darkmax wrote:Sniper weapons are less tech than most weapons because they need to be fault free. The rate of fire should depend entirely on the sniper himself, preferably halved of his HTH. The projectiles are also very seldom held in cartridge, more often in the weapon themselves. After all they are meant to be precise. Of course it should be of maximum range.
Bolt action and flawless. However, take a look at current day scopes. Passive and active (infra-red), built in laser distance finder, automatic compensation for range (including dew point and elevation), etc.
darkmax wrote:The reason why bolt rifles are still in use is simple. They have almost no lag, and mechanically flawless. Cartridge loading do get stuck, but barrel-loaded are less likely to have any sort of failure. And the success of their mission depends on that one shot.
Not any more. For example, my Glock (semi-automatic pistol) is far more dependable than my Taurus 45, and as or more dependable than my S&W 44.
There are high quality semi-automatic rifles that simply do not jam (the M16 is NOT one of those - it's a POS). A bolt action still has an edge in accuracy though because of lack of internal movement.
Winter wrote:The more gadgets it got on it the more likely it will fail at a critical moment and besides it also means more down time cleaning the thing.
At my job we use the KISS method (Keep It Simple Stupid) when we go in the field and it hasn't failed us yet, lets not talk about the yanks and their gear when we go bush..
KISS is good in general, but quality can circumvent it. The Benelli semi-auto shotgun is a good example. You can put a hundred rounds through it and have less carbon buildup than 1 shot from a Remington 870.
That's an interesting observation. I didn't know that about that model of shotgun! Forgive my question. But what causes that much build up in the Remmington model?
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"
"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."
It's the piston design and quality of manufacture. Benelli's are like Glocks - simple, elegant, brutally efficient design. Take a look at Glock torture tests and why it is so dependable (stored in mud, salt water, fire 10,000 rounds straight, thrown from a plane, etc... keeps shooting).
A Remington is an older design that "coughs" burnt powder residue directly into it's gears. M16 basically does the same thing. To many moving parts and an inefficient design.
Thank you for the information on the Benelli! I appreciate it!
I'm sure they are very good (the glocks). But a gun I'd personally like to own would be a CZ-75. I've heard that for the time those little babies were produced that they were the most accurate handguns in the world. I've heard that they were well built handguns.
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"
"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."
It has good penetration but poor knock-down. The 40 caliber is quickly replacing it because the 40 has similar recoil but better knock-down. The 45 has to much recoil for most people to shoot in anything smaller than a full size 1911, or the 45 colt in a full size revolver. The 45 does have excellent terminal ballistics though so you probably don't need a follow up shot like a 9mm or 40.
The military has been giving up their 9mm and going back to 45 for sidearms. Most police are going to the 40. I prefer a 45 loaded with frangibles.
The 50 AE or 50 S&W? Those are for large animals. They'd go through a person or 3 and keep on going. The recoil is also very punishing. Same with a 44 mag or 454 Casull.
Yes. A 50 S&W can get up to 2500 ft-lbs (up near a 30-06 rifle). A 9mm is about 300 ft-lbs, 40 is 400 ft-lbs, 45 is 500-600 ft-lbs (your mileage will vary).
I use a 44 mag for elk hunting. It pushes 1100 ft-lbs.
Depends on how hot the load is. A 454 could range anywhere from 800 to 1800 ft-lbs. A 44 special is 600 and a 44 mag up to 1200 ft-lbs. A 50 S&W ranges from 940 to 2500 ft-lbs.
A very simplistic way to think of it is that a bullet can go through 1 ft of bone and flesh per 1000 ft-lbs of pressure. Your 9mm, 40, and 45 can go through a rib cage to make a kill shot on a person. Your 44 mag can go through the shoulder or rib cage of a black bear or elk. Your 50 can shatter a shoulder or make a kill shot on a moose, grizzly, or buffalo.
Escalation of conflict. Avoid, talk, retreat, non-lethal, lethal.
Back to lethal... The 50 cal sniper rifle is actually not that good of a sniper rifle. It has good range and great penetration, but many rifles are much more accurate.
A 220 swift is often thought to be a very good anti-sniper rifle. It's extremely accurate and basically no recoil.
The 308 is the standard police sniper rifle. Good range (200+ meters) and good knockdown (155 grain bullets versus the 223's 65 grain).
Longer range sniper rifles get into the more non-standard loads. The 338 with a 250 grain bullet has a lot of power and good for very long range (up to 600 meters). It's used by the British. I think the US army also used the 7mm in Vietnam. My preference for very long range (800 meter) is the newer 300 ultra mag with 200 grain bullets. At 300 yards it hits harder than a 308 at the muzzle. The 200 grain bullet has also seemed more accurate at long range than the standard 180 grain.
Then there's Rifts... I'd absolutely go laser because there's no bullet drop or drift over the distance. Accuracy and distance are better than damage - a 1d6md laser with a range of 10,000 ft (plus scope, internal compensators, etc) is more deadly for sniping than a 1d6x10 md plasma cannon with only a 1200 ft range.
Massive damage with fair range is the mark of an anti-material rifle (ATL-7 or 50 cal sniper). The best combination that I've seen in the books is definitely the Silver Hawk gun.
darkmax wrote:Many people probably know this but it is not that great in game mechanics. Laser beam is affected by the gravity that Earth produces, and thus, it does deviate very slightly over a long distance. Perhaps good enough to kill, but not good enough to , say, snipe someone's badge off his beret. Might end up killing the person.
It deviates by a calculable amount. I'm not even sure it is enough to matter for sniping purposes over the range of a mile or less. If it is, who's to say that the advanced technology doesn't compensate for that? A digital scope has a built-in distance finder and automatically adjusts the sniper's view in the scope to compensate for laser curvature based on gravity. CS weapons would be probably hardwired for Earth's gravity, but Phase World weapons would automatically adjust for the gravity the weapon is in. They might also automatically vary the laser frequency for best atmosphere penetration depending on the atmospheric makeup. I'd think a well-trained sniper would be able to hit the smallest object he can see over distance, including that badge, if he has quality equipment.
"But you can't make an omelet without ruthlessly crushing dozens of eggs beneath your steel boot and then publicly disemboweling the chickens that laid them as a warning to others." -Order of the Stick #760
Jefffar wrote:However 1) It is a minute ammount and 2) his targeting laser would deflect the exact same ammount.
So look through your scope...put the red dot where you want it and fire...
Don't even need all the stuff I was suggesting then.
"But you can't make an omelet without ruthlessly crushing dozens of eggs beneath your steel boot and then publicly disemboweling the chickens that laid them as a warning to others." -Order of the Stick #760
The reason you don't leave it on is to avoid it being detected by any laser detectors on the target or good ol' Mark I Eyeball.
The CS would probably have an option of laser targeting in a frequency not visible to most common races and technologies. Something that isn't visible to the naked eye for most things they've encountered, and isn't visible on most optics systems (like optics that might see ultraviolet or infrared). The sniper would have special optics in his helmet. If those optics stop working, he switches over to a more conventional visible spectrum laser targeter.
"But you can't make an omelet without ruthlessly crushing dozens of eggs beneath your steel boot and then publicly disemboweling the chickens that laid them as a warning to others." -Order of the Stick #760
Yes the CS could use alternate, non visible light frequencies. But so could their enemies.
When you are talking light, you are sort of left with UV, Visible and IR. A lot of folks in Rifts have Visible and IR systems. A UV system might be unexpeted - but still some multi-spectrum things out there and as soon a sniper's gear get's captured, the cat's out of the bag.
Not really, there is still stuff going on. They have a mobile laser platform which will shoot down ballastic missiles. It's a chemical laser. If I think on it, I'll remember which chemicals. Or else I'll go to Global Secfurity. It's on there.
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"
"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."
Actually I was thinking of Hypersonic missiles. I know the smaller ones are very fast. But thankfully the bigger ones are slow especially when they just launch.
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"
"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."
An orbital laser could. But there would be real problems with ones in aircraft. Trying to aim it in time to intercept the missile on it's ascent, especially if it was a hypersonic one to begin with.
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"
"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."
Yeah, I can see those pilots saying something like this!
:::Sir, I've loaded the new software, but I still need you to restart the aircraft!:::
:::But we're at 35,000 feet flying at 600 mph! And something else to consider before you reboot, we're over the arctic and there's one heck of a storm out there.:::
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"
"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."
It's going to take more than a battery, some fool used a Mordy's disjunction on it a while back. I've been too busy to get it either fixed or replaced.
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"
"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."
of Windows. 
Drats! So I'm forced to use their stuff. 
