Semi auto in space

[Scott0san]

Guns in Space

My local gun shop had one of these last year. It came with 10 rounds of ammo. little rockets that start slow but end up at around 2000fps. I am sure they would start a fire is shot anywhere near dry grass
A cool gun developed and made in Walnut creek or Danville. I cant rermember.

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg172-e.htm

[dadoody]

I was thinking the recoil would instead racking the slide, would simply be transfered to the entire gun, and on to the person.. Oh yea, I would guess limp wrist would be really bad. But I didnt think the fast recoil impulse would not make a difference in a zero G environment. Then again, maybe you're right.

It would fire the bullet and load the next round, but if the person isn't attached to anything the person will float back also

[56Chevy]

Rig your lever action like Lucas McCains, so you don't need to pull the trigger. They are still available. Click on "Own a Rifle"

http://www.riflemansrifle.com/

You've thought too much about this topic.

[Thefeeder]

You have to understand that the lack of gravity and atmosphere does not equal the lack of inertia.

A stationary object will stay stationary until acted upon by an outside force.

The stationary object would be the gun, the hand holding the gun, the body that the hand is connected to. The only thing different that firing a gun on the ground is there is no gravity holding you to the floor, and the presence of atmosphere.

Imagine falling in an elevator. You are falling at a rate that causes you to be weightless. Would you still be able to fire the gun and have it operate as designed? YES. However when you pulled the trigger, the force would push your body slightly away from the direction of the bullets travel. There would still be more than enough resistance for the action to work properly and for the gun to cycle. The absence of air would only allow the bullet to travel for a longer distance without slowing due to air resistance.

+1 elementary physics folks...refer to Newtons laws of motion

[wash]

OK, now someone has to try to bump fire an AK while parachuting in freefall.

[NeoWeird]

Let me go back to what I was trying to refer to in my first post.

Since we're talking about someone going to space, I assumed (and if it's outside the rhetorical I'm sorry) that we were talking within the confines of space that we've been. Once you leave the Earth's atmosphere gravity does NOT stop working upon you. What happens is there is no longer air resistance to slow you down. You accelerate to the point that your free fall places you in the theoretical same elevation to the Earth's surface but in a different location along the orbit of travel. The result is a perpetual free fall. Gravity still exists, which is why things like meteors and crap like that are still pulled into Earth, or any other celestial body. You get simulated weightlessness because everything around you is traveling just as fast as you, and is free falling just as much as you, that any additional force added onto them will effect them as if they were weightless.

It's like driving in a car and you lob a tennis ball to another person in the front seat. Did the ball travel at the 5 mph you threw it at or the 80 mph ground speed when you factor in the fact that the car has already accelerated the ball to 75 mph? To you it seems like 5 mph, to someone on the ground it's 80 mph. This is why they say that a small object like a pebble in space, that is not moving or going the opposite direction or Astronaughts, would shoot right though them. It's not the pebble that is dangerous, it's the astronaughts speed who is traveling at about 18,000 MILES PER HOUR at orbit. This is why when astronaughts are in space they orbit the Earth several times a day.

Now we go over to the ammunition, which when properly loaded will be air tight and contain enough propelant and gases to burn consistantly enough to give proper ignition and fire the gun. Physics tells us the force on the bullet and gun will be the same as each other. In a handgun design that utilizes Brownings tipping barrel the brass and bullet will form an air tight seal and continue to be influenced by the expanding gases until a breach in the system is made (either by the action opening or the bullet exiting the barrel). The resistance of the barrel to the bullet and the case pushing against the breech face will cause the action to continue normally as it would on earth as in either case weight is not an determining factor. The firearm will fire fine and if anything it will OVER perform, so to speak. With that said, the first problem I forsee comes to play.

On Earth there is atmospheric pressure that gets compressed. This pressure may cause straight blowback guns to opperate FASTER than on Earth and they may open prematurely, or even at dangerous speeds that could cause the bolt to shoot out the back of the gun (assuming you're NOT in an enviorment controlled chamber, like on a space ship, but rather outside in a suit). In a tipping barrel design the second the system is opened, the lack of pressure compared to the VERY high pressure of the system would cause rapid decompression, though at that point there is probably enough enertia in place to fully open and opperate the firearm and the bullet will continue on it's course. In a gas system it's a combination of the both. The system may have less resistance and open too soon, like an AR with a weak or soft buffer spring, or it may only open partially and short stroke once the system opens and pressure stabilization occcures. Either way, it would not be some giant feat to get all three to work. An adjustment of springs is probably all that would be needed to get any of them to work properly.

The BIGGEST problem with firing a gun in space is not the physics behind it, but rather getting the primer to fire hot enough to ignite the powder consistantly in the sub-zero temperatures of space.

[Turbinator]

I decided to Google it. Look at this thread of non-gunnies trying to figure out if a firearm would work in space (on the moon, to be exact):

http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1261917489/m/6191973899

Amazing how many people DON'T know how a firearm, or ammo, works.

Turby

[ty423]

How do you pull the trigger with the big space gloves on?

Winter trigger guard... Magpul has it.

[andrewj]

It would fire the bullet and load the next round, but if the person isn't attached to anything the person will float back also

Indeed. If you were doing a space walk (without a restraining cable) and fired a gun, the recoil would propel the you backward until someother force stopped or redirected you.

[trinydex]

I was thinking the recoil would instead racking the slide, would simply be transfered to the entire gun, and on to the person.. Oh yea, I would guess limp wrist would be really bad. But I didnt think the fast recoil impulse would not make a difference in a zero G environment. Then again, maybe you're right.

you could easily do the momentum calculations and see how much the person moves relative to the gun. my guess is that all of the firearms will work. the lubrication is sort of an issue.

[bohoki]

How do you pull the trigger with the big space gloves on?

bump stick

anybody who thinks there is enough air to oxidize diddly squat inside of a case is smoking something funny

14 psi to 0 psi is nothing to a properly seated bullet and with the wolf sealant on cases it shoud be fine from offgassing as if you are going to get a bunch of nitro dripping out of some bullseye

heck you could probably load and use a black powder muzzle loader if you use the pyrodex pellets

[AaronHorrocks]

Maybe in outerspace you can use firearms as a form of propulsion.

It's already been thought of. But think bigger.... mini nukes being drobbed out of the back of a ship... you can be accellerated at great speeds.

[trinydex]

The most expensive one ever!

you could easily simulate the same situation by hanging someone upsidedown and telling them to shoot a glock.

[NeoWeird]

The force applied to the gun (and you) would be the same as the force applied to the gun. So let's say it's a 9mm shooting a 124 grain bullet at 1,200 FPS. That means a 200 lbs man and a 5 lbs gun will be accelerated to 1/11,573 the speed of the bullet - 1.2 INCHES per second. Seeing as that's not even taken into consideration that you body can redirect momentum and absorb some momentum and I think it's safe to say unless you just dumping ammo on full auto then it's not really a danger issue to you leaving your current proximity.

Unless you think some Willie E. Coyote type business will happen and you'll pull the trigger, the bullet will stay motionless and you will fly back.

I decided to Google it. Look at this thread of non-gunnies trying to figure out if a firearm would work in space (on the moon, to be exact):

http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1261917489/m/6191973899

Amazing how many people DON'T know how a firearm, or ammo, works.

Turby

ow, ow, ow, OUCH!

That type of thinking hurts my brain. I mean, seriously, what do they think, the second the bullet leaves contact with the surface it loses all momentum that the moving surface had upon it? Ouch...I need a pain killer after reading only half of that.

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

One more complication no one seems to have thought about - the effect on the weapon itself from temperature extremes. IIRC, objects in shadow could become quite cold - theoretically, nearing absolute zero in interstellar space. Even in LEO (Low Earth Orbit), the temperature of a steel firearm in shadow could drop precipitously, which could affect the tempering of steel parts, such as barrels and slides, for example. Repeated exposure to unfiltered sunlight and cold certainly would cause embrittlement. Imagine firing that weapon in its supercooled state!

Note to self: Don't fire in the shade.