Roleplayer Guild - Forum Roleplaying Games

Early in my teenage years; I had a growing obsession with firearms. The mechanical workings of them; how they shoot...so on. Tsar has a pretty impressive article himself about weapons and the basic use, and I urge you all to read through that.

But I wanted to go more detailed and explain a few things about firearms that I think people should know in realist terms. Natrually, you are more than happy to ignore any part of these for the fun of the RP, but hey. Some people enjoy raw realism.

Few Basics I think people should know-

#1:
The Desert Eagle is NOT a viable combat weapon.

Ugh, so many times have I seen this thing. And it almost makes me flinch. A Desert Eagle is a heavy, loud encumbrance that seems to serve no real practical purpose. It's expensive, it's rounds are expensive no matter what caliber you put it in, and many shooting ranges will not allow it because it is so incredibly loud that even people with ear protection still complain about it; it also ejects the casings fairly high over partitions.

It's loud, it's heavy and you could probably carry way more ammo for a .45 or a 9mm in the same weight.

#2:
Not all silenced Weapons are not whisper quiet.

In actuality, many silenced weapons use subsonic bullets to reduce the sound further and make a sound that is indiscriminate from an actual gunshot; it also reduces muzzle flash to practically nothing. The few exceptions I speak of are the MP5SD:

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...ns/mp5_sd3.jpg

And the High Standard HDM which fires a .22 LR, the gun is supposedly so quiet that Roosevelt was dictating a letter as the gun was fired behind him and it never interrupted him.

#3:
Guns are loud.

This is an often ignored part of firearms in anything, for good reason. There is no real point to constantly describing it over and over. But you need to keep it in mind for a few reasons. Gunshots can be heard pretty well probably..eh, I'll say maybe 20 meters all around for most weapons; bigger the bullet, bigger the boom. Generally speaking.

#4:
You probably can't go Akimbo very well.

If you don't know what Akimbo is, it's holding a gun in each hand. Weapons seen like this are pretty much anything automatic and capable to be held with one hand.

Such as the MP5K:http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...ns/hk_mp5k.jpg
Mini-Uzi: http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6.../uzi-mini1.jpg
MAC-10:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6.../mac_m10_9.jpg

These small firearms have an incredibly high rate of fire; around 900 RPM (Rounds per minute) And the muzzle climb associated with that is pretty horrendous. Many of the smaller submachine guns and machine pistols can empty their magazines in a few seconds.

#5:
Nobody is going to go flying back when you shoot them with a shotgun or anything else at close range.

An often boring rule I ignore sometimes myself, but nonetheless true. In order for this to actually be possible; you would have to feel the force of it back on your shoulder. I.E. If he flies back, so do you. Chances are that they would jerk back and fall; or just crumple to the ground.

#6:
Your weapons are not immune to the elements. Guns will clatter, fall and break like anything else. Although they are generally made to a very durable standard. (I've seen pistols get hit with a baseball bat, smack hard against a concrete wall and fire fine)

This rule should really only be considered for a few things, notably desert and water. Fine dust will really screw up the operating action of a gun if it is not cleaned at least once in a while (Although some guns are more suspectable to such things)

Water, however will really bust up a firearm. A good idea for characters who's weapons have been submerged in water is to open the firing port and tilt it to the side to clear it of any excess water.


I think that's it for the basic rules..up next; a look on common firearm usage.

Common Firearm Usage-

Naturally, there will be settings where firearms are the viable weapon choice. And for the most part; anybody with enough brain-matter can figure out the basics of how a firearm works.

Be it a pistol, submachine gun, assault rifle, shotgun. The basics are the same, load it up and cock it. Pulling back the slide, racking back the cocking handle; pumping the shotgun.

Most modern firearms have something called a slide-stop or a bolt release; which means that when the magazine is empty; the bolt snaps back to keep the chamber open. Then you simply put in a fresh magazine and flick the lever or button that controls the bolt release or slide-stop and it chambers the round. Faster than manually cocking it.

Shotguns are an exception to this case; you'll need to pump it to chamber a round regardless.

Alot of militaries these days don't use full-auto for every situation; many, many assault rifles are capable of single shot and burst fire. Even with the light recoiled 5.56mm NATO round, accuracy can still be thrown off in long bursts. Fully-automatic is best used in CQB situations where accuracy is less of an issue, or suppressive fire is needed.

Like every FPS video game ever made said, fire in short bursts. Submachine guns are a bit different; because they use pistol caliber rounds they have lesser chance of wild recoil. The MP5N is probably the best example for a good controllable SMG.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...0Guns/mp5n.jpg

Penetration-

Many rounds of various calibers have different penetrating ability. I'll give you two examples. The common 9x19mm Parabellum and the .45 ACP.

The 9mm is a common over penetrator. It's low bullet size means that it has a higher velocity and generally just goes though bodies with minimal damage. This makes shot location very important.

The .45 ACP, however. Is a about the size of a thumb and has alot of oomph behind it. .45 rounds rarely overpentrate and often dump all their energy into a target. The American Army adapted the .45 because the .38 Long Colt they were using couldn't stop drugged up Moro-Tribesmen. Chances are if you a human sized target with a .45. It'll stumble.

An example of what you see often penetrated easily by bullets is cars. While shooting through the doors and windows is of course an easier task. It's quite impossible to blow up the car by shooting the gas-tank. Heavier bullets like the .50 Beowulf have been known to penetrate engine blocks. But standard issue rounds usually can't do much more than get through the doors; and even then it'll take a few more shots than normal.

Most bullets can penetrate sheet metal, plaster, plywood..light thin materials.

As a special note. .50 BMG rounds can literally tear a man in two with a shot to the torso.


Think that's it..Up next, I guess I'll describe a few different firearms for shits and giggles.

I'm glad someone did this. Awesome job, man.

Don't forget to add the M1 Garand. It has some falts, but is a good weapon over all.
Like, the fact that the bullet case ejects out the top, is a falt.

I dunno if a desert eagle is completely useless. I mean, if you're close enough to where accuracy isn't that crucial, and you want a put a particularly large hole in someone's head with a handgun, I'd say its a good choice.

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Yeah, gimme a second to round everything up. I'll explain them best to my knowledge.

That's the thing, if your shooting for the head. Then chances are a large bullet isn't going to make much of a difference; if it reaches the brain then it's going to kill/hinder/whatever your shooting at. Regardless of how huge the round is.

Weight is also a factor, like I said before. If you want a .357 or a .44 that bad, then you should just pick a revolver, revolvers are impossible to jam and they are generally much lighter than a DE.

Yeah.
The only good thing about the Eagle is the amount of rounds it holds over the Revolver.
And even so, the Revolver is still better,because you usualy don't need more than Six rounds. And also Revolvers has "Quick Loaders"

Plus heavy guns are slower on the draw, granted that isn't as important unless you are in the old west...or a quick draw contest. Oh yea, great thread. It is good to see someone dispelling some gun myths and explaining them a bit. Now we just need to get people to stop anime/final fantasying their characters by making them use swords in settings where guns would make more sense.

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A Desert Eagle has nothing going for it in a combat setting, is all I'm saying.

I'll try to get up the next part soonish.

Yea I was agreeing with you. The DE is a poorly designed weapon that only gained any popularity because of Counter Strike, especially because of how strong it was in the game.

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Current Characters/Roleplays:
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