Recent Firearm Developments, Ideas for your games... Options

[Raygun]

Thought a few of you might be interested in this...

There's a new .50 caliber handgun cartridge out there, designed for a slightly modified custom 1911. It's called the .50 GI and it fires a 300 grain JHP @ 725 fps for 410 fpe. Well within the bounds of a practical defensive pistol cartridge. The manufacturer (Guncrafter Industries) says that recoil is on par with .45 ACP hardball (230 FMJ @ 855 fps). Seven rounds fit in the full-size 1911 magazine. Might not get far, but it's kind of interesting.

Speaking of 1911 pistols, SIG has just released one with a light attachment rail called the GSR (Granite Series Rail). A Swiss 1911. Never thought I'd see it. Then again, I never thought I'd see Smith & Wesson make one either. Believe it or not, Heckler & Koch and CZ are also reported to have a 1911 on the drawing board. According to American Handgunner, the M9 is not getting high marks (again) and the 1911 is a much-coveted item over there. The very few 1911s that have been found in inventory (300 unissued, WWII-era pistols plus 25 mothballed rebuilds, according to AH) have been issued overseas, and the Marine Corps recently ordered parts commercially for some 789 1911s. Apparently after this and a DOD request for a major-caliber handgun, even European companies are jumping on the 1911 bus, hoping for big contracts. 93 years and kicking more ass than ever...

The new issue of American Handgunner has a totally custom pistol called the M11 Merc, developed by Craig Ltd. (pistolsmith Fred Craig) of Inman, Kansas and manufactured by IC Technologies. It is a gas delayed blowback pistol, operating with a system similar to the HK P7/Steyr GB. It's striker-fired, uses the CZ75 slide/frame rail arrangement, has an extremely low barrel axis, has a grip safety similar to the 1911 and an integral 6-port compensator. It also has a light mount. It is available in 9x19mm, .357 SIG and .40 S&W. Again, it's totally custom, so if you don't want the compensator or the grip safety, they'll make it without them for you. Prices start a $3,800 and go up from there. It's an extremely cool-looking pistol that appears to be very well-designed. I think some of you will probably shit when you see it.

Something I've posted before but thought maybe I should post again is a link to Heckler & Koch's XM8 page. This is the rifle that will most likely replace the M16/M4 series rifles in the US military. It is based on HK's G36 and is the "kinetic energy weapon" part of the XM29 OICW weapon system. It is modular, allowing for several different barrel/stock/forearm/sight configurations to fit mission requirements. It is also designed with cartridge conversion in mind, particularly for the 6.8x43mm Remington Special Purpose Cartridge currently being put to use by Special Operations elements. The guys testing the XM8 appear to love it.

I'd post more, but unfortunately, I've run out of time. Hope this has been informative.

[Crusher Bob]

Yep, you need that .45 in case you meet a filipino with a knife. :D

[Diesel]

As always Raygun.

We salute you.

[Solstice]

[FlakJacket]

[Panzergeist]

You want new guns? Try electronicly-fired guns. I'm not talking about the gatling guns on ships. I'm talking about handguns where the bullets are lined up in the barrel and discharged via an electric charge. There was one gun like that that could empty a 30-round clip in less than a second. Each bullet would actually slam into the rear of the previous one lodged in the target.

[Raygun]

Metalstorm. Mostly useless at the small arms scale, IMO.

There's also Remington's EtronX rifle, which is a more conventional electronic firing system. The rifle uses the same ammunition; bullets, brass, powder, but instead of the conventional percussion primer, it uses an electronic primer. The primer is ignited only by an electronic firing system, which reduces lock time (the time between the point at which the sear is released and the cartridge is ignited) dramatically, thus improving accuracy, especially at very long ranges.

[Panzergeist]

Yeah, the M-16 was called the buck rogers space gun for the longest time because it was made of wierd-ass composites rather than trusty old steel and wood, and used a new, smaller bullet. People missed the power of the old M-14. More importantly, the bolt was hella tight and it jammed all the time. But after a while, 5.56mm bullets and lightweight composites became NATO standard. If you think electronicly fire bullets is strange, you should get a load of the OICW, or better yet, DARPA's future warrior program. Not to mention the powered armor that DARPA is developing.

[Austere Emancipa...]

[Siege]

[spotlite]

Hell with all the new toys they're making these days, I'm starting to appreciate the sheer amount of knowledge the Crash of '29 wiped! That's what I'll be saying if a player wants one of these things anyway. One wanted to make an OICW a few months back. He came up with a very nicely balanced rail mounting system so you could make the modular compnents of the gun, and even though I knew it was a real gun now, I had to tell him no (well, i think I told him that it could certainly exist, but his character didn't have relevant skills, and if it did exist it was at military level and he can't have one so yaa boo sucks) because I looked at it, and frankly it made me scared that the military might have them, never mind a bunch of low life shadowrunners with profit on their minds!

[Pthgar]

The OICW ca be built easily with the Cannon Companion. The main advantage of the OICW computer is timed airbursts. That's what the Grenade Link option does. They absolutely have that tech in SR 2060's. I mean a street punk can get Smartlink for cryin' out loud! That's at least as advanced (in a small arms/electronic interface way) as the OICW.

[Raygun]

Or you can just buy an Ares Alpha Combat Gun, a rangefinder and some air-timed grenades. Voila. OICW.

[Pthgar]

Exactly, no big deal to make it in SR.