, easier to use guns. It too had poor penetration. I'm not sure how it would fare against modern armor, but basically imagine a giant shotgun or a frag grenade.

[kzt]

Now a link to the most bizarre and amusing gun site on the internet: How to Hunt Wisconsin Whitetail Deer with a 12 pound Mountain Howitzer Cannon.

[DTFarstar]