Future of guns

[colt 357]

Sorry but this is not a post on the politics or the government control on guns. This is a post on when do you think Technology well finally make the gun obsolete. That is when new technology well come along like in Star Trek and we well have phasers or some other type of weapons.
No more lead to process into bullets no more bullets to reload no more powder and primers to buy. You just plug your gun in to charge just like your phone.
Now I know there well be guys just like us that well still go get that lead and buy the powder and primers so we can have the fun of shooting our old guns just like the black powder guys. Yes I shoot black powder too.
What do you think well be the things that well replace the gun and how long before the gun gets put on the shelf to shoot once or twice a year.
The new shooting ranges to use these weapons could be in your basement on a low setting.

[starmac]

I can see it now, my phaser has better ballistics than your plain plastic with no checkering phaser. lol

[Mooseman]

I don't know when the Phaser will be finished...but when it is there are some bad people that are gonna be vaporized without a trace...:shock:

[quilbilly]

Kinetic weapons will always have their uses when force fields can block energy weapons.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

do you really think this socialist government is going to allow such weapons to the police, let alone civilians...?

think New World Order, within 75 years the idea of a country by the people, for the people, will be a fond memory. Question this? Look where the country was as far as personal freedoms, the year FDR was sworn into office.

[Aces an Eights]

Please let it be light sabres.

[10x]

Reminds me of the old Mad Magazine® parody of Star Trek© when Captain Kirk© says "Set phasers to toast..."

[Jeffrey]

Directed energy weapons already exist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed-energy_weapon
The power source and its size is the factor limiting portability. Chemical energy in gunpowder packs a large amount of energy in a small package. If there would come a time when power sources become small enough for single man carried directed energy weapons, there will always be those that use "antique" weaponry.
http://www.florilegium.org/?http%3A//www.florilegium.org/files/COMBAT/idxcombat.html
Jeffrey

[357maximum]

I for one will be one of the sticks in the mud that believe deer hunting and deer cooking should be done in two seperate steps......so for me nothing will change. Won't be much different than television and me now. I know cooler ways to watch exist but I am not willing to pay for such folly.

[Artful]

Game hunting is listed as a Sporting event.
Most States have seasons for different equipment.
Most States have restrictions on equipment.

I think newer technology would not be allowed for hunting purposes.

Killing people - I think it would be restricted as well.
And of course will have black market selling it.

But what do I know I thought Obama wouldn't get a second term?

[wallenba]

Will the 2nd amendment cover phasers? If not, only bad guys will have them!
On the plus side, we can shoot and cook game with one shot.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

That is interesting to think about though. I wonder what will come down the line.

[Bad Water Bill]

The nice thing about the gang bangers having them is any kind of hit is toast.

Would that clean up some neighborhoods in a hurry.

With all the shooting figures you see about Chicago remember ONLY PUNCTURE WOUNDS ARE REPORTED. CREASES ARE NOT COUNTED. Would they also be toast with a phaser.

Look at all the empty jail cells we would have.:bigsmyl2:

[ErikO]

Particle projection cannons. Who cares about lead or nickle-based projectiles when you can shoot lightning at someone. ;)

Then again, a gauss weapon would be a great use for all those ferrus wheelweights I seemed to have aquired...

[km101]

lFirearms, from handguns to howitzers, have been declared outmoded or obsolet several times in our history. But they are so versatile and protable and effective that they have never been replaced. I think firearms are here to stay, if only for recreational shooting and hunting, regardless of the development of "energy" or "force feild" weapons. There will always be those of us who enjoy shooting, hunting and reloading and will maintain it as a hobby.

[jmort]

Obviously, at some point in the future there will be weapons that will make cartridge firearms obsolete. The SCOTUS will probably say they are for military use only and by that time we will have a one world government so I really doubt the hoi polloi will have access to anything but crude, out-dated cartridge firearms.

[MtGun44]

You need to read the science fiction book, written by Robert Heinlein, "Beyond this Horizon", set in the far future.

One of the characters chooses to have an ancient weapon recreated, just out of curiosity
as to the effectiveness of these ancient mass projection type of weapons, driven by
chemical reactions. From memory - so it won't be too accurate, he first describes it
as a slab sided hand-held device, and as he pressed a stud on the left side, a rectangular subassembly
slide out of the handle, which contained the prepackaged projectiles and chemical
energy sources.

It was, of course, a 1911 in .45 ACP. The normal personal weapon art that time was a ray gun, but
he really enjoyed his powerful "projectile" weapon. One character mentions after firing it that it "is
also a terror weapon with that flash of light and thunderclap".

No question that light weapons (lasers are nearly there now, can shoot down missiles
and such) and rail guns (linear electric motors, basically accelerate a mass electrically)
and particle projection beams will eventually become the weapons for ships, aircraft and
tanks. I wonder how long it will take to get the power supplies small enough to be
easily carried around by an individual.

As an engineer, this power source issue is HUGE. The current major development problem for
vehicles is that the best available chemical batteries are at least 10 times and probably more like
100 times too low a power density (and COST !) compared to gasoline. Add the fact that you do
not have to haul around your oxidizer for your fuel (oxygen from air), and the internal combustion
engine beats the chemical battery to death, and likely will for a long time, possibly never to be
surpassed. Remember, we have been putting some of our smartest people (like Thomas Edison, who
did a HUGE research project on batteries in the early 1900s) and LOTS of money into research
for portable power sources for over 100 years. Cars and airplanes are the results of all these
literally trillions of dollars and man-hours or research and development.

So - expecting a lightweight, powerful power supply for particle beams, lasers or such to pop out of
the woodwork in the next couple of decades is likely to be frustrated. Maybe a mini-fusion or even
a zero point energy source will be discovered, but it doesn't look really likely.

Likely that any energy source won't be up to producing the peak power needed, so a lower
power source will need some momentary storage system, like a capacitor bank. The capacitor
bank can dump it'spower in microseconds, which would be good for some sort of particle or
light weapon to generate a pulse.

Probably you could have a chemical battery pack charge up a capacitor bank and then dump the
bank to fire the weapon, but there are issues like recharge time. So maybe you take 5 seconds
to charge up a capacitor to fire a beam. If you want the endless pulse fire capability, you would need at least
5 capacitor banks (cost and weight) plus the battery, so you could fire one bank and instantly start
recharging it, then fire the second bank (say 1 sec later) and start recharging it, then the third, and so on.
By the time you have fired the 5th capacitor bank, you have full recharged the first one and are ready to
continue. Endless shots at a rate of one per second until the battery pack power drops too low to
recharge the banks.

Of course, an endless "beam on" situation like a light saber (how do you end a light beam . . . . . . .???)
is a HUGE power problem.


Bill

[popper]

Hmmm - phaser: a rotating vector. Nope Ain't going to happen. Flying chemical laser - Boeing Defense in Ca is closing down. I'll keep my flying lead.

[felix]

As always, it's the battle between torque (current/stroke/battery) and horsepower (voltage/width/capacitor), and that's not talking about the energy sump/source advantages/disadvantages, etc. It's all a can of worms from an engineering standpoint. ... felix

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I won't be giving up on my guns , I can just see going to use my phaser , just to find it has the same flaw that my cordless drill has , every darned time i want to use it the battery is dead

when i want a hole in something i don't want to have to wait for the battery to charge first

[firefly1957]

We will change to rail type projectile accelerators (Obsolete gunpowder) long before we do away with bullets of one type or another. Beams and particles just do not have the effect of a smashing projectile.

[MtGun44]

The Navy is getting fairly close to workable rail guns that they could actually put on ships.

Bill

[perotter]

My $0.02 is, man portable rail guns if/when there are superconductors that work at somewhat normal temps. Been said that BB sized projectile would take out a tank & be a line of sight weapon.

[Bert2368]

As far as man portable energy weapons- Assuming the power supply problem get solved...

Anything you could immediately kill with would likely have enough energy from the shot back scattered by atmosphere or bounced off your target if shot up close so you'd need welders goggles and full body protection not to get fried retinas and a sunburn or worse I would guess. No more going to the range in sneakers, shorts and short sleeves for sure.

Personal gauss guns MAYBE.

[KCSO]

To a select few the firearm will never be obsolete. Look at the folks who hunt with long bow, spear, crossbow ect, all supposedly left in the dust by the invention of firearms. TRhe firearm that I grew up with IS pretty much gone, there were no scopes on 90% of the guns and moost folks didn't trust them, no range finders no lasers, less accurate ammo ect. How many folks do you see out hunting with an iron sighted 30-30 anymore, darn few compared to 40-50 years ago.

Some day your grandkids will look at you and say, "why does the old guy still hunt with THAT".

[starmac]

We better just concern ourselves with the future of the guns we have.
The way the world is going we may not even have a light bulb in the house, much les ray guns, in the gun safe.lol