What's the next big thing for firearms?

[Brian Pfleuger]

I thought $500 1/2 MOA rifles were things of the past, not the future.

[pturner67]

No matter what, someone will post that the 1911 is best.

You beat me to it, except that I was gonna say Glock.

[shurshot]

I don't care about the next best thing in guns. I like my old ones. However, if they ever came out with LIGHT SABERS... I want one in each color!!!!

[pturner67]

if they ever came out with LIGHT SABERS... I want one in each color!!!!

that, or a noisy cricket

[Master Blaster 2]

Space Balls used Calico 22LR rifles...Star wars uded modded Broomhandle...don't think looking at movies is the future view.

I think all pistols and revolvers will be poyl...wait they are almost there already.
Polymer-cased ammunition Ammo
Steyr ACR has 5.56mm NATO/.223 Rem., 7.62mm NATO/.308 Win., 6.8 SPC (6.8x43mm SPC), .300 Win. Mag (.300 Winchester Magnum), .338 Lapua Magnum, and .50 BMG/12.7x99mm NATO ready to go.

http://www.defensereview.com/pcp-amm...take-the-heat/

[481]

Ceramic framed pistols- the Glock7 can't be that far off.

[jimjc]

I believe that internal noise suppression will make advancements...

A lighter faster world wide bullet...Faster more powerful 22 cal. bullets...More emphasis on 22 cal...

[Nine the Ranger]

No 'ammo'

Have the gun shear off a piece of metal and propel it forward.

[testuser]

Next big thing?

1) Probably whatever replaces the M4 in the military...stay tuned.

2) You won't be able to purchase one, but more weapons like the XM25...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM25_CDTE

3) Smaller, lighter, and more rugged red dots for automatic pistols...greater acceptance on combat pistols.

4) More effective versions of the 5.56mm like the M855A1 to defeat body armor, which we'll be see more of on and off the battlefield.

[danez71]

Disposable guns. Like everything else we buy now. It will be cheaper to throw it away and buy a new one than to have it repaired.

They already have those.... but lets not turn this into to another one of those threads

[FrosSsT]

They already have those.... but lets not turn this into to another one of those threads

Now why on earth hi point would you ever taurus say that?

[Skans]

The development of light-weight, tough ceramics. I see a ceramic handgun in my future.

[BlueTrain]

Frankly, it's hard to see any advantage to ceramics in firearm construction or in ammunition. Polymer or whatever those plastics are, is already the thing to beat. I also don't see how you could achieve any weight advantage at all. But who knows? Boats made of concrete were used the in the war and still are on the C&O canal.

Because no one makes ammunition propellant, one is less likely to know much about it or to think about it. There could be some improvements in that area perhaps but probably not revolutionary.

Another thing is how all the little details in firearms have to work and work well for a particular gun to be considered good and reliable. Yet one frequently reads posts here on the forum about things that forever seem to give trouble, such as magazines. Apparently the manufacture of magazines seems to be farmed out to other companies that supposedly specialize in them. But why so many problems related to magazines? Maybe we should go back to clips but they don't work so easily for some people. It is curious that the use of stripper clips in newly designed pistols seems to have ceased about a hundred years ago. Maybe they didn't work that well then.

Springs get mentioned a lot here, too, perhaps more often than needed. While I've had a spring problem with a Colt Government .380, I've had no others. Are problems with springs exaggerated?

[cannonfire]

Non-metal slides and barrels. Obviously you need a material that can withstand high heat and abuse. I do not know what that material is but I think that is the next revolutionary thing.

Wouldn't have to worry about rust and it could be lighter, depending on material.

Just thinking out loud

[aarondhgraham]

And probably in caseless or a different material other than metal for the case.

We're going to run out of metal real soon,,,
And no one recycles enough to make a real difference.

My crystal ball is in the shop,,,
So I can't predict what material will replace brass,,,
But if I were a betting man I would wager it will be a polymer/ceramic thing.

Just a wild guess.

Aarond

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[aarondhgraham]

Duplicate post,,,

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[BlueTrain]

I don't think we'll run out of metal that soon. But that doesn't mean there couldn't be developments in caseless ammo. That is, successful and practical advances. The problem is, coming up with something that's really an advance.

I was just thinking about tank ammunition. A 120-mm gun uses a base like a shotgun shell and long priming rod that goes up into the rest of the load. The rest of the case, which looks for all the world like a piece of plastic plumbing pipe (it's even white) necked down at the end to hold the projectile. The problem is in the handling. The tank gun is a single loading, semi-automatic gun. It's loaded by hand, with gloves (but not white gloves). The best application for a sporting arm would be shotgun ammunition. But a shotgun shell is already made of either paper or plastic above the brass base. We certainly aren't going to run out of paper or plastic. For smaller bore weapons, you run into a space problem, that being the thickness of the case wall. True, a .410 shotgun shell is no bigger than a .45 but it's on the long size.

Just thinking out loud on those points.

[Xfire68]

Polymer cased ammo is coming soon. From subsonic/suppressed ammo to save our troops hearing to polymer cased ammo that saves on weight by 30+%. The polymer has been changed from what was being tested in 2008. There are still some ejection issues but it's getting worked out.

[Joe_Pike]

What's the next big thing for firearms?

Gen 5 Glocks.

[HiBC]

No intent to turn this thread political,but the next thing in firearms may be defined by whatever restrictions come out of Wash DC.

Someone will look at what we have left to work with and do the best they can.

I suspect ammo will be far more expensive.And ,some suppliers may shut down.The new Health care laws will influence the cost of having an employee and the cost of production,as will higher taxes.We may see doors close.

A lot of us will have less for disposable "play" funds.Cost per shot will be more important.We have already crossed $1+ per round ,in some cases $2+ per round,for factory loads.

When surplus 5.56 was 2 to 3 cents per round(early /mid 70's) burning off a 30 mag to make dust was great fun and "going shooting" meant several hundred rounds of centerfire.

Now,even shooting an AR,I squeeze one round at a time.As a kid,I would go out "hunting" with 2 or 3 20 ga shells.

If ammo gets to be $4 a shot,who will be able to afford to burn a $120 30 rd mag?Right now,we are having fun with semi-autos.How much time will they spend in the safe if shooting 4 magazines costs $480 ? So,IMO,folks may return to the fun of a single shot .22.

Dueling tree with a matched pair of pink Cricketts and a brick of 22s.Ritz cracker shoots,or lollypops might surge over 3 gun matches.

It just might be that the brass friendly single shot may make a comeback.

For that matter,so might the flintlock.

We might play with .22s a lot more.Maybe the 50 ft smallbore range will be more popular.

We may lose more places to shoot,such as lead or shooting restrictions on public lands via the EPA.

If that occurs,places to reach out with a .338 Lapua or 50 BMG might become rare.

Pardon me for being dismal,but the current spike in firearms trade is a "get it while you can" bubble.

If the future we fear comes,it may well be that the firearms industry will be just trying to survive.

[GM1967]

For the future, don't look to sci-fi movies (Hollywood doesn't think), look to science fiction novels and games.

Some advances I think we might see:

In the ammunition field -- caseless ammo eventually (hasn't provided enough advantage to make it worthwhile changing everything, that's why we don't have it yet). We may also see guns that use a liquid propellent, sprayed into the chamber in an aerosol similar to a the fuel injector in your car. This would allow adjustments to vary the velocity of the round, from subsonic for surpressed shots, to high velocity shots. And we might see some advances in bullets to improve their terminal performance, like practical explosive bullets, or a hollow point bullet that also includes a dense armor-piercing core, enabling one round to perform well against both armored and unarmored targets.

We'll likely see improved sighting systems for guns. Better laser sights, improved reflex sights and optics. All of these are becoming more common; ten years ago most soldiers did not have anything other than iron sights, now various optics and accessories are almost standard.

Railguns and other electromagnetic weapons exist, in laboratory form anyway. We won't see practical, man-portable versions for a while. I think the main problem is storing enough energy, then being able to release enough of that energy all at once, rather than in a trickle. Chemical propellent still provides that more efficiently than anything else we've got. However, when this problem is solved, electromagnetic weapons will provide the ability to accelerate a projectile to very high speeds.

Directed energy weapons like lasers, particle beams, etc. Same problem as for railguns, the power source. We already have lasers in the field, but mainly as part of sighting and ranging systems. There's a forward observer vehicle for artillery that mounts a laser capable of blinding enemy troops. A true laser weapon is going to require a lot of energy released all at once, and there are also environmental conditions that can make lasers ineffective -- rain, fog, smoke, etc. I'm not that knowledgeable about particle beams and plasma weapons, but here's a link for anyone interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_weapons

Oh, and as far as lightsabers....we certainly don't have them yet. George Lucas writes space opera, not hard science fiction. To my knowledge, there isn't even a scientific principle that would allow it to function -- how to you create an intense laser beam that stops after 3 feet? And the problems mentioned above about the power source are even worse for a lightsaber, where you are constantly wasting power.

[HiBC]

To GM 1967's post,daisy had the VL system,where some propellant was in the skirt of a pellet,and the compressed air provided a diesel type ignition.These rounds approached 22 lr in performance.Daisy dumped the project as it threatened to put airguns under the GCA68 rules as a firearm.

I can see that for some sports shooting with today's modern airguns,this could be good.A caseless,primerless 10 mm airgun with vl tech might be a fine target/small game rifle,even if I had to fill a form 4473 on it.

[wayneinFL]

To GM 1967's post,daisy had the VL system,where some propellant was in the skirt of a pellet,and the compressed air provided a diesel type ignition.These rounds approached 22 lr in performance.Daisy dumped the project as it threatened to put airguns under the GCA68 rules as a firearm.

I can see that for some sports shooting with today's modern airguns,this could be good.A caseless,primerless 10 mm airgun with vl tech might be a fine target/small game rifle,even if I had to fill a form 4473 on it.

Hilti has a similar system for some of their nail guns.

[ChasingWhitetail91]

Sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

The Ukrainian navy has trained dolphins with pistols on their head. I kid you not - google it.