When will firearm metals be upgraded?

[ziconceo]

We've been using relatively the same metals in gun barrels for decades. It seems like there would be something better out there. Especially for pistols, most snub nosed pistols provide very low velocities due to the short barrel.

I was thinking we should be shooting stainless steel bullets with fracture points for HD rounds.

Problem is that our barrel steel is too weak for that.

But imagine how cool it would be to have a snub nosed 38 obtain 2000Fps!

Guns would be a lot safer too.

Just thinking out loud. Anyone see any problems with this? Besides over penetration [emoji14]

BTW, I know the costs and tooling would be expensive. But having a powerful pocket carry 25 acp would be pretty cool!

[taktiks]

Cost more than anything. Retooling for different metals is enough that most major manufacturers won't bother.

Also, the harder the metal, the more brittle it is, so lifespan and durability would come into play.

[Lonestargrizzly]

I'm holding out for plasma weapons.

[GimpsUnlimited]

I think we may see Gauss rifle in our life time. Think about it, minimal recoil and few moving parts. And the best part? No need to clean. The only con is logging a heavy bulky powerpack.

[ziconceo]

I think we may see Gauss rifle in our life time. Think about it, minimal recoil and few moving parts. And the best part? No need to clean. The only con is logging a heavy bulky powerpack.

I completely agree. Some people have already made some that are about as strong as a 38. But large and heavy. Hopefully those graphite batteries are all they are cracked up to be.

[Fastattack]

How are you going to hang on to that 38 snubby with a 2000fps exit velocity?
It doesn't sound fun.

[j-shot]

I'm holding out for plasma weapons.

Phased plasma. 40 watt range. It's all you need.

[ziconceo]

How are you going to hang on to that 38 snubby with a 2000fps exit velocity?
It doesn't sound fun.

Not with a limp wrist!

[heidad01]

We've been using relatively the same metals in gun barrels for decades. It seems like there would be something better out there. Especially for pistols, most snub nosed pistols provide very low velocities due to the short barrel.

I was thinking we should be shooting stainless steel bullets with fracture points for HD rounds.

Problem is that our barrel steel is too weak for that.

But imagine how cool it would be to have a snub nosed 38 obtain 2000Fps!

Guns would be a lot safer too.

Just thinking out loud. Anyone see any problems with this? Besides over penetration [emoji14]

BTW, I know the costs and tooling would be expensive. But having a powerful pocket carry 25 acp would be pretty cool!

Not sure about what you get your kicks out of. I would not want to shoot a snub nose 38 at all and most certainly not one that shoots a stainless 38 projectile at 2000 fps.
That is a mighty uncomfortable gun to shoot.

[steelholder]

2000 fps from a 38 snub? Have you ever shot a 44 mag from a snub?

[sealocan]

I had a pistol made completely out of transparent aluminum ...

but Doc Brown made me put back to the future.

That Trump, Colt and Wesson was the sweetest shooting
.43 A.T.C & W. caliber that you could ever imagine.

"It went up to 11" (millimeters).

[Fastattack]

I had a pistol made completely out of transparent aluminum ...

but Doc Brown made me put back to the future.

That Trump, Colt and Wesson was the sweetest shooting
.43 A.T.C & W. caliber that you could ever imagine.

"It went up to 11" (millimeters).

Was it made in Cheye...na?

[sealocan]

And to people who say you can't get high velocity without recoil look up a diagram on how are recoilless rifle works.
it's really pretty interesting,
or at least I thought so.

all you have to figure out is how to direct an amount of gas pressure backwards as the bullet goes forward, which I admit isn't going to be easy from a pistol.

But that's just one way to do it.

[sealocan]

^^ No, it wasn't made in Chindia, they only do tech-support and make items for the "$199 stores" in the future.

It was manufactured right here in the good old HUGE

AmericaCanexico !

"Mericax !"

[meaty-btz]

I completely agree. Some people have already made some that are about as strong as a 38. But large and heavy. Hopefully those graphite batteries are all they are cracked up to be.

I've made ones as strong as a 45 and Railguns that are super-sonic. Its not hard.

Power is only part of the problem. In coilguns you need a strong magnetic field, this is a combination of both power and the scale of the coils. That can be described as power and length of total wiring making up the coils. In the case of copper that is "unavoidable weight" and size. You can use finer wire and more current but you hit thermal load problems where you melt your coil packs with one shot.

Small lightweight designs are out there already, they are even quite energy efficient, but they require the use of superconductors with their associated cooling needs, which is the same kind of cooling needs needed in fine-wire high current conventional coil packs to keep them from melting.

Railguns still suffer from self-destruction and heavy rail erosion. The navy's railgun needs a new barrel after just about every shot still. If you've ever seen test firings and say, naww they are using conventional ballistics because of the huge muzzle flash and the fire leaking from every part of the barrel that is distorted and nearly flying apart with the shot. Nope, that is just high energy plasma generated by the railgun as part of it's firing. Which kind of goes back to the experiments in plasma powered guns where they worked on developing a propellant that would generate more power than modern gunpowders. The barrel pressures and plasma at those energy levels eroded the barrels too much. The idea was scrapped. The lower energy plasma that is the expanding gas in conventional firearms in certain rifles is already energetic enough to erode the hell out of the throat, you can imagine what happens when you step that up a few notches. Imagine the ignition energy being enough to melt the brass in the chamber kind of heat.

Practical arms are still sci-fi in the sense of being able to replace current types of firearms. The science behind them is simple and settled and experimentally they are quite easy to make both effective and functional but production ready and general deployment? Unlikely.