[SG] Civillian Firearms of Traveler:2300

Don's making noises about trying to get a campaign of this going, so he loaned
me the book. Looking at the weapons, he made the comment that some of the guns
are practically straight from Stargrunt. I have to
agree--is St. Jon^3 a closet 2300 fan??

Anyway, one thing it does adress is the issue of firearms for the civillian
colonist. It's
self-evident that frontiersmen need to go about armed
(whether it's necessary after the area has been
properly civilized is a long and off-topic debate).
But what shall we arm them with? Some members of the colony will be part of
the militia, which may be equipped with obsolete or surplus military weaponry
provided by the colonial power. But those may also be kept secured in an
armory under government control. But those weapons are not always ideal for
the colonist. They are frequently relatively heavy and bulky, and fire
expensive ammunition (which may be controlled by the government which the
colonist may or may not be on best of terms with). They are often difficult to
maintain. Modern 22nd military weapons use binary propellants, ETC rounds, or
caseless ammunition. Gauss weapons use simple ammunition and rechargable power
cells, but their magnetic coils burn out and must be replaced, and this is not
a simple item to manufacture.

Item:  The Giscard FC-68 was designed by the French
with the frontier colonist in mind. It has a bullpup configuration which makes
it look military, reassuring
colonists.  It's a 5mmx15mm caseless round--small
enough to be cheap and imported in plentiful numbers. It's not big enough to
pose a major threat to armored troops, but the weapon's full auto capabilities
allow
it to be used in self-defense against animals larger
than the varmits[1] usually hunted with a small round like this. FP 2, Imp d6

Giscard FC-70: 7.5mm autoloading hunting rifle, with 5
round box magazine. Uses a popular but older military cartridge which is
extremely plentiful on the open market. Pretty much a traditional hunting
rifle like has been around for half a century even today. FP 1 Imp d10.

Rockwell 12x81 magnum. 14kg rifle fired from a rest with integral bipod
extended. Civillian equivelant to
the military anti-material rifle.  FP d10 Imp d12
Why?  Giant lizards of Wolf-424B-1.  On some planets
firepower of this nature is going to be necessary. These planets are going to
have to be colonized with highly reliable populations and treated extremely
well. Because holding down populations equipped with these monsters will be
extremely expensive. On the plus side, recruiting these people into your
military is going to give you tough fighters with good fieldcraft and
marksmanship.

Now, these three canonical T:2300 examples are all using caseless ammunition.
I find this unlikely on more remote planets. Why? Conventional ammunition can
be reloaded easily. Gunpowder requires only a simple chemical industry, and
primers are slightly more complex, but not excessively so. To represent
these sort of home-grown weapons/ammo, shift the
impact down one level.

The extreme in self-sufficient weaponry is the
Stracher SS-7.  Hunting Air Rifle.  Shoots a 4mm
flechette at 480 mps. Compressed air is easy (it can
be hand-pumped, but then operates at a reduced power),
and the flechette can be turned out by any reasonably competent machinist with
simple equipment. FP 1, Imp
d6 (d4 if hand-pumped).