What will be the official "U.S. Space Force" gun?

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Wouldn't any gunpowder-based weapon require oxygen to burn the powder? The bullet doesn't make a cartridge "air tight".
Because of the spacesuits, instead of a "trigger", how about a pneumatically-powered gun with either a button to be pushed or a toggle switch? This weapon would fire a pellet with CO2 from a self-contained tank with a new pellet being loaded with a flip of a switch. Due to lack of gravity, feeding mechanisms would need to be spring-fed. I don't know if (or how) to make weapons like this "full auto" at this time. They might have to be SA, partly because firing this gun would push the shooter backwards unless he is held in place by some means.
 
Guns can be fired underwater. Plenty of demos. Glocks can be had with specific firing pins for such. IIRC, 17s were used in Australia for sharks. Bang sticks fire shotgun shells. The oxygen is part of the chemistry of the powders.
 
Wouldn't it be funny if you shot a gun in zero gravity and the bullet stayed still but launched you backwards. Yeah, ridiculous. But I don't know, never been to space, yet!!
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
Either a Phased Plasma Rifle in the 40 watt range or a Callahan Full-bore Auto- Lock.
;)
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Time to get started on those Phased Plasma builds ! You have to wonder if standard munitions will function reliably, in the vacuum environment, and temperature extremes of space. Better to retro back to CO2 propellant, till something more dependable can be devised, than risk a total failure.
 
The Gyro-Jet would suffer less from it, but in a frictionless atmosphere Newton's laws of motion will come into play with vengence.

Defense in space is difficult.
It would suck to defend your station, by perforation of their suitsuits and suffocation of the assaulting party, only to discover your tether was hit and you are drifting away from your craft at six inches per minute.
I estimate that for about the amount of force of three shots of twenty two short recoil acted on a suited human's total mass.

Any use of a firearm, any projectile launching weapon in fact, will be like using attitude positioning thrusters.(Not to be confused with Attitude Adjusments. Fathers give those to Sons.;))
Any prolonged firefight would throw the combatants out into space. Or the Vessel off of orbit.

There is no cover in orbit.
Even if your ship was bullet proof.
Enough bullets slamming into the side of your vessel will be just like positioning thrusters throwing you out to the Void.

I read of "The Rods of God".
Three meter, tungsten rods two inches in diameter. Launched from high stationary orbit, they require very little propulsion to start their fall, under gravity, to earth. With solid rocket power and gravity they strike Earth based targets with the power of a meteor.
Nuclear decimation without the fallout.
Pin-pointed death from above.

These will be our space force's offensive weapon.
 
Dibbs said:
Time to get started on those Phased Plasma builds ! You have to wonder if standard munitions will function reliably, in the vacuum environment, and temperature extremes of space. Better to retro back to CO2 propellant, till something more dependable can be devised, than risk a total failure.
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But new powders are temperature stabile;)
I agree with you. When it gets hot, the powder might detonate.
 
Koroner said:
The atmosphere merely causes the projectile to slow down. In space a bullet would go a long way without losing energy, only subject to the weak forces of gravity caused by other proximate masses.
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Remember every action has an opposite reaction. One has to be anchored securely so as to NOT go flying off the opposite direction of the shot.
 
jar said:
What gun could they use without them heading off faster than a speeding bullet in the opposite direction?
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It's not like they would go flying backward at an alarming rate. They weigh far more than the ft lb of recoil energy. And if they were in deep space and firing a gun (therefore being combat ready) they would likely have a huge suit PLUS armor to protect the suit. They wouldn't be going backward in FPS. They would be going backward in fractions of an inch per second. Inches per second at worst with a bigger gun. Some sort of compressed air release or thrust would easily compensate and a tether or anchor would easily hold them.

I do know that a russian ship did fire an anti aircraft gun of some sort in orbit and it did require a thrust to correct the orbit back. Pretty sure it was low earth orbit though and it was no huge deal as they have to deal with orbital degradation anyway.

And speaking of compensating, one could use a huge muzzle brake that vents the gas backward to get rid of all the recoil. There would be next to no muzzle flash because of the lack of oxygen outside the barrel and the suits the have would have to be so thermally efficient that heat or gas wouldn't matter either.

I'm no expert but I have seen this discussed at the NASA flight training center in Huntsville by people who were in fact experts. on a school trip many years ago. Of course this was back when an elementary school kid could mention a gun or god forbid...even make a gun with his fingers without being labeled a domestic terrorist. It was also before we were doing out of the earths orbit travel.........oh wait. The cart is so far ahead of the horse on this one.......


Now I've worn the gloves they wear and my biggest gripe is that picking up (or catching) my brass would be a huge PIA. Of course I won't even fly on a plane or chopper so it's no matter to me.
 
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Bfh_auto said:
When it gets hot, the powder might detonate.
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If it’s that hot, you’ve already been irradiated by the source of the heat by Gamma rays. Unless you are burning up in re-entry...:)

Just think though. In the vacuum of space there would be no Cloud of Righteousness from the Holy Black. All the particles would race off on their own vectors without impediment. Ye Olde Smokepole wouldn’t be!:eek:
That just ain’t right...

Without wind, everyone could shoot a thousand yards!:)

I wonder if the cold of space might reduce performance of the gunpowder? Would short magnums be the norm just to get standard case performance? Would gun steel become brittle and shatter upon firing?

Hmm... I think I’ll stay planted.:)

Think of the fuel it took to get an AA Gun into space!
 
If the goal is to just penetrate a suit, could a person portable laser be built with the energy to do such? The current laser weapons on ships and vehicles are big things with lots of power. I could see a propulsion rig that might carry enough battery power.
 
I wonder, too, if there truly is “no recoil”, or opposite reaction with focused beam weapons?

Sunlight has force in space. The spinning sun wheel in a bulb type effect. Ships were to use miles wide solar sails to ride the “light wind” in the future.
Would a high powered energy weapon really have no resulting opposite force?

Obviously magnitudes less than projectile weapons.
But could a “heat beam” could push a vessel out of its place?

Fun stuff waiting for paint to dry!:)
 
Demi-human said:
it’s that hot, you’ve already been irradiated by the source of the heat by Gamma rays.
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And I think cold and radiation would be a bigger issue than heat. We tend to talk about mars and the moon. No one wants to go to venus or that way anyway....too dang hot. Lol. The moon "only" gets up to mid 200s F so as far as guns and ammo goes it likely wouldn't bother anything. Even nitrocellulose would be ok in that range.
 
GEM said:
Guns can be fired underwater. Plenty of demos. Glocks can be had with specific firing pins for such. IIRC, 17s were used in Australia for sharks. Bang sticks fire shotgun shells. The oxygen is part of the chemistry of the powders.
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Handguns, and weapons with short barrels, yes. Longarms, not so much. Some may work.... but it's been found the length of most rifle barrels allows enough of a mass of water in to cause real problems with the bullet discharging against that much resistance.
Many rifles might not survive the experience .... and I, for one, am not anxious to be around an experiment to determine the survivability of any particular rifle while fired under water!!!:eek:
 
Bush Pilot said:
Glock carbine
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I'm a glock fan. I own most brands of handgun but always carry a Glock and almost always use one for competition (I do use a sig occasionally) and half the time hunting. That said.....I'd want as much steel and as little polymer as I could get with such uncertain temperatures. Watch a glock fired with a high speed camera. The polymer ripples which is great at our temps and environments to absorb and dampen recoil. I've fired 10mm Glocks in sub zero temps many times. But even the moon gets down to -300 much less getting out of our orbit. Not saying they wouldn't be ok, but IDK. I wouldn't want the 320 or Glock or any polymer

Even in the short term with the "protecting the interests of the US" that would include our orbit and the moon. Our government and experts also mention Colonizing mars in the recent years with a 2030 goal to have sent a manned crew to mars. Which to me is as SyFy and absurd as going to the moon must have been to my grandfather. Lol. Now we have been to the moon and can conceivably make it to mars so for the sake of the argument I'll limit it to the moon and mars but even that is a -300 to around 300 on the moon and roughly the same as earth on mars with the poles being much colder.

Demi-human said:
Really?! Dang! I thought it was cold in on the moon.
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-300 night time and 250ish daytime. 13.5 days of light then 13.5 days of dark.....and I left the coast because I hate anything over 80. Lol
 
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