In the interest of Science! What next for firearms?

[Charlotte the flyer]

Smart rounds have already been developed, in both personal weapons and also artillery.

GPS Guided artillery shell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEXKuNJKNYw

Assault Rifle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlVsUliU5NU

Whether they are EMP proof is a different question. I'll stick to my 1894 Martini Metford Carbine, guaranteed to work, and not too heavy to carry.

[hitchphil]

The guidance computer for a Inmarsat 3 used to be about the size of a desktop PC, i have held one. Its now a FlatPackGridAaray chip on my small finger. New materials will make miniaturisation smaller this will be incorporated into projectiles to make them selective, semi intelligent, self guiding etc.

super conductors will one day make batteries redundant. So the availability of large sources of power will become easy & wide spread making electrical emc or plus weapons possible. OR battery technology will become efficient, high density but safe, even self regenerating making wire redundant? you choose that is the 21st centuries betamax vs VHS.

Auto adjustment will become common - piezoelectric oscillators on an unstable barrel will replace mechanical click MOA sights & the feedback signal from a LIDAR system, or a satellite synthetic aperture Scanning Radar (the ones than can detect the presence of a nuke sub in the Atlantic by measuring the average wave height to a mm or so in a storm!) will determine their oscillation so a sniper will not have to adjust sights to direct a round. Even then the GPS inside the round will bias its spin drift to correct deviations from target.

New alloys will make rifles weight reduce & allow them to morph so the concept of single gun calibre will be removed a gun could be reformatted in seconds from a 308TR to a 7mmbr F class to a bunny worrying 177hmr with a night scope.

New propellent chemistry will render Hoppes & Sweets unnecessary even generate new ammo that becomes self cleaning will evolve.

Triggers will incorporate unique user detection ( your unique pulse damping signal) & only allow he gun to be fired by you so gun safes will be unnecessary & they will even detect when they should intervene & actually go off because your hesitating longer than usual on release.

& with all that I might just win the Queens :-) ?

Man the dope is wearing off time for bed.

[Watcher]

But what happens to the sport? If weapons become so sophisticated that there is no elevation to worry about nor wind. If a 1/2 inch V bull at 1,000 yards is too large what will we do? Will we all be like the matchlock shooters of today and insist on shooting one of those old fashioned 'powder guns'?

[Tower75]

But what happens to the sport? If weapons become so sophisticated that there is no elevation to worry about nor wind. If a 1/2 inch V bull at 1,000 yards is too large what will we do? Will we all be like the matchlock shooters of today and insist on shooting one of those old fashioned 'powder guns'?

Probably, yeah. The day that technology lets you point a hand-held, self adjusting pistol which links up with your in-built HUD and auto-corrects itself for wind, temperature, and drop, and fires a self-guiding flectette to a target 2000 metres away, I reckon people will want a challenge. People will get "powder guns" which have, God forbid, manually-adjusted sights and "dumb" ammunition...

This is, of course, assuming the masses are allowed firearms in the year XXXX

[tackb]

I would like one of those phazers from star trek but i wouldn't set it to stun or anything i'd set it to tickle and cheer everyone up!

[Sim G]

In the Olympics, the Modern Pentathlon used a "pistol" that projected a laser to a "target". They reckon it was a resounding success...... For sport, we may be limited to that in the future!

[honsu]

I think in the near future you will see more integration of the weapon systems and the soldier via a HUD system and thing like that.

In the distant future I think they will look at enhancing the solider more IE:surgery to enhance speed and reaction times as well as strength[a bit like in the 40k universe were they started with the Geno troops then evolved to the thunder warriors and then to the adepts Astra's ]




:flag5: zzzzom zzzzom

[Dougan]

or the solid-block, shaver idea; whereby you have a sold block of material, and a "shaver" shaves off a slice off of the block and fires that - sort of a "ninja star" sort of deal. A block would give you thousands of rounds to shoot off.

...like in 'Mass Effect'?

Personally I prefer MF celled weapons to plasma...

What about lasers - is that just Science fiction, or are people still working on them?

[Burner]

What is next?
Smooth bore flint lock muskets, as they are easist to make and make powder and shot for at home.

Guns not in military hands will be fully baned in the next 20 years if the UN and liberals are not banned and jailed long before then.

[Tower75]

In the distant future I think they will look at enhancing the solider more IE:surgery to enhance speed and reaction times as well as strength[a bit like in the 40k universe were they started with the Geno troops then evolved to the thunder warriors and then to the adepts Astra's

Adeptus Astartes

...like in 'Mass Effect'?

Personally I prefer MF celled weapons to plasma...

What about lasers - is that just Science fiction, or are people still working on them?

Yup, like in ME. Though I reckon that was taken from Warhammer 40,000, as the Eldar weaponry uses shaver tech, too. Though, what I never understood was, unlike the Eldar, that use rectangular barrels, that permit the shaved discs to travel down, the guns in ME use normal looking barrels. Not sure how a shaved disc is meant to work in that.