3 ms·

>After close to a century of development, one would think it would be near its technical limits. Why would one think that? It seems kind of arbitrary. Guns hav

>After close to a century of development, one would think it would be near its technical limits. Why would one think that? It seems kind of arbitrary. Guns have been developed and iterated on for half a millennia and there are still technological advancements coming out regularly.

tomatotomato37 7y ago
Gunpowder-based gun technology has kinda plateued too. We pretty much hit the practical limits of size during WWII with Schwerer Gustav and battleship cannons, and the fastest firing guns still use the basic design of Richard Gatling from 1861. Most recent innovations have been in the work of pointing the gun in the right direction moreso than the gun itself. Then again, I guess caseless could be the next big innovation if they figure out the heat problem...
- catalogia 7y ago
  Caseless ammunition, or telescoping ammunition (or both at the same time.) Either could conceivably increase how much ammunition soldiers can carry, but I'm not holding my breath for either. The status quo seems firmly in "good enough" territory and I'm pretty sure some of the other supposed benefits of caseless will fail to manifest. In particular, advocates of caseless ammunition have on occasion claimed that guns would be simplified by not having to eject brass, but I don't think that's true since said guns would still need a reasonable way to eject chambered but unfired ammunition (even if it was open-bolt.)
Merrill 7y ago
The Winchester '94 rifle has been in production for 125 years now, and is still available for the 30-30 brass case, centerfire, smokeless powder cartridge. There was a rapid evolution of rifles from the flintlock, black-powder, muzzle-loader to the repeating, brass cartridge, smokeless powder rifle. Since then, rifles, machine guns and pistols have evolved through successive refinements.
dlgeek 7y ago
Not really in firearm design since the 1950s/60s or so. There are small improvements, but the basic operating mechanisms everyone's using haven't changed since then. (Compared to the previous 60-70 years which saw the introduction of smokeless powder, box magazines, self-loading, automatic fire, etc.). (Optics are seeing this kind of development though).

tomatotomato37 7y ago

Gunpowder-based gun technology has kinda plateued too. We pretty much hit the practical limits of size during WWII with Schwerer Gustav and battleship cannons, and the fastest firing guns still use the basic design of Richard Gatling from 1861. Most recent innovations have been in the work of pointing the gun in the right direction moreso than the gun itself. Then again, I guess caseless could be the next big innovation if they figure out the heat problem...

catalogia 7y ago
Caseless ammunition, or telescoping ammunition (or both at the same time.) Either could conceivably increase how much ammunition soldiers can carry, but I'm not holding my breath for either. The status quo seems firmly in "good enough" territory and I'm pretty sure some of the other supposed benefits of caseless will fail to manifest. In particular, advocates of caseless ammunition have on occasion claimed that guns would be simplified by not having to eject brass, but I don't think that's true since said guns would still need a reasonable way to eject chambered but unfired ammunition (even if it was open-bolt.)

Merrill 7y ago

The Winchester '94 rifle has been in production for 125 years now, and is still available for the 30-30 brass case, centerfire, smokeless powder cartridge. There was a rapid evolution of rifles from the flintlock, black-powder, muzzle-loader to the repeating, brass cartridge, smokeless powder rifle. Since then, rifles, machine guns and pistols have evolved through successive refinements.

dlgeek 7y ago

Not really in firearm design since the 1950s/60s or so. There are small improvements, but the basic operating mechanisms everyone's using haven't changed since then. (Compared to the previous 60-70 years which saw the introduction of smokeless powder, box magazines, self-loading, automatic fire, etc.). (Optics are seeing this kind of development though).