From:	Paul J. Adam Paul@********.demon.co.uk
Subject:	ATTN ROB- Slivergun erratta?
Date:	Sat, 13 Mar 1999 01:45:39 +0000

In article <m34snqtcrw.fsf@******.rgo.gweep.net>, Stainless Steel Rat
<ratinox@******.gweep.net> writes
>Hash: SHA1
>
>* "Paul J. Adam" <Paul@********.demon.co.uk> on Fri, 12 Mar 1999
>| (Ans. - the blowback reaction of the bullet firing, plain and simple)
>
>I think we're arguing over two completely different things. What drives
>the bolt (or whatever) does not distinguish between a machine pistol and an
>SMG.

I thought you said it _did_... but never mind.

> That the bolt (or whatever) exists at all makes it an SMG -- machine
>pistols have no such mechanism.

Yes, they do. Unless you call the Micro-Uzi (marketed in semi-auto-only
as the 'Uzi Pistol') and the Skorpion as "submachineguns".

In larger weapons, the recoiling mass is enclosed within the receiver:
in smaller ones, it's exposed. That's the only difference: in both, the
reaction of the round being fired acts upon a mass, imparting a rearward
velocity. This may or may not be briefly retarded by various mechanisms,

Again - if the definition of "pistol" is that the working parts are
fully exposed, then I can name you several stockless pistol-sized
weapons that violate that rule.

>| A pity the Sterling SMG's retired, it was a superb example of the genre:
>| simple to the point of being crude (field stripped to just four
>| components, fiendish reliable, not too inaccurate... good enough to be
>| dressed up as Imperial Stormtrooper blaster rifles).
>
>It is fun looking at the props used in Star Wars. They are a bit more
>obvious than, say, those used in Aliens.

Yep. MG34s and Sterlings for the Empire, plus an occasional Lewis gun
(!). Solo and, later, Luke got Mauser Broomhandles. Assorted others
appeared as-and-when.

Aliens, it's not immediately obvious that the M41A1 pulse rifle is the
bastard child of a Thompson M1 and a Franchi SPAS-12, or that the
'smartguns' used to be MG42s. (Is that the earliest sighting of a
Shadowrun-style gyromount? They later showed up in the entertaining
"Nemesis" and the awful "Xtro 2", but I've never seen similar
beforehand). You can see the flamethrowers are built out of M-16s if you
squint, and the Marines mostly use standard VP70s as sidearms (Vasquez
has a M1911A1-a-like)

For that matter, has anyone looked at an "Aliens" pulse-rifle and the
current US Army OICW projects side-by-side? _Scary_. The US Army is
buying its next infantry weapon from a James Cameron movie :)

--
Paul J. Adam