From:	Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@***.NEU.EDU>
Subject:	Re: New TV Series: RoboCop
Date:	Sun, 27 Mar 1994 20:59:42 -0500

>>>>> "DS" == Dave Sherohman <esper@*****.IMA.UMN.EDU>
writes:

DS> Ack! Ick! I saw the premeire last week and it turned my stomach to
DS> see how thoroughly they emasculated the title character. In the entire
DS> hour, I believe that Robo fired a grand total of four single shots from
DS> what was orginally a high-ROF automatic weapon.

Ah! I get to spout off about one of my most favorite handguns in existence!
[This is, of course, from the original movie; I don't want to bother with
the TV show.] The weapon in question is the Beretta 93R. It is a 9x19mm
handgun based on the Beretta 92 family, switchable between single shot and
3-round burst fire. It is properly classified as a machine pistol, not an
SMG, thus the burst limiter (I'll explain that in a moment). It is
technically a fully automatic weapon with a cyclic of 750 rpm, limited by
the burst limiter which cannot be disabled without replacing the action. It
comes with a folding front grip, and the oversized trigger guard allows for
the thumb of the fore hand to grip the weapon more easilly. It has a
detachable, folding shoulder stock. Standard magazine is 15 or 20 round
removable box.

In the movie, the weapon had a bunch of extra junk stuck on to make it look
``futuristic'' but the unique characteristics of the 93R, the folding
handle and oversized triggerguard, are quite obvious. They did use ``live''
ammunition in some scenes (the short brrppp! sounds are characteristic of a
burst limiter in use).

Machine pistols, like machineguns, use energy from firing one shot to
cycle the action and feed the next round; SMGs use a spring-loaded bolt to
do the same job. The ROF of a machine pistol is significantly higer than an
SMG because of this, and they become unwieldly very quickly.

More movie notes: watch La Femme Nikita. There is a scene similar to the
firing range in Robocop. Nikita uses the exact same weapon.

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