I'm not meaning to put down the great guns in the world, but don't you think that with the technology we have nowadays that we can come up with less primative weapons for war and personal defense? Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese like 5,000 years ago and yet we are still using it. Sure we have improved on the many formulas, but it's still "gunpowder".

I say we need to start making compact railguns/coilguns, LASER and MASER cannons.

What do you guys think? Am I right or am I just ranting at 1:30AM? :D

If it aint broke,
Why mess with it.

I'll pass, I enjoy reloading too much. :cool:

Whatever floats your boat but just keep in mind, when the EMP bomb goes off and your CPU takes a crap, my old fashioned Mauser's & Mosin's will still be barking and not even miss a beat.

I'm not meaning to put down the great guns in the world, but don't you think that with the technology we have nowadays that we can come up with less primative weapons for war and personal defense? Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese like 5,000 years ago and yet we are still using it. Sure we have improved on the many formulas, but it's still "gunpowder".

I say we need to start making compact railguns/coilguns, LASER and MASER cannons.

What do you guys think? Am I right or am I just ranting at 1:30AM? :D

Well....there is a technical limit to this in most cases...for example, an electromagnetic rail gun works great...can operate at super muzzle velocity sending a pellet (bullets are not used) so fast that it can make water "explode". The long pole in the tent is the amount of time it takes to recharge everything. Until they change physics, this will remain a limitation of the technology.

Liquid propellent. Works great...Gerald Bull did some work in this area...but....requires a storage tank, erodes barrels like crazy, and is dangerous in case of ballistic penetration of the storage tank or delivery lines.

Directed energy is another area with limited application. If you can tolerate something the size of a motorhome, then it is possible to build a "hollywood type" directed energy weapon but if you limited the size to a briefcase then you are limited to "dazzle" effects or perhaps causing eyedamage or blindness. Again not easy tradeoffs.

The promise of nearterm technology is in the area of materiels science, building weapons that are easy to clean or don't require it, modular capabilities like a common ammunition module with different warheads, the addition of better fire control and stability. An example of this is the addition of counter rotating gyros in the stock of the weapon to steady it. Integration of capabilities is another area, e.g. range finder, ballistic matching, and weather station in one package. Some of this is in the Horus reticle which is a great simulation you can play on line at their site. It is also potentially possible to embed terminal guidance in the warhead (bullet)of a mid caliber weapon and have the fire control guide it to the target as a laser beam rider. This would be a modern version of the old Gyrojet weapon of the Vietham era. (I had one back then.....and traded it off...wish I had it now) Mike

Funny this comes up, becuase I was checking out this page just the other day:

http://www.anothercoilgunsite.com/

Make sure to paw thru it and watch the videos of each type.

Fairly interesting. Lots of practical limitations still. You gotta know the DARPA folks look at this kind of option all the time. And I'd like to think that if those folks can't fingure out a way to put it in the hands of our troops, there's little chance we'll see it happen until they do.

Two points made above are good ones: physics is physics, and we're still bound to it, limited by the level of knowledge we posses today. And, luckily it's fairly difficult to counteract the physics of a bolt action rifle.

But, tomorrow is another day. So, you never know. Afterall, the sound barrier was never to be broken, etc., etc,....

jonas

I wonder if anyone is still working with caseless ammuniton. Anybody remember the Daisy .22?

Always seemed like a good idea to me.

I wonder if anyone is still working with caseless ammuniton. Anybody remember the Daisy .22?

Always seemed like a good idea to me.


H&K had their prototype, the G-11:
http://world.guns.ru/assault/as42-e.htm

Haven't read as to why they didn't take off, other than what is said in the above article: politics. Turns out, they were put in the field (Germany).

H&K had their prototype, the G-11:
http://world.guns.ru/assault/as42-e.htm

Haven't read as to why they didn't take off, other than what is said in the above article: politics. Turns out, they were put in the field (Germany).


Think caseless can be done..there are problems in getting the heat out of the system. Geremans went to great lengths to isolate the firing chamber (usuing a pivoting breech)..frocing feeding that required a 90degree pivot. Be surprisded how much heat is removed from the system by hot cases being ejected (not an insulator in the common sense, the case does require some time to heat up to the point of auto-igniton).

Of curse, caseless would be the perfect way to insure total control of ammuntion...won't be reloading that at home....won't be leaving empty cases to mark your area (or leave ballistic clues).

Know a good bit of work has been done in creating supercavitation bullets...operational now are machneguns that can reach and destory underwater mines (reguradless of what MythBusters entertains us with). The M2 may be our oldest in-seervice weapon's platform, but it's not projected to be replaced anytime soon.

Got the work on that range estimating, self detonating round being worked out...will be expensive, and so far the prototypes are on the big and ugly side, but looks like that could actually come to something in a few years.

The captive piston type silenced ammuntion has en studies...Russians seem to have field more of them than we have. Even in the 1960's, the US used some silent 12ga. rounds using the captive piston arrangement (which I belive was an outgrwth of the silent mortor developed earlier). Severly limited range and power, but it's the AMMO that's silent, not the gun.

But these all use the same basic balistics we re use to...just different shapes and sizes, buta re propeled by powder and operate under the same ballistic rules of pressure/vel. as anything else that shoots.

The rail guns, lasers, and various "death rays" all suffer from power sourses being small enough and long lasting enough to be portable.

The rail guns, lasers, and various "death rays" all suffer from power sourses being small enough and long lasting enough to be portable.

Probably the biggest hurdle. If you watch the vids from the coil gun site, pretty clear there's quite a bit of equip needed just to accomplish what he's showing.

Then again, for those of us that saw and still revere the classic movie "Real Genius", there's still hope :D

Probably the biggest hurdle. If you watch the vids from the coil gun site, pretty clear there's quite a bit of equip needed just to accomplish what he's showing.

Then again, for those of us that saw and still revere the classic movie "Real Genius", there's still hope :D


have to find the site, but there is a phystics type that is selling quarters. thing is, he's zapped them hard enough that they've shrunk down to about the size of a dime (thicker, but still round and can still make out stampings of the quarter).

http://205.243.100.155/frames/interesting1.html

Waste of technology, but get a good idea of the amount of power required.

If they go powderless Ill just have to create on of those scented candles that smells like burning powder anyway. Nothing like the smell of burning powder in the morning to bring back memories. Justin

Consider...In tight quarters, a long knife works just as well for personal protection as it did 3000 years ago.

A crossbow can still kill at longer ranges, and those who use the longbow now get the best hunting seasons.

If they go powderless Ill just have to create on of those scented candles that smells like burning powder anyway. Nothing like the smell of burning powder in the morning to bring back memories. Justin

I'll take a dozen!

Lee L.

If they go powderless Ill just have to create on of those scented candles that smells like burning powder anyway. Nothing like the smell of burning powder in the morning to bring back memories. Justin

Do you have any candles in your line with Hoppe's #9 scent? I think that would be a good seller around here.
Cheezywan

Will have to keep using firearms for the same reason I haven't taken up bowhunting.... they just aren't loud enough to suit me :D

I'll take a gross each or powder scented and Hoppe's #9 scented. :p