From: Thomas Barclay <Thomas.Barclay@s...>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 16:49:22 -0500
Subject: Shotguns
One of our listers said: Hehe, I served in the USMC on FAST team 1 for four years [Tomb] FAST? and I can tell you that the shotgun is much much better then your standard assault rifle in CQB. [Tomb] Proviso: You are not engaging opponents in hardshell armour or with armoured exoskeleton. There are several reasons for this, but primarily because of flexibility with ammunition types (light loads for indoor work, so you don't hit your buddies through walls, etc..chees cutters for knocking down wood doors...). [Tomb] A number of US SWAT/ERT teams have shifted off of 00 and some have even shifted from 12 ga. to 20 ga. shotguns to deal with the overpenetration issue (and most 12 ga. use tactical loads as you illustrate). With shot you get a larger spread and can open up the choke to really use it to sweep hallways and rooms. [Tomb] Will this be select-on-the-fly in 2183? Plus shotguns tend to be shorter on the whole and more easily wielded in urban terrain. [Tomb] And I've seen it suggested that some may even have small 18mm microgrenades made for them. Given the OICW includes a 20mm GL, I can see 18mm grenades being useful and house clearing loves grenades.... However I have to question it being better then an assault rifle against something like powered armor, unless of course you are using solid slugs;) [Tomb] I assume a solid standard slug is useless. I assume the impact isn't enough to be singularly dangerous. I suspect with a sci-fi shotgun, you'll have some kind of multi-feed system to allow you to shift ammo on the fly (rather than preset load order). This will give you access to a mix of rounds (limited by what a barrel can fire) but these could include slug, shot, flechette (good against ballistic cloth, not so hot against modern composite armours), saboted penetrators, shok-lock style anti- obstruction ammo, and of course the main threat I see for PA at close ranges, something that fires an 18mm "electronics killer" or an 18mm Dragon's Breath round. For law enforcement or military use, the idea of getting something like a MetalStorm shotgun (being able to fire multiple ammo types at will) would allow for a wide range of ammo selection on the fly. (This could, in a police context, include tranq and beanbag as well as one lethal loadout). [Tomb] Someone mentioned "scalloping" (the technique of aim-off so that the edge of your scatter radius takes a target with some of the shot). This is sometimes trained by ERT guys who might have to take down a baddie behind a hostage but obviously is an *extreme circumstances* option due to unpredictable shot scatter and the difficulty of getting it just right (and if you don't, the hostage won't like you much). There's even a round that uses two steel anchor balls and suspends a small chain or wire between them (nasty for anything it hits, but more "interesting" than practical unless you need to cut ropes or something). [Tomb] A buddy in the a police force sent me an advisory they were issued that showed the effects of the dragonsbreath rounds. Rather.... violently pyrotechnic. And not something you'd want to be on the other side of. It showed a test against a ballistic vest with reinforcing plating. The ballistic fabric was destroyed and the plating was bent and twisted by the impact of the dragonsbreath shot. These things will kill a shotgun barrel, but with a metalstorm like barrel, you might not care and they do hideous things at range under 30 ft. if you don't care about the pyrotechnic side effects. Some interesting links: http://www.mkballistics.com/special.htm http://www.ozarkmtns.com/less-lethal/#Power%20Punch (note some of the 40mm GL options above!) http://www.nonlethal.com/ http://www.angelfire.com/sk/sabot/ http://www.angelfire.com/art/enchanter/Shotguns.html http://world.guns.ru/shotgun/sh25-e.htm (a very good listing) And a sci-fi (traveller) link: http://weapons.travellercentral.com/tech/shotgun.html