What's gonna be the next big thing in firearms?

[Caeser23]

we've came along way since the 1700s with muskets and black power firearms, rilfe barrles, to break action, lever action, clip fed, magazine fed, belt fed, closed bolt, open bolt, striker fired, rotating barrel. i'm most certainly missing ingenuities, this is what came to mind right now.

the new futureweapons the other day had a knights armament m4 that fired from the closed bolt in semi and open bolt in full auto (same gun not swapping anything) have we reached the limits yet? or what else is in store for us?

[Rant Casey]

All the rage in the future - Phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range

[chris in va]

Probably changes to what gets launched downrange. Personally I think projectiles in general are pretty archaic and hard to control properly.

[ActivShootr]

A big thing is already upon us. The gun uses electromagnetism to launch projectiles. Pretty neat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEu9LLQpOF8

[chris in va]

I'm pretty sure Metal Storm still uses propellant. They're just stacked in the barrels, and electronically fired.

However the Navy is running tests on an electromagnetic gun that just launches a needle shaped projectile hundreds of miles.

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/articl...gnetic-railgun

[ActivShootr]

Thats some pretty awesome firepower Chris. Imagine hundreds of 40lb slugs raining down.

[kozak6]

I wonder if caseless rounds might ever make a comeback.

Burst firing weapons that have a cyclic rate so high that the gun fires off the burst before it recoils, such as the H&K G11 (incedentally also caseless) or the Russian AN-94.

There's also lots of room for various sorts of directed energy weapons. The military is working on a microwave gun for riot control, and then lasers and so forth.

[toybox99615]

I see an opening for some bright company to develop a case-less round for small arms. At the price of ammo today as compared to ten years ago it might be profitable.

Technically a case-less round it not hard to conceive. Given the technology now available for electronic ignition. But selling it depends on how the price compares to other rounds. Case-less rounds near the prices of reloading your own might be very marketable. Case-less rounds at higher than brass cartridge rounds probably would only selll as a novelty and never get popular.

[Crosshair]

A non-AK gun that doesn't use those dent magnets known as AR-15 magazines.

[darrentxs]

I was thinking of a military weapon that would be cool. Not sure how it could be built. It works by using a sighting sytem that marks targets and keeps track of them even if they move.

A sniper could mark a whole mess of BGs and call in a strike. A remote multi-barreled weapon would take them out all at once. The projectiles would home in on the marks. It's a tough nut to crack in design but I like the idea.

[Curtis(USAF)]

Laser guidance? I heard about something kind of like that. I'd say it would require about a 1-2 inch barrel diameter. The shells would require deployable flight surfaces, a laser detector, and some awesome internal computer processing power. I don't think its possible quite yet, but the military is getting there.

Of course, wire guidance could potentially be alot simpler. 25mm TOW bullet anyone? Aim at your target, keep the crosshairs on the impact point, and the bullet goes where you want it to go.

CCIP (Continously computed impact point) technology is coming along way. The scope is slaved to a laser range finder, and a fistful of sensors that crunch environmental factors such as elevation, air density, moisture, and so forth. The cartridges physical and ballistic characteristics are already figured into the computer, (Several different types of loads can be stored.) The scope automatically adjusts to keep the crosshairs on the point of computed point of impact. Utilizing the onboard computer, additional factors could be factored in, to adjust the aimpoint for target movement, much the same way world war two submariners would figure out the course and speed of enemy ships in order to put their torpedos where they needed to be. As you speed up the computer, you get more range and heading "marks" making the system more accurate.

As far as shotguns go, I'd see some more specialized loads coming into being. I hear that the people at Taser are finishing up development of a Taser slug for shotguns. Better range then a regular taser, no wires to break or fail, and the ability to engage multiple targets in rapid succession with less then lethal force. I'd also like to see more magazine fed shotguns. They don't have to be semi auto, but I prefer mag fed weapons.

As far as handguns go, I don't really know. More 'safe gun' nonsense? More calibers to answer questions that weren't asked? The FN 57 does kind of strike me as a nifty caliber. Not a lot of pistols can boast about being able to carry 20 rounds per standard size magazine. I'd kind of like to see the caliber take off, but I don't think it will unless some ones' military or police force just happens to adopt it out of thin air. (Doubtful, everyone seems quite content with 9mm for now) I can imagine environmentalists pushing ammo manufacturers to produce more lead-free ammo. Thats about it for now.

[bushidomosquito]

Handguns, like cellphones, will get smaller and more compact. More plastic will be used in places you wouldn't think possible. Someone might start tinkering with adding various electronics, lights and lasers built in at first. LED sights instead of tritium seems possible and sensors to change one or more sight dot colors to indicate empty mag/last round in chamber, empty chamber, out of battery, ect. An ammo counter like the one on the Aliens gun isn't too far fetched. All you need is a sensor to read how far the follower is moved up the mag tube and a display in the sight recticle.

[homefires]

Cyber ammo programed to complete numeros task at hand!

Already at hand is projectiles that can burst about someones hiding hole and whack them!

If that is not good enough? Try this!:barf:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YjJ7...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qX0N...eature=related

[RedneckFur]

I'm afraid of the day they put circuts and electronics in guns. If my revolver jammed as often as my computer crashed, I'd be in one heck of a mess!

As far as developments go, I think we've gone plenty far. I'd like to see more work done with alloys and polymers.

[Alakar]

Liquid propellant guns. Looks like most of the research is in artillery, but would be interesting as a personal firearm propellant.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Chamber/2838/arms.html

Next is the idea of liquid propellant rounds. If you store the bullet in one magazine and the propellant as liquid in another, then you can load a round into the firing chamber, seep the proper amount of propellant behind it, and fire. The advantage of this technique is ammo capacities get even bigger (now you need store only the bullet itself), and liquid propellants combust more thoroughly than solids, producing greater pressure and higher muzzle velocities. Of course the disadvantage to this is that bottle of propellant on your weapon (one unlucky shot and boom!), but this can be gotten around by making a binary propellant mixture (a compound requiring two separate components which are individually inert but can mix to form your volatile propellant charge).

[SteelJM1]

Originally Posted by SHTF

All the rage in the future - Phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range

Hey, just what you see, pal.

[Double Naught Spy]

A big thing is already upon us. The gun uses electromagnetism to launch projectiles. Pretty neat.

I'm pretty sure Metal Storm still uses propellant. They're just stacked in the barrels, and electronically fired.

However the Navy is running tests on an electromagnetic gun that just launches a needle shaped projectile hundreds of miles.

While rail guns appear to be in our future, they are in our past and the tested concept is rather old. Back in 1936, a rail gun was displayed at the Texas State Fair that was designed by a fellow in east Texas. It was actually a rail machinegun and had a rate of fire around 300-400 rpm. It was also an apparent power hog and did not catch on with the US or with the Japanese who were negotiating a contract at the time.

It was in Modern Mechanix in 1934...
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/...d_rail_gun.jpg

[PhoenixConflagration]

I think more in our immediate future may be new advances in recoil and noise management. Is there some better way to control recoil other than a spring? Perhaps the next John Browning can figure that one out.

It would also be nice to see some way to fire the projectile without the need for hearing protection. Compact rail guns may be a long way off, but perhaps some mechanical way to control the release of gasses without a long baffle tube.

[Martin_tu]

Prohibition?

LOL!

[jgcoastie]

Prohibition?

LOL!

Not a good attempt a humor, especially given the political climate in the U.S. and abroad...

[raindog]

Small mouseguns seem all the rage. I think Walther is releasing something soon to compete with Kahr, Ruger LCP, etc. (besides their PPK)

More people are carrying concealed, so I think you'll see more smaller guns.

.380 seems more popular, given the smaller guns, so it wouldn't surprise me if you don't seem someone launching .380 +P loads or something.

[(BH)]

Tesla's Death Ray. Duh....

[Jim March]

If my revolver jammed as often as my computer crashed, I'd be in one heck of a mess!

I'll be running "Ubuntu: Bangthing Edition"

[Chris_B]

[Brian Pfleuger]

I think that electronic ignition will be the next major change. It already exists in actual production on a couple of commercially available firearms. I think it's just a matter of time before it's standard equipment. When that happens we'll be talking about the 9v battery shortage instead of the primer shortage.