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Oh come on. This article is peak midwit "ackshually." Like all of the game's weapons, how exactly the sniper rifle works is not described. The bullet's diame

Oh come on. This article is peak midwit "ackshually." Like all of the game's weapons, how exactly the sniper rifle works is not described. The bullet's diameter is not described. Its ballistic coefficient is, of course, not described. Most pointedly of all, the bullet's velocity is not described. There are existing guns that can fire projectiles at hypervelocities. These are mostly "two-stage gas guns" that utilize incompressible gasses to accelerate small metal projectiles for NASA experiments -- sometimes to velocities over 32000 feet per second. (10km/s! Roughly 10-11x faster than conventional rifles, but a common velocity for micrometeoroids.) There's absolutely nothing to suggest that similar mechanisms can't be adapted to smaller arms; it's impractical, but it's an engineering problem, not magic. There are other possible mechanisms, e.g. a conventional weapon with a magnetic rail that assists in the acceleration of the bullet. Science fiction? Sure. As is the game. So, anyway, assume the UT gun fires a small iridium slug at 10km/s and there's nothing to complain about. Very fast bullets are very flat-shooting, as any .22-250 appreciator can corroborate.

genewitch 2y ago
HM17 as well, there's a reason you can't legally use it to hunt, in some states. (If you miss, it just keeps going for miles. Even if you don't miss, it can still just keep going for a mile.)
- eddyg 2y ago
  Are you talking about .17 HMR? That round does have a very flat trajectory, but it’s illegal to hunt deer in some states because it isn’t lethal and won’t penetrate vital organs (just like .22 rimfire.) .17 HMR is primarily used for shooting small game where precision and minimal damage are preferred.
  - genewitch 2y ago
    yes, yes, and yes. my mistake on the name.
D_Mil_Realism 2y ago
Love this. "Akshually" is kinda what I'm going for (maybe not midwit), the point is to take something a bit incongruous and pull it apart pedantically. I definitely think UT's sniper rifle is "coded" as a regular one familiar to us, with its ammo as shells in a cardboard box. I think adapting gas gun mechanics to a man-portable weapons system with interchangable ammo is a bit more complicated than you allow, but indeed it's not magic. Thanks for giving me more ideas to write about.
- defrost 2y ago
  There's a lot you missed .. although much of it is bollocks. FWiW my neighbour shoots targets at 5,000 yards - that's well past the confirmed kill sniper head shot record .. it's worth pondering why, how or if someone is telling porkies. One Quora level nerd force that many toss on about is earth's rotation, aka the Coriolis effect, aka Bart Simpsons Australian bathtub joke, eg: https://www.quora.com/Does-Earth-s-rotation-affect-bullets https://www.quora.com/Does-Earth-s-rotation-affect-bullets The opinion of an ultra long distance shooter is: don't let Coriolis trouble you, you have so much more to deal with, Coriolis is there but means very little to a rifleman, Cheers. ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP7IKshdiiY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP7IKshdiiY Cutting to the chase, here's one of several well shot multi camera vlogs of: 5023 yards 24" x 24" target ULR shooting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7owwTz7Z0OE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7owwTz7Z0OE If you wander through the channel there's a lot of practical info re: bullets, barrels, hot and cold firing, spotters, scopes, etc.
- A_D_E_P_T 2y ago
  > Love this. "Akshually" is kinda what I'm going for (maybe not midwit), the point is to take something a bit incongruous and pull it apart pedantically. You got the pedantic part down, but I don't think that you took a charitable view of the game's systems, and your assumptions were maximally conventionally-minded. Rather than assume "this is bullshit and doesn't work," I think you'd do better to try to imagine "how could this possibly work?" That question can lead down interesting paths. It doesn't even take much, in this case. Very fast projectiles and/or scopes that account for variables like bullet drop, wind, etc. Both of these things already exist, in a sense, or are on the cusp of existing.

genewitch 2y ago

HM17 as well, there's a reason you can't legally use it to hunt, in some states. (If you miss, it just keeps going for miles. Even if you don't miss, it can still just keep going for a mile.)

eddyg 2y ago
Are you talking about .17 HMR? That round does have a very flat trajectory, but it’s illegal to hunt deer in some states because it isn’t lethal and won’t penetrate vital organs (just like .22 rimfire.) .17 HMR is primarily used for shooting small game where precision and minimal damage are preferred.
- genewitch 2y ago
  yes, yes, and yes. my mistake on the name.

D_Mil_Realism 2y ago

Love this. "Akshually" is kinda what I'm going for (maybe not midwit), the point is to take something a bit incongruous and pull it apart pedantically. I definitely think UT's sniper rifle is "coded" as a regular one familiar to us, with its ammo as shells in a cardboard box. I think adapting gas gun mechanics to a man-portable weapons system with interchangable ammo is a bit more complicated than you allow, but indeed it's not magic. Thanks for giving me more ideas to write about.

defrost 2y ago
There's a lot you missed .. although much of it is bollocks. FWiW my neighbour shoots targets at 5,000 yards - that's well past the confirmed kill sniper head shot record .. it's worth pondering why, how or if someone is telling porkies. One Quora level nerd force that many toss on about is earth's rotation, aka the Coriolis effect, aka Bart Simpsons Australian bathtub joke, eg: https://www.quora.com/Does-Earth-s-rotation-affect-bullets https://www.quora.com/Does-Earth-s-rotation-affect-bullets The opinion of an ultra long distance shooter is: don't let Coriolis trouble you, you have so much more to deal with, Coriolis is there but means very little to a rifleman, Cheers. ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP7IKshdiiY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP7IKshdiiY Cutting to the chase, here's one of several well shot multi camera vlogs of: 5023 yards 24" x 24" target ULR shooting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7owwTz7Z0OE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7owwTz7Z0OE If you wander through the channel there's a lot of practical info re: bullets, barrels, hot and cold firing, spotters, scopes, etc.
A_D_E_P_T 2y ago
> Love this. "Akshually" is kinda what I'm going for (maybe not midwit), the point is to take something a bit incongruous and pull it apart pedantically. You got the pedantic part down, but I don't think that you took a charitable view of the game's systems, and your assumptions were maximally conventionally-minded. Rather than assume "this is bullshit and doesn't work," I think you'd do better to try to imagine "how could this possibly work?" That question can lead down interesting paths. It doesn't even take much, in this case. Very fast projectiles and/or scopes that account for variables like bullet drop, wind, etc. Both of these things already exist, in a sense, or are on the cusp of existing.