| From: | "Paul J. Adam" <Paul@********.DEMON.CO.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: .44 Magnums |
| Date: | Fri, 28 Apr 1995 00:15:11 GMT |
> dirtry harry calahan uses in films like the dead pool
>
> Would they be about the same as the ruger super warhawk
I made the Smith and Wesson Model 29 (Clint's sidearm) a 10M damage,
six-shot cylinder-loaded. SA not SS: I have seen with my own eyes shooters
(no wires or nothing! :-) ) fire six hot .44 Magnums in four seconds during
a skittle shoot... about as fast as I can fire my .45 automatic and still
hope to hit anyone (sorry, anything ;-) ). As for what the professionals
can do with .357 Magnum...
Revolvers originally had "single action" triggers: cock the hammer (which
automatically indexed the cylinder), then pull the trigger to fire. Thumb
back the hammer again, fire. In the mid-1850s, Charles Adams (no relation)
patented "double action" revolvers where pulling the trigger accomplished
all the necessary actions, at the price of a longer and heavier pull. Today
almost all revolvers can be fired in either way.
This is why - apart from the Warhawk, which I see as a traditional
single-action revolver anyway (Ruger make some excellent ones) revolvers in
my game are "semi-autos" (yuck) and can fire twice per action. It just
means you empty the gun twice as fast :-)
> With single shot weapons, like revolvers, what happens to the other
> simple action when you fire them. The black book says that you can fine
> a single shot weapon in a simple action but only once a combat phase so
> does this mean you can use the other simple action to do other things,
> such as aim, or is this simple action spent bringing the gun back in
>line after recoil.
For a single action revolver, yes, you could aim for the first Simple
action and fire on the second. For a double-action you could fire on both.
> I`m not much of a guns expert, do revolvers like the .36 etc recock >
automatical after being fired?
Another can of worms and a lengthy explanation. Revolvers don't recock,
period. But most of them don't need to be cocked before firing. In fact the
.38 Specials used by the New York police *can't* be cocked in case the
lighter, easier trigger pull causes accidents.
For automatic pistols, traditionally they were similar except they recocked
on every shot. A Colt M1911A1, for instance, you load by inserting a full
magazine, then rack the slide: the weapon now has a round in the chamber
and the hammer is back. Four to eight pounds pull on the trigger and it'll
fire.
You can just put the safety on (Condition One carry) and have it instantly
ready. Of course if the safety slips off and you snag the trigger...
You can lower the hammer. (Condition Two). Now before you can fire you have
to thumb the hammer back. Slower but safer.
Or you can carry it with the chamber empty and hammer down, so you draw and
work the slide before firing (Condition Three). Slowest but safest.
To a police department, say, none of these are entirely satisfactory.
That's one reason cops stayed with revolvers for so long. Walther, for the
PP (Polizei Pistolen - sorry about misspelling) came up with a "double
action" trigger for an automatic. Load, work the slide, and put the safety
on, and the hammer is dropped automatically. Now you can draw it and
release the safety, and it fires with the "safe" long double-action pull
for the first shot. The second and thereafter are all single-action for
accuracy.
This system or a version thereof is almost universal on newer (post-WW2)
pistols such as the Beretta 92, Smith and Wessons, et cetera (many driven
by police markets). Variations include:
Decocker DA - SIG-Sauer pistols. No safety per se, but a lever to drop the
safety catch. The stiff DA trigger is meant to be "idiot proof" enough to
obviate a safety. Now seen on many other pistols, and most DA autos (like
my first gun, a S&W 4506) can be decocked and left with the safety
off/hammer down.
DA Only - Driven mostly by the US police market, especially New York :-),
these have the SA trigger disabled: every shot is on the stiff DA pull, so
no attorney can claim it was an "accidental discharge".
Trigger/Other-Cocking - includes my Glock, where the action is only partly
cocked and pulling the trigger completes the cycle then fires. A variant is
the Heckler and Koch P7, where the weapon is cocked by squeezing the
frontstrap.
Since all of the above fall into the church of "Semi Automatic", I think a
DA revolver can sneak in at the back :-)
I thought about rules to differentiate, but in Shadowrun-type firefights
the difference - although noticeable, as someone who's used most of the
above - is not enough to be worth extra bookkeeping. Besides, the runners
never have firearms accidents. Honestly. ;-)
> One other thing. If some one has mounted two LMGs on the front of his
> car when he fires them would he make one roll for both at the same time
> or two seperate roles.
I'd say a single roll - if they're firing on the same target. Use standard
autofire rules - so if both fire six-round bursts and both hit, the
target's just eaten twelve rounds... In SR this is more likely to be useful
for suppressive fire (lead on landscape) but that can still be handy.
> Can you modify the smart goggle system so you can smart link a gun and
> progect the crosshairs on a Head up desplay or on the windscreen.
Sure, but why would you really want to? Wear the goggles in the car :-) But
there's no reason you couldn't have a reflector gunsight-type affair for,
say, twice the cost of standard goggles (less worry about bulk, after all).
He'd be wise to get a full smartgun link, though.
> When cars go aquatic can they fire guns mounted, what sort of modifiers
> and armour ratings would water give if you were
> A> firing > through it or B> firing
> at someone underwater
Water does horrible things to bullets and trajectories. And a lot of
weapons (such as some early M-16s) tend to blow up with water in the
barrel: the pressure in the barrel rises too high. At the least you tend to
blow out primers, which has a very negative effect on feeding the next
round: caseless weapons would be even more vulnerable, since the pressure
goes right into the breech mechanism. If they want to fire underwater, they
had better modify their weapons pretty extensively.
And the ranges and accuracy will be ludicrously low: bullets corkscrew and
yaw horribly in water. They're *designed* to - their usual target is
seventy per cent H20! I'd say every metre of water you have to fire through
adds +2 to your target number and a Barrier Rating of 4, and that may be
generous.
If your targets want to hide in the water, I'd suggest concussion grenades
for some explosive fishing... The hydrostatic shock is quite horribly
lethal, since it's transmitted to the whole body and the water carries it
far better than air does. No rules...yet. Ask me later if anyone's
interested, though. <Evil chuckle...>
> When some shoots tiers out, how do you resolve if they burst, expecialy
> if they are run flats.
Normal tyres bursting or blowing out, I rule to be an immediate Crash
Test, and a modifier (depending how mean I feel) to Handling - probably a
+2 or +3. Run-flats are just that - the mil-spec versions today are
designed so the vehicle using them won't notice they're flat except the
automatic inflation system is showing a red light on that wheel. Back in
the 1970s, Dunlop marketed the "Denovo" which was completely immune to
nails etc. (self sealing) and would allow you to make a controlled
deceleration from a blowout at 70mph to a cruise at 30-40mph for 50 miles!
It was about $250 per tyre (in 1975) which killed it as a civil venture.
But if that's available on the open market to civilians... :-)
--
When you have shot and killed a man, you have defined your attitude towards
him. You have offered a definite answer to a definite problem. For better
or for worse, you have acted decisively.
In fact, the next move is up to him.
Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
--
When you have shot and killed a man, you have defined your attitude towards
him. You have offered a definite answer to a definite problem. For better
or for worse, you have acted decisively.
In fact, the next move is up to him.
Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
