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[Helgoland]

In other news, I've been thinking about high-density explosive/propellant compounds. Things with roughly the same mass-power ratio of standard gunpowder and high explosives, but a factor of ten denser. It would, I feel, allow some interesting variations upon standard themes.

Thing is: Most current explosives follow the 'Carbon skeleton with lots of nitrogen attached and lots of oxygen attached to the nitrogen' rule. You can't really make that stuff much more dense. The closest to what you want would be tiny, tiny nukes.

[Parsely]

@Dirst

I thought there was also supposed to be a full auto mode, because it's one of those things which 'isn't really needed but better to have it than to not have it'?

The US Army decided it was better to not have it, citing inexperienced troops flipping to auto and spraying during combat. Whether or not that's true, I don't know, but that's why the M16A2 does not have full auto. It doesn't make the gun that much simpler, it's largely a doctrinal decision.

[Amperzand]

I doubt it's actually feasible, at least near-term, but I was just considering how it'd affect weapons development.

[Dirst]

The burst mechanism is actually slightly more complex than a full-auto mechanism, but there is no reliability issue since it is in a location that does not accumulate gunpowder residue.

[Parsely]

The burst mechanism is actually slightly more complex than a full-auto mechanism, but there is no reliability issue since it is in a location that does not accumulate gunpowder residue.

Neat facts yo.

[Dirst]

The take-away for a sci-fi weapons thread (the AK47 and M16 looked like sci-fi weapons when introduced) is ideas don't filter down to infantry weapons until they are engineered to a very high level of reliability.  And then things change due to doctrinal decisions (full auto vs. burst) or actual use (supplying cheaper but dirtier ammo than the rifle was designed to use).

I find it unlikely that a footsoldier would be asked to cradle a delicate magnetic coil, but the railgun might get to the squad-heavy-gunner role if the wear can be brought down to occasionally swapping out the barrel.  A gattling-type mechanism could even automate swapping the barrels.

[Jimmy]

Yeah, I'd love to see how well your finely tuned laser or plasma rifle fires in the rain, covered in mud, after being used to bash through a door. I guarantee you an AK47 would fire first try, and against the average target is still going to make them just as dead if it hits.

[Rolepgeek]

Now that depends on the typical armor for your average target.

Speaking of other types of propellants, though; you guys heard about Electro-Thermal Chemical weapons? Good stuff. Could make 'em now if we had the military infrastructure to make effective use of them, if I remember right.

[Sheb]

I like liquid guns myself (guns using liquid propellant so you can easily tailer the charge). They are also possible, although making sure it doesn't explode when you don't want to has been a challenge.

[GiglameshDespair]

I too find supersoakers have a tendency to detonate unexpectedly.

[Helgoland]

I like liquid guns myself (guns using liquid propellant so you can easily tailer the charge). They are also possible, although making sure it doesn't explode when you don't want to has been a challenge.

It's an intriguing concept, but apparently it'ss really hard to get the droplet size and thus the combustion rate of the propellant right.

[Sheb]

There was a chapter in Ignition! about them. Like a lot of things in this book, it ended up with a lot of broken lab equipment.

[Tack]

I know miniguns are currently electrically triggered.
I wonder why all smaller guns are triggered.
Is it a reliability thing?

[Amperzand]

In general, with small arms, the simpler you can get it, the better. Mechanical operation and percussion ignition have done us fine for a long while, they'll probably stick around for a while longer.

[Parsely]

I know miniguns are currently electrically triggered.
I wonder why all smaller guns are triggered.
Is it a reliability thing?

It's just there to power the motor that rotates the barrels. There's no safe way to do that using recoil.

The M16 doesn't need electricity to move the action since recoil, the extractor, and a spring inside the magazine already does the task of ejecting cartridges and feeding fresh ones. Using electricity to do that would be a waste of energy when you could just let recoil do the job.