Questions tagged [firearms]
For questions about weapons that use an explosion as their main propellant.
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Possible mechanism for telescoping barrels
Is it a good idea?
No. A very definitive no.
However, that's not stopping a young aristocratic terrestrial cuttlefish (long story) that lives on this world's equivalent of a highly mountainous and ...
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What man or crew sized weapons should my infantry bring into an area where electricity doesn't work to help breakup trench warfare? [closed]
I have an area with highly valuable resources that is highly contested over. The only issue is that the moment someone enters the area, all electronics regardless of type stop working. As such only ...
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Would Iridium be a good metal for crafting muskets and cannons?
Iridium is a metal discovered in 1803 that is quite dense and is very resistant against corrosion.
Let's say that in the year 1600, every musket and cannon on Earth has their metal components ...
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Methods to reverse engineer black powder
In this scenario a kingdom that has not yet invented black powder has been invaded by an enemy that possess cannons and matchlocks. Since the invaders are few in number the defenders managed to beat ...
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Is it possible to make a concealable firearm that is undetectable to metal detectors? [closed]
In Die Hard 2, there is an infamous scene where the protagonist talks about the fictional Glock 7 that was used against him. Apparently, it was a porcelain gun made in Austria Germany that didn't ...
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Why are firearms not useful against fantasy creatures? [closed]
I am building a world where the modern day has collided with fantasy, and I want a situation where firearms are useful against humans and technology, but not against magic and fantastical creatures. I ...
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Best way to smell-proof a revolver in 1998?
My heroine, a wandering loner living a nomadic lifestyle traveling across 1998's western US in an RV, is a supernatural being, known as an immortal, with a great many useful powers. However, none of ...
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Performance of a Modern Carbonic Acid Gun
Air rifles have come a long way. Starting with crude devices that can barely launch a projectile to the Girardoni air rifle to modern examples like the Air Force Texan or the Air Venturi Dragon.
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Large projectiles vs heavy personal armor
In my world personal body armor has reached a point where most weapons designers have given up trying to make cartridges that will penetrate armor, and instead have gone back to large caliber rifles ...
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Energy sheathed bullets: What's the point?
In many sci-fi worlds, though mostly Star Wars, the main weapon of choice is some form of "laser" weapon that fires bolts that are way below the speed of light. In said universes, some ...
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Defending against dinosaurs with an automatic shotgun that fires miniaturized anti-tank munitions
Like any reasonable billionaire, I want to breed dinosaurs on my private island - big ones. Like, T-Rex big. Of course, one needs a well-armed security force to guard such an endeavor, lest the ...
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Can one rig a revolver to guarantee that the only bullet in Russian Roulette is in the last chamber?
We've got this criminal who likes to interrogate people via Russian Roulette.
While his captive watches, he empties an unremarkable-looking 6-chamber revolver, re-inserts a single bullet, spins the ...
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Optimal Fuel for GyroJet Handheld Weapon? [closed]
Is there optimal fuel for gyrojet weapons?
Specifically, what fuel would best propel gyrojets from a hand held launcher (read gun -- ex: pistol, rifle, volley gun, etc.)? I'm looking for velocity -- ...
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What alternate propellants could be used for firearms? [closed]
What propellants could be used to increase the damage or injury caused by firearms?
Answers may include propellants that decrease the service life of the weapon (the weapon should be able to fire a ...
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Non-lethal firearm that could throw an assailant backwards a couple feet
How would a non-lethal, hand-held ‘firearm’ (as in not a melee weapon) produce enough ‘force’ (I’m using this word lightly, not as a physicist) to throw an attacker back a minimum of ten feet, work?
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Elves with Guns: how do they avoid blowing their ears out on the battlefield?
Let us assume, for the moment, that we have an army of (Tolkienesque) elves to equip, and only modern small arms to equip them with. However, elves have hearing that is rather more sensitive than ...
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Protecting rifled barrels from high friction
Let’s say a new high energy propellant is now in use for infantry rifles. With this new propellant, bullet velocities are increasing into the range of 1200m/s with a 110 grain projectile out of a 20’ ...
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Ways to Neutralize Firearms [closed]
I am trying to write a sci-fi story in the near future where armies use mechas but I also want them to engage in close combat using swords.
Here is what I came up with so far:
An army could use an EMP ...
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Muzzle velocity of a metallic hydrogen firearm
Related and linked to Metallic Hydrogen Propellant and Barrel length of a metallic hydrogen firearm.
In the two previous questions, I've explored different properties of a firearm that uses metallic ...
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Barrel length of a metallic hydrogen firearm
A overdue follow up for the question Metallic Hydrogen Propellant.
One of the points that was brought up on the post was that since the gas propelling the bullet would be atomic hydrogen, the ...
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How do I make my young character getting shot and recovering realistic with the following narrative needs? [closed]
Ok so here is the scene.
I have a twelve year old human girl taking part in the capture of a spacecrafts bridge (think of a location like Star Treks Enterprise).
What happens during this scene is ...
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Could möbius ring shaped devices deflect or possibly redirect bullets?
As a rule, my sci-fi has no force fields. This is interesting, because every type of shielding that would normally have no mass are restricted to be physical devices. The most notable I'm working on ...
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With contemporary technology, is it possible to produce a propellant for bullets that is stored as a liquid but that solidifies upon exposure to air?
I found this question on Worldbuilding Stack Exchange. A part of it interested me; specifically, the part about how, in Jay Dee's setting:
Guns are more efficient by use of liquid ammunition that ...
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Changes to firearms based on gasoline
I got a little question: how would it effect firearms if they would not be based on gunpowder but on gasoline like flammable liquid?
What I think would happen:
-because the liquid would need to be a ...
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How thick does a layer of spider silk need to be to stop these calibers of bullets from passing through?
Exactly what it says on the tin: how thick would a layer of spider silk need to be to stop each of the following bullets from passing through?
.22 Short
.32 ACP
.380 ACP
9×19mm Parabellum
.45 ACP
...
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Mechanical-electric firearm ignition
For some time I've been thinking upon the concept of a firearm that uses a mechanical system to generate an electrical current for use in a electrically ignited firearm without the hassle of batteries....
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Explosive flechette. Mechanism of detonation
In a world I am currently conceptualizing, the militaries of said world make use of flechette ammunition due to advance ballistic armor which has made all but the higher caliber conventional slug ...
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Taking the bayonet to its logical conclusion. Or, the pike-rifle
Due to some copious amount of handwavium, projectile weapons are not as effective as their melee counterparts. They are still very useful, but not to the point of replacing close combat. Historically, ...
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Ergonomics of a Metal Storm Staff Gun
Upon the The Peaks of Comprehension lies the the Temple of Knowledge, where monks labor, record, observe and preserve knowledge both old and new. With the knowledge they have gained, the monks go out ...
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Sodium Azide for Bullet Propellant?
I'm considering alternatives to current gunpower or smokeless powders for bullet propellant.
I ran across Sodium Azide, used for airbags mainly.
If it is ignited, it starts a decomposition reactions ...
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How practical would firearms be for early humans?
The basic setup for this world is that whenever someone dies, their soul is subjected to reincarnation. However, every once and a while this system fails and the souls are lost into limbo where they ...
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Overcoming the issues of caseless ammunition
I am currently making a science fiction universe set in a very distant future. Someone suggested that the weapons should use caseless ammunition. However, I cannot find a reason to why you should ...
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Uses for dragons in combat in a Renaissance-level setting with cannons, muskets, and magic? [closed]
My fantasy setting has late Renaissance-level technology with cannons and muskets, along with a moderate level of magic (i.e. Wizards and other spellcasters are well-known, but pretty uncommon). How ...
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Effect of Modern Firearms on Dinosaurs
Man vs Dinosaur. It is a relatively common trope in various Sci fi settings, most famously done in Jurassic Park. These depictions have always fascinated me. I have always been bothered, however, by ...
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Chambering pistols in PDW ammo- does it make sense?
My setting is set around the 23rd century, and for my military, I was wondering what kind of sidearms they’d use. After searching, I found something interesting: there are pistols chambered in 5....
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Are AP slugs for shotguns possible?
When writing stories I usually use war as a simple and understandable way to introduce a conflict that needs to be resolved or sweeps the character away.
To keep it interesting I need to build ...
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Metallic Hydrogen Propellant
The idea of potentially using Metallic Hydrogen as a replacement for smokeless powder in current day rifles as a propellant has often been thrown around. What these question don't ask is how well it ...
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Is is possible to create body armour that can withstand being shot ten times? [closed]
So in video games, there is there armor that is gun-resistant. I know there is real-world armor that could take one shot but is there one that could take, say, ten? Is there an example of this?
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How to keep explosive projectiles without propellants?
In the world i'm making, humans are physically incapable of producing propellants. Why? Because their God won't allow it. That doesn't mean humans stop searching for better ways to kill each other. So ...
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Logical type of projectile weapon (firearm) for use in outer space [duplicate]
So imagine a country so developed they have a space station in orbit around their home planet (nothing impossible here).
That country decides to have a couple of soldiers (elite air force members) ...
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Would a full plastic gun work? [duplicate]
So a pretty simple question. Excusing and firing springs/pins and the propellant and primer. The gun must be able to work for at least 100-200 rounds without destroying itself. Could a make a gun ...
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Using a body as a silencer? [closed]
So I was shooting the other day and my friends were talking about how effective silencers are and since I was writing a short detective story I wondered how effective a human would be as a silencer. ...
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How would centaurs fight British musket infantry squares of the 18th - 19th century (aside from using artillery)?
How would centaurs fight British musket infantry squares of the 18th - 19th century (aside from using artillery)?
The centaurs would have the same technology as the British, more or less. Would they ...
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Specs for body armor rated to stop a heavy machine gun
I have a setting where some units of specialized infantry use ridiculously over-engineered power armor similar to that worn by the Brotherhood of Steel in Fallout or Space Marines in Warhammer 40k. ...
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Advantage of miniguns being military standard?
I'm writing a sci fi fiction based on mass effect, different from the series though.
In it I've made humans terrified of an alien invasion/genocide so they focus on firepower/rate of fire or both. ...
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The limitations of Bronze firearms
I had an idea for a world where tin and copper are both easily accesible and usually found close to each other enough that it is a non-factor. Bronze is pretty much the main alloy for use in anything, ...
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Making Modern Firearms In A Pre-Industrial Society - Cottage Industry [duplicate]
What is the feasibility of producing (on a wide scale) modern firearms (particularly small arms) of the type found roughly in the First World War and Second World War (bolt action rifles, submachine ...
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Best gun in the post-apocalyptic Wasteland?
In my world, nuclear war ravaged the world, and nuclear winter scattered the survivors, dropping down the Earth’s population from 8 billion to a few million, at most.
In the region of North America, ...
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How to best miniaturize firearms? The idea is to go mechanic route as far as possible, assuming massive energy shortage
How one would go about making firearms smaller? I don't think size per se, more like make them lighter, but at the same time more powerful and having greater range. I would like to incorporate as much ...
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What is the consequence of having a tech that capable of producing early manual repeating rifles?
In my fantasy world, the manual repeating rifle (revolver action, falling block action, lever action, pump action, bolt action) is already a common weapon within human society.
If possible, I don't ...
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