Just WHAT is the Callahan Full-Bore Auto-Lock?

POSTED BY: FanGun
UPDATED: Thursday, August 18, 2005 13:24
VIEWED: 15963
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FANGUN

Thursday, August 11, 2005 5:32 AM

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I think I finally came up with a plausible explanation of just what the hell Vera is, in terms of guns that is. Maybe someone's done it before, but I've never read a satisfactory explanation.

Ever since Jayne tried to trade Vera for Saffron in Our Mrs. Reynolds, I've been wondering what exactly it means to be a Callahan Full-Bore Auto-Lock with a double cartridge thorough gauge. What I really think happened is that Joss hocked a loogie on the NRA website from across the room and picked the first five words with spit on them.

But seriously, let's think about this: Vera is a top-of-the line firearm a few hundred years in the future. Now the basic principle of the firearms has been the same for the past 500 years in our world, but just think of the advances that material and chemical technology have brought to guns. Vera is bound to be a quantum leap on the same old projectile weapon concept.

Let's look at the language: Double cartridge thorough gauge. Double cartridge means two cartridges. Gauge is a reference to bore diameter, used for smoothbore weapons (shotguns) and thorough means just that: consistent throughout. My guess is that Vera can be reconfigured to accomodate more than one cartridge. Furthermore, she does this not in the way our firearms do (by replacing barrels and components) but by physically reconfiguring the barrel. There's a couple methods that could theoretically do this even though the materials to do this don't exist today. Through the use of magnetic rifling spin is imparted to the bullet with magnets instead of grooves, or memory metals which alter the actual grooves in the barrel, the Callahan FBAL could accomodate different cartridges, bullet weights, and bore diameters with the touch of a button. She could switch, say, between smoothbore shotgun and precision rifle instantly, or perhaps from using a slow heavy wide bullet, to a tiny, light fast one. Hard to imagine? Maybe, but not more so than a polymer gun and smokeless powder would be to a person raised on a Brown Bess musket. Given the binary nature of magnetics and memory metals, it makes sense that these rifling methods would accomodate only two cartridges. Hence, "double -cartridge thorough gauge".

But what of the "full bore"? Well surely manufacturing a barrel with the technology above would be incredibly expensive. Callahan probably makes an economy model where only a portion of the barrel has this ability (much like screw-on chokes for modern shotguns...giving primarily smoothbore weapons the temporary ability to stabilize a slug for long-range shooting). Now, Vera, being top-of-the-line, is certainly not an economy model, and is therefore a FULL BORE, Callahan Auto-Lock.

And as for the Auto-Lock? That could be a fancy marketing schtick used to describe any number of technologies. Maybe its a laser designator that can paint a target and allow the weapon's optical sight and/or barrel to electronically adjust. Or maybe it's a continuously computed reticle always putting an visible electronic dot on the point of impact. Both these technologies are in use on modern aircraft for missiles and guns and its only a matter of time before they become minaturized enough to work on a man-portable arm. Whatever the Auto-Lock feature is, if Vera's processor knows the type of cartridge, bullet weight, and can adjust the configuration of the barrel's rifling, she can predict pretty darn well where the bullet will strike. Especially when you consider that a modern sniper rifle with a glorified telescope on top can make hits on a human at 1200 yards.

So there you have it. The Callahan Full-Bore Auto-Lock, with double-cartridge thorough gauge.

THIEFJEHAT

Friday, August 12, 2005 3:46 AM

You forgot about the customized trigger.

Do not fear me. Ours is a peaceful race, and we must live in harmony.

DIEGO

Friday, August 12, 2005 7:26 AM

I know very little about guns, but your explanation sounds pretty reasonable and well-thought out. And of course it sounds tons better than the kind of technobabble in certain other sci-fi. I like the fact that your explanation extrapolates plausible future technologies into Vera's design.

FANGUN

Friday, August 12, 2005 8:56 PM

Thanks. I think I got some Beef when a friend of mine declared he didn't like Firefly owing to the fact that "they were still using guns 500 years from now." I tried to explain that it was for the same reason we still use knives: Because they work well!

I like the glimpses of luxury and technology you occasionally see in the series, of which Vera is an example. The juxtaposition with the primitive technologies the crew employs really kind of demonstrate how poor and outcast they really are. Kind of like going to an Africn villiage where no one has a TV, even though the poorest of Americans generally do.

On another note: Vera appears to be based of a Saiga-12. Or more specifically, a VERY hacked up Saiga-12 that Hollywood gunsmith James Borland created for Robert DeNiro's character in "Showtime"

http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2100/2173.htm

FANGUN

Friday, August 12, 2005 8:57 PM

er...yeah I did....but c'mon, you don't need that explained, do ya?

Quote:
Originally posted by thiefjehat:
You forgot about the customized trigger.

Do not fear me. Ours is a peaceful race, and we must live in harmony.

TJACK

Monday, August 15, 2005 6:25 AM

I just loved that it was named after "Dirty" Harry Callahan, owner of the most powerful handgun in the world.

...cause Justice is the one thing you should always find.

EST120

Monday, August 15, 2005 12:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Tjack:
the most powerful handgun in the world.

and would blow your head clean off.....

HARDWARE

Monday, August 15, 2005 1:52 PM

Well, as a recreational shooter I always thought that Joss just plucked handy firearms sounding words out of thin air or a firearm manufacturer's website.

And FYI, there are a couple of handgun calibers out there now packing more punch than Mr. Callahan's .44 magnum. Look up .454 Casul if you want some info.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

CHRISISALL

Monday, August 15, 2005 5:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by est120:
and would blow your head clean off.....

You'v got to ask yourself one question...

Dirty Chrisisall

CHRISISALL

Monday, August 15, 2005 5:51 PM

FanGun, you MUST email that to Adam!!!Or Joss!!!

That was cool Chrisisall

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