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Post by AshotNINJA on Apr 25, 2014 17:07:47 GMT -5
I always thought the term boltgun didnt do the guns supposed ability any justice... a bolt would be a solid object rather than an exploding shell...
but regardless... with references to real life weaponary... exploding rounds are readily used with rifle and shotguns... its closest damage ability might be like what the aa12 does to a target but with better penetration
and you definitely dont want to use a round like that for an execution... you gonna get brains all over you nice clean uniform
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Post by Rolling Thunder on Apr 26, 2014 8:27:53 GMT -5
I hate the point blank executions with boltguns that you get in the novels. Surely if it's explosive you shouldn't be right next to it when it detonates. The Commissariat have also been clearly issued with the wrong weapon. Oh look , I'm going to execute him... BANG! *explosion* I hear that fragments of human skull are surprisingly nasty.
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Post by Kaikelx on Apr 27, 2014 3:17:02 GMT -5
If I remember right, GURPS had something on boltgun type weapons (they call them Gyrocs. Their advantage was a higher maximum range due to a flatter trajectory, light weight(half the weight is taken up by ammunition), being efectively recoilless(I'm guessing something to do with being rocket propelled, and much quiter than ordinary guns (only have the hissing from the rockets). Their disadvantages are being less accurate (rocket rounds don't have stablizing fins), and the rounds have to take time to accelerate (so they aren't at full speed until ten yards away) So yeah, nothing like 40k Boltors at all. Also, I'm fairly certain the boltors used the Space Marines are much more powerful than ones issued to regular humans. The bolt pistol in deathwatch was more powerful than the heavy boltor in DH if I remember right. And perhaps we got the image wrong for Commissar executions. Maybe they use the chainsword
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Post by Julian Sharps on Apr 27, 2014 12:02:41 GMT -5
Gyrockets exist, they're just another one of those technologies that need more refinement than anyone's willing to pay for to make it practical.
The advantage of gyrockets is that they're steerable, assuming you can make the guidance package small enough to fit on the bullet itself. Of course, that means that the price per bullet is prohibitively high, but at least you get your smart gun.
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Post by jenburdoo on Apr 27, 2014 12:38:16 GMT -5
Isn't the boltgun basically an automatic grenade launcher, of the sort you usually see in Humvee hatches?
The boltgun for executions thing is why hellpistols (excuse me, hotshot laspistols) are also used, since they vaporize the blood, in theory leaving the executioner's clothing pristine. Assuming a breeze isn't blowing in the wrong direction, I'm guessing.
I think of the autocannon as a WWII 57mm, as used by the British and US armies in an anti-tank role. In that context, it's easily outdated, and was at the time. But yeah, a direct hit from one would put paid to a Marine. The catch being that it wouldn't hit unless the Marine deliberately stood in front of the muzzle. A 40mm Bofors is much closer to the AC as envisioned in the game, and can, in a pinch, be used on hordes of infantry targets. Unfortunately it's not fast enough for AA in the jet age.
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Post by Julian Sharps on Apr 27, 2014 13:51:19 GMT -5
The bolter is a gyrocket-powered full automatic mini-grenade launcher. While in today's context it's an absurd weapon, I can only assume that it was sufficiently effective against aliens to justify a battlefield role for such a weapon.
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Post by cheminhaler on Apr 27, 2014 17:27:15 GMT -5
I hear that fragments of human skull are surprisingly nasty. Not only that but in this book the marine was struggling with a sister of battle, somehow manoeuvred the boltgun under her chin and fired. Granted he was helmeted, but surely he put his gun at risk of being ruined.
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Post by Kaikelx on Apr 27, 2014 20:12:03 GMT -5
To be fair the marine, the boltor could probably be replaced a lot more easily than he could be.
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Post by buddha on Apr 28, 2014 13:19:46 GMT -5
Don't let the Tech-Priests hear you say that.
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Post by Rolling Thunder on Apr 29, 2014 14:50:22 GMT -5
MORE F-111S FOR THE F-111 GOD.
Except Britain. Britain gets space-TSR-2.
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