Hmm, maybe Vera would have worked without the suit?

POSTED BY: jake7
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 5, 2008 07:59
VIEWED: 6481
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FREEBROWNCOAT

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 3:28 AM

No oxygen is needed for the propellant of course. BUt the outgassing mentioned might be a problem inside the cartrdge. Would it break the seal of the brass and lead enough to let the explosive pressure out? Would the bullet fall off because the brass expanded with the gas? Would the outgassing be rapid enough to spring the brass out of shape? How long does the exposre to vacuum have to be to cause sufficient damage? One shot? A full mag (and my swinging cod)?
The other thing would be using the gases to operate the bolt. Having fired a few 5.56 rounds, one bit of lazy cleaning that allows the port to plug will jam the weapon. To me, that seems the real show stopper.
But then if the cartridges are fired electronically, maybe even caseless, then the gas is no longer needed. But does outgassing destroy the powder integrity?
So, outgassing damaging the cartridge, gas operated bolt, electronic firing and cseless ammo. Wonder which is the more important factor.

"This here is my very favorite gun. I call it Vera."

ODDBALLE8

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 8:32 AM

why is this even being discussed? joss sais in the commentary that they consulted a weapons expert about it before the show... he told them they needed oxygen, but after they filmed it they found out that the "expert" was wrong... guns work without oxygen...

y'all didnt listen to the commentary? and you call yourselves browncoats? pfft! shame on you!

MOOSE

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 9:28 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by OddballE8:
y'all didnt listen to the commentary? and you call yourselves browncoats? pfft! shame on you!

I was going to listen to the commentary to get Joss's exact quote...

then it occured to me that "Our Mrs. Reynolds" DOESN'T HAVE a commentary...

Seriously, did he bring it up on a different episode's commentary?

I do remember that he mentioned the mistake on a webvid interview from the original F*X Firefly site.

ODDBALLE8

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 10:36 AM

hmm... youre right... so where the heck did i hear that?

well i did hear it and it was from joss' own mouth... so i know its true... but now i just got to figure out where i heard it... *sigh*

its never easy is it?

MOOSE

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 11:11 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by OddballE8:
hmm... youre right... so where the heck did i hear that?

I think the interview is in the media section of the Fox Firefly DVD site.

I can't be sure, since I'm on dial-up and can't watch the vids...

http://www.foxhome.com/firefly/main.html

(click on Serenity)

See? Not too hard...

JAKE7

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 2:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Th Odd Couple lives forever...

Madisoyisall

But of course! And that one is one of my favorite episodes...

(Madisox cracked me up to no end...

)

--------------
MAL: Everybody's makin' a fuss.
***********
"They just float out there, sending out raver breeding parties..."

JAKE7

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 2:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by OddballE8:
why is this even being discussed? joss sais in the commentary that they consulted a weapons expert about it before the show... he told them they needed oxygen, but after they filmed it they found out that the "expert" was wrong... guns work without oxygen...

Because it's fun to discuss?

--------------
MAL: Everybody's makin' a fuss.
***********
"They just float out there, sending out raver breeding parties..."

DONCOAT

Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:06 PM

My favorite fanwank on this issue (and one I came up with myself) is that it's an interlock. Vera is designed not to fire in vacuum.

Why? Well, if you're in vacuum you may also be in a microgravity situation. Start shooting under those conditions and you'll find yourself spinning backwards with your aim point far, far away from your intended target. Even if you're not in free-fall (say, on an airless moon) you're likely to put a hole in something that really shouldn't have holes in it.

Okay, it's a little weak, but it works for me.

(Oh, one other point: why did she keep firing after the suit was holed and the air leaked out? Two possibilities: the interlock only prevents the first shot but allows successive shots for a while; or, the suit took a few seconds to decompress from a bullet-sized leak so there was enough pressure to keep the interlock satisfied.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

REDLAVA

Friday, February 1, 2008 12:18 AM

Your theory on the secondary shots sounds accurate. Air can't escape in the blink of an eye. My guess is that the shells that Vera fired are something special that may need an oxidizer to work properly.

...or Joss just wanted to add an element of difficulty to the shot. No suit, clean line of fire through a scope, bent or otherwise, easy. Making Jayne do trigonometry in a dire situation...hard.

INSOMNIAC

Friday, February 1, 2008 12:43 AM

Has anyone considered the fact that Jayne just might be stupid and assumed Vera needed oxygen. When you think about it, Jayne may be somewhat of a weapons expert but I am sure he didn't think this far into it. Mal was the one who called for the suit but I think he might of done that to be on the safe side.

-------------------------------------------------
Zoe: "Preacher, don't the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killing?

Book: "Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps."

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