You are correct Iverum, different names for what is basically the same thing.
From a practical perspective, it's very rare for police to be firing at people with armor, and unheard of for insurgents to wear it in the middle east. It's practicality in todays climate is more for law enforcement to put someone down who is on a drug like PCP.
Since this thread has a lot of Complaining About Gun Politics You Don't Like, has any jurisdiction actually tried to honestly regulate guns by their destructive potential and utility to criminals instead of cosmetic features and other bullshit?
Out of Context Theater: Mike K "'Bloody Pussies' cracked me up"Most likely. You just don't hear about it because it's not badly done. I think Canada does it though.
Fight smart, not fair.The Lapua .339 Magnum round is a nice beast.
Who watches the watchmen?All the cool stuff comes out of South Africa these days, what's up with that?
Fight smart, not fair.It hasn't been a very nice place over time, and they probably sell weapons to the unstable countries to the north.
[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.Well South Africa made a pistol that would go off if you dropped it
so not everything that comes out of South Africa is a great weapon.
What do you think of the ergonomics and layout of these gun designs I did for my sci-fi stories? I tried to avoid huge cinderblocks or awkward "space guns" that nobody could hold or aim properly.
edited 2nd May '10 9:54:50 PM by WoolieWool
Out of Context Theater: Mike K "'Bloody Pussies' cracked me up"Looks a lot like the XM 8 family to me, the reaction to which was... mixed. But I'm not an expert.
edited 3rd May '10 12:11:48 AM by Nornagest
I will keep my soul in a place out of sight, Far off, where the pulse of it is not heard.The carrying handle on the M323 seems to be in the way of the ACOG sight. And exposing the magnetic coils on the end of the barrel seems to be a bad idea to me. Fouling those up could ruin accuracy or worse.
The M44 looks a little awkward with the magazine and foregrip in that configuration. A bullpup design might be more ergonomic as well as provide more coils to build up speed. Also, same thing about the exposed coils.
The stats on the M27 seem a little high. It's muzzle velocity is greater than that of the M24, which would make it awkward for use as a PDW. Also, why is it's burst fire rate faster than it's full auto? However, this is the coolest design so far.
The pistol looks pretty standard as far as pistols go. Still a high muzzle velocity for a pistol.
Okay, I'm done obsessing over fictional guns. Sorry.
dysfunctional human artistryActually Ive, the theoretical rate of fire for semi and burst is higher than that of full auto, assuming you could trigger squeeze that fast.
The actual mechanical capabilities are anyway. Full auto is deliberately a little slower than it COULD be for the sake of avoiding jams.
I've been trying to coach Woolie on accessory placement on his weapons for the sake of comfort for the soldier, I have to admit he does do pretty good drawings.
Ah, I did not know that. How interesting. I'm assuming that there is such a high limit because you don't have to worry about jams at the rate of a human finger?
dysfunctional human artistryPretty much. It's one of the reasons many paintball guns use a double tap trigger instead of being full auto. With a double tap trigger you have less of a chance of chopping a paintball with the bolt, and you can almost equal the rate of a fully automatic function with practice using the double tap.
edited 3rd May '10 9:43:38 AM by WoolieWool
Out of Context Theater: Mike K "'Bloody Pussies' cracked me up"Well, that all makes sense then. I've never looked into the 5.56. I had no idea it had such a high muzzle velocity.
dysfunctional human artistryYep its a cooker.
The way 3 round boost does functionally fire faster then a full auto. For 3 rds its controllable for a full auto not so much. The reduce cyclic rate reduces felt recoil, muzzle climb, ammo expenditure, and heat. All major limiting factors in a full auto weapon.
Who watches the watchmen?Well I heard one of the biggest reasons for ditching full auto was because the M16 series of rifles has shit for reliability. Full auto clogs the gas system with fouling and shortens time between failures significantly.
Which is funny, no piston gun ever made has such a problem that full auto is less reliable than burst. Most of them are on parity with each other. The M14 and AKM for example can fire again and again and again on full auto and not fail due to their long stroke pistons. (Actually hitting anything with either on full auto depends on the shooter.) Their primary limitations in fire rate are the piston's length and barrel heat. (Long-stroke pistons generally have a lower fire rate than short stroke pistons of similar operation)
The "shit for reliability" issue is only true for very early examples that were issued with shitty ammo and not cleaned properly. The current A2-A4 models are no AKs, but they are quite reliable. Full-auto was taken out because Vietnam-era conscript soldiers tended to spray and pray with it, so we disabled it to make them aim properly. We also disabled full auto on the M14 once we realized that it was mostly useless.
edited 3rd May '10 12:38:38 PM by WoolieWool
Out of Context Theater: Mike K "'Bloody Pussies' cracked me up"

I second what Barkey said. Burst is usually used for suppressive fire or firing on a group of enemies. Shotguns and smg's do make excellent shipboard weapons.
Who watches the watchmen?