On Sat, Jan 11, 2020 at 9:21 AM Graham Donald - gndonald2001 at
yahoo.com.au (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
>
> I thought this could serve as the basis for a 'trade gun' or something that is marketed to ships crews as a 'last ditch' survival weapon before they have to break out the knives and improvised spears.
>
> Graham
>

Graham got me thinking about "What would you want as a last ditch
weapon on your ship?"

The Madsen is neat and all, but are we going backwards about thinking
of this? I'm comparing "Hey, this is old-tech and would be neat to
have" vs "What exactly is the best tool for the role?"

The Madsen, or other similar TL5/6 bolt action rifles could easily be
made into Col Cooper's "Scout Rifle"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scout_rifle

And I'm not going to dispute Col Cooper's views on what a good gun for
a situation is... but does it apply when TL14 is available?

Part of me would think a laser carbine with selective power levels
from "Squirrel" to "Lion" and a fold-out solar panel so you wouldn't
have ammo concerns would be ideal... but pesky law levels apply, and
energy weapons get outlawed quick. That makes it less than ideal when
you're in the outback of a Law Level 3 world.

So slugthrowers, for legal reasons.

Maybe a thing that plugs into the ubiquitous "fusion survival still"
and recharges the power cell from that. It takes solid blocks of lead
or other soft metals into the magazine well. When the bolt slams
forward, a slice is shaved off and stuffed into the chamber. When you
pull the trigger, air in a chamber in the bolt is hit with  a pulse
from an energy cell turns into low-grade plasma.
I guess there'd also be a connection for your vac suit for use in
airless situations.

Or, heck, if you've got to hook it to a vac suit anyway...

What about using a TL14 high pressure life support canister (one of
the smaller ones) as the stock for an air rifle? TL14 pressure levels
are going to be outrageous. Ship the thing with a bullet mold and a
hand pump. You'd never get the can fully refilled with the pump, but
you could get it close enough.
I'm thinking something like
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girandoni_air_rifle but built at TL14.
There's a bonus there of having an extra supply of breathing air for
crossing an asteroid on foot, at the expense of giving up your
offensive capability.  Trade offs GMs love to throw at players...