Today I start working on my next project titled: Proper Darkness
I believe there will be more guns in this science fiction novel. I have decided to make up all the various Makes and Models that will appear. These will include:
- Handguns
- Shotguns
- Carbines
- Rifles
- Suppressors
- No ejected casings
- Frangible ammo for inside ships and stations
- Advanced armor piercing for destroying same
- Specialty projectiles
If you have not already checked it, Atomic Rockets, http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/ has a good section on sidearms.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the new book(s).
Caseless ammo is a good start. How about self-forming projectiles. A disk that has one side coated with propellant and primer. Primer ignites propellant, propellant forces disk down a channel/tube that forms the projectile into the desired shape (doesn't have to be cylindrical). Think Tround or more corners maybe?
ReplyDeleteMore advanced electronics allows seeker heads on smaller ammo, though I'm not convinced that it could get small enough for rifle/pistol ammo. But small enough rounds could have a beacon embedded in it to track what was hit.
Lasers work nice but require time to heat the object. How about a focused microwave beam?
Electric propulsion? Rail-gun or gauss rifle in a larger form factor? Focused EMP pulse?
Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle had a great idea: The rifle discharges a beam that neutralizes the charge on an elemental particle, causing the material literally to disintegrate. Then had a parallel beam of the opposite charge, and carved a large canyon in a planet's face. Powerful stuff.
Phased plasma rifle in the 40-Watt range?
But like gasoline, oxygen/RP1, oxygen/UDMH, gunpowder and its derivatives are just really hard to improve on.
LOL, this should be fun!
ReplyDelete