From:	Paul J. Adam Paul@********.demon.co.uk
Subject:	Viper Errata
Date:	Tue, 9 Mar 1999 17:50:32 +0000

In article <m3pv6jqt6a.fsf@******.rgo.gweep.net>, Stainless Steel Rat
<ratinox@******.gweep.net> writes
>I don't buy it. I once fired a Walther PPK chambered for .380 -- normally
>it fires the much smaller .32ACP. Never again. The .380 was seriously
>painful to fire.

Of course, if you talk realistic, going for flechette ammunition cuts
that down a lot, since if it's anything like Glaser or Mag-Safe it'll be
a very light load. The "one big flechette" loads seen, for instance, in
the Steyr and AAI ACR candidates likewise had very light projectiles.

>If someone were to chamber the PPK for .45 ACP or 9mm --
>heavy handgun ammo -- it would sprain the shooter's wrist at the least.

Star M-43 Firestar. No larger than a Walther PP, but available in 9mm
and .45ACP. Been selling for nearly a decade now.

It's 50% heavier than a PPK, but then the Viper weighs twice as much as
most heavy pistols.


Of course, the Viper's bigger than the 2060 version of the Walther PPK,
unless the category shrank (Walther PB120 from Fof: Concealability 8,
10-shot light pistol) The Viper's of a size with the Ares Crusader: a
40-shot machine pistol.

>The tables should group it with machine pistols. It does not.

Fields of Fire puts both the Fichetti Executive Action and the Beretta
200ST in with light pistols, and the Viper and Guardian with heavies.
The "machine pistols" get their own group.

>The data
>was copied verbatim from SR2, and the machine pistol category added in SR3.

Nope. Machine pistols appear as a category (Black Scorpion, Crusader) in
Fields of Fire and in the conversion table at the back of SR2.

>Because flechettes, being more aerodynamic than solid slugs, can travel
>further than solid slugs given equivalent energy.

Not borne out by real-world experience, sadly, whether you use the "one
big nail" or "Glaser-ful of needles" school of thought.

Most credible real-world explanation: with the integral silencer it's
got a longer barrel than most light pistols, giving it better accuracy.

>And there exists greater possibility that it is a cut and paste error when
>the original author of SR1 and SR2 says that the book is wrong.

A cut and paste error not only surviving seven years, but being
carefully repeated through several sourcebooks and a new edition of the
rules?


--
Paul J. Adam