My theory about guns in Firefly
POSTED BY: Ringwraith
UPDATED: Thursday, January 2, 2003 01:21
VIEWED: 41138
PAGE 7 of 15
Quote:So now you got me curious: what's the oldest firearm design still in production? For actual use-in-anger or hunting, that is. Not "reproductions" sold only to collectors and re-enactors.
Originally posted by TinyTimm:
I note we have available today mass produced rifles and pistols originally designed over the last 300 years, from flintlocks to Semi-auto pistols and rifles.
JOSH, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!
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Thanks for the explanation Zic.
The 'hundreds of planets' thing kinda bothered me because it seemed like they'd avoided the FTL trap by having just one system only to create a new one.
Shug
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Quote:Well, I had fun writing it. Just remember that this is unauthorized Zicsoft Cosmology and in no way endorsed by Joss Whedon (TM), Mutant Enemy, or Fox Television!
Originally posted by Shuggie:
Thanks for the explanation Zic.
The 'hundreds of planets' thing kinda bothered me because it seemed like they'd avoided the FTL trap by having just one system only to create a new one.
Shug
JOSH^HS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:Quote:So now you got me curious: what's the oldest firearm design still in production? For actual use-in-anger or hunting, that is. Not "reproductions" sold only to collectors and re-enactors.
Originally posted by TinyTimm:
I note we have available today mass produced rifles and pistols originally designed over the last 300 years, from flintlocks to Semi-auto pistols and rifles.
Most states have hunting seasons for blackpowder rifles. A few even have them for cross bows as well as long bows. This means there are some very modern muzzleloading rifles available to hunters wanting a second season. Or in some cases third. Figure cap lock rifles have been around since 1800 or so.
In cartrige arms the Winchester 73 is still being copied. Wild Western shooting sports sill use pre-civil war ear Colt revolvers and some double barrel muzzle loading shotguns.
The best automatic pistol ever designed for self defense is the M1911 Colt Army Automatic designed by John Browning.
Jeff
Who still keeps a .45 Automatic Colt Pistol handy.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:Quote:So now you got me curious: what's the oldest firearm design still in production? For actual use-in-anger or hunting, that is. Not "reproductions" sold only to collectors and re-enactors.
Originally posted by TinyTimm:
I note we have available today mass produced rifles and pistols originally designed over the last 300 years, from flintlocks to Semi-auto pistols and rifles.
Most states have hunting seasons for blackpowder rifles. A few even have them for cross bows as well as long bows. This means there are some very modern muzzleloading rifles available to hunters wanting a second season. Or in some cases third. Figure cap lock rifles have been around since 1800 or so.
In cartrige arms the Winchester 73 is still being copied. Wild Western shooting sports sill use pre-civil war ear Colt revolvers and some double barrel muzzle loading shotguns.
The best automatic pistol ever designed for self defense is the M1911 Colt Army Automatic designed by John Browning.
Jeff
Who still keeps a .45 Automatic Colt Pistol handy.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:Quote:So now you got me curious: what's the oldest firearm design still in production? For actual use-in-anger or hunting, that is. Not "reproductions" sold only to collectors and re-enactors.
Originally posted by TinyTimm:
I note we have available today mass produced rifles and pistols originally designed over the last 300 years, from flintlocks to Semi-auto pistols and rifles.
Most states have hunting seasons for blackpowder rifles. A few even have them for cross bows as well as long bows. This means there are some very modern muzzleloading rifles available to hunters wanting a second season. Or in some cases third. Figure cap lock rifles have been around since 1800 or so.
In cartrige arms the Winchester 73 is still being copied. Wild Western shooting sports sill use pre-civil war ear Colt revolvers and some double barrel muzzle loading shotguns.
The best automatic pistol ever designed for self defense is the M1911 Colt Army Automatic designed by John Browning.
Jeff
Who still keeps a .45 Automatic Colt Pistol handy.
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Actually more about the "solar system ..."
Technically, what they have isn't a "solar" system, because that's what we have here with our star, Sol. What they have is a stellar system, and that description also encompasses conglomerations of multiple stars in the same general area.
It's unfortunate that they put the VO on the show, at least as it's worded. It would also be nice if they gave a few more details about the area covered by the Alliance and frontier, and the speeds the society is capable of utilizing. But the evidence of the show just doesn't support the idea that it's a single star with hundreds of planets and moons that could be terraformed and thrive under a single sun. Mal's mention of the Reavers' having gone out to the edge of the galaxy also gives the impression that the Alliance is more than just the space around a single star; he didn't say the Reavers had gone to the rim of the system.
I hope the interpretation of "system" is a broad one, although I don't think the size of the space is going to make a difference with the stories that occur within it. Besides, if all of their ships are confined to speeds well below the speed of light, a single system of hundreds of worlds is effectively as large as a galactic quadrant; it's not the distance, so much as the time it takes to cross it.
On a cellular level, I'm really quite busy ...
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I read about a two thirds of this thread, and it looks like everyone has great ideas.
Guns in space:
A firearm in space would have only one drawback, that I can see, and that would be the oxygen to combust the propellent. A gun in space would fire a chunk of lead that would continue to move outward in a perfectly straight line without the slightest decrease in speed. (See Newton's first law of motion) This means that anything you hit will be like hitting it at point-blank range. When you consider the physics of it, a projectile weapon could be amazingly destructive in space.
Energy weapons:
However, energy weapons are not particularly difficult to make or that much more complicated. The reasons we don't have them today is more because of politics then technology. Computers aren't needed to make or fire directed energy weapons. Lasers and Particle-Beams were being experimented with before computers were even capable of being used in that respect. I don't think energy weapons will ever replace the firearm, but 500 years in the future, they will probably be present somewhere. However, two very important problems with directed energy weapons are their limited use and their size. Energy weapons might never be small enough to hold in your hands, and they will only be completely effective in space, where atmospheres aren't present to attenuate their intensity.
An alternative to the energy weapon and the firearm:
There is another kind of weapon that is only in it's beginning stages of development today, but might someday become a common weapon especially in space, and that is the magnetic pulse weapon, or "rail-gun," which fires a ferromagnetic projectile using a magnetic pulse. In theory, this is capable of accelerating very massive projectiles to relativistic velocities. 500 years in the future, it will probably be this type of weapon that is the most effective.
But that's just my 2 cents. 
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All responses very well thought out. Let me toss out another idea: most folks don't have advanced energy weapons because the Alliance won't allow such weapons to be traded and possessed on the frontier. It is in the interest of those in power to limit the weaponry accessible to those not in power.
William08
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As thegn mentioned, I`m willing to bet that gauss rifles will be an effective ship to ship armament.
They probably will not replace firearms.
Sadgeezer, have you ever SEEN what a 12 guage will do to an animal? You would be mighty surprised! With materiels that will probably be invented within 100 years, I could devise shotgun ammo that could kill a human out to 1500 yards. How much more performance do you need? In real world applications, an energy weapon would have little, if any, advantages over a projectile weapon. Shotguns are EXTREMELY versatile, already having loads ranging from the old standby 00 buck load, to little nastys such as AP(armor piercing) loads and flechettes(about a dozen sharp steel darts in a single cartridge), and non-lethal(on a good day) loads like rubber buckshot, and beanbags. Only someone completly unaware of the performance of a modern shotgun would say it will be obsolete within a milinnia.
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