Timeline for If guns had a 50% chance of lethally backfiring, what would they be used for?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
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| Jul 8, 2020 at 2:07 | comment | added | user-781943 | @Dast Silly as you may think it is, human experiments happen, suicide bombers are real, people fight knowing they will die, slaves were historically used in armies, there are near endless examples of people dying to kill someone else. There is enough precedence in real life for me to confidently say that it would happen. | |
| Jul 7, 2020 at 14:57 | comment | added | Dast | I believe this answer is very silly. No-one considers themselves a "low value user" and have any of these people ever practised? (They probably have a 50% chance of killing themselves and a >1% chance of getting their target). If you just had a crossbow your chances of success would go up, because (1) you might know how to aim it and (2) you can make a second or third try. (They probably don't even carry a second musketball). I think it is much more likely they would invent a pressure/elastic/electric or steam powered gun-like tool: anything to avoid the cursed gunpowder. | |
| Jul 7, 2020 at 8:21 | comment | added | user-781943 | @Chronocidal A musket imparts 30 to 40 times the energy as a medieval longbow (which themselves impart more energy than crossbows). Being easy to use is also a huge boon, but even if they were harder to use they would be better (which is the reason why longbows were used whenever they could be, rather than crossbows). No one wants to work in R&D, but prisoners of war, inmates, etc wouldn't have a choice. Fire the gun and you may live another day. Some gamblers will win. | |
| Jul 7, 2020 at 8:07 | comment | added | Chronocidal | For the most part, it's not necessarily "better", but "easier". Any idiot can pick up a gun and use it, but a bow (or even a crossbow) requires more skill and practice. A bow can be as dangerous as a pistol or revolver (the revolver will get the first 6 shots off faster, but the bow will catch up while you're reloading) - modern guns have a higher rate of fire, and reload more easily, but if they have a 50% chance of backfiring then you're probably still stuck with muskets, because who the hell wants to work on the R&D? | |
| Jul 7, 2020 at 5:54 | history | edited | user-781943 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jul 7, 2020 at 5:48 | history | answered | user-781943 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |