The Best That Never Was 2 (Prototypes)

[Vespers War]

I posted this in the Dark Conspiracy FB group, but it works just as well for this thread.

A space gun I didn't know about until today, the TOZ-81 "Mars." It never entered production, the TOZ-82/TP-82 being preferred. This one's interesting because it's a revolver that fires from the bottom of the cylinder, it's set up so the barrel and chamber combined are 33.6 of the gun's 35.5 centimeters of overall length, and the barrel can be swapped out to fire either 5.45x39mm or .410. It also has an over-barrel swiveling bayonet, which seems a bit over-the-top in more ways than one.

For purposes of calculating recoil, I used a mass of 1 kilogram since I couldn't find an actual mass. If it had entered production, my guess it it would have been issued with 10 rounds of each type of ammunition.

5.45x39mm: ROF DAR, Dam 2, Pen 1-Nil, Bulk 2, Mag 5R, SS 6, Rng 9
.410 (buck): ROF 3 (buckshot), Dam 1, Pen Nil, Bulk 2, Mag 5R, SS 6, Rng 8
Bayonet: Rng S, Hit Mod +2, Dam 1d6+(Str/2)

The bayonet is modified from the one in the core T2K v2.2 rules based on my interpretation of the guidance in FF&S regarding bayonets mounted on guns with Bulk less than 4.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/02/27/toz-81-mars-russian-space-revolver/

[copeab]

Ian covered the XM-8 rifle system on today's Forgotten Weapons:

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/almost-adopted-the-hk-xm8-family/

[Vespers War]

Back in September, Ian took apart the worst gun ever and then, for some mad reason, took it to the range. This really isn't a best that never was, it's a worst that never should have been.

USFA Zip 22
Weight 0.43 kg
Ammo .22 LR
ROF SA, Dam 1, Pen Nil, Blk 1, Mag 10, SS 6, Rng 13

On a 17-19, the gun jams and requires 1/1d2/1d3 actions to unjam (for a 17, 18, or 19 respectively). On a 20, the gun jams so badly it must be disassembled to be reset. This is being generous.

Accessories for the gun include a belt clip, a hold-open lever for the bolt, and a top cover that replaces the iron sights with a Picatinny rail (in case you want to mount a red dot sight to your short-barreled low-bulk .22 pistol).

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I watched both those episodes and I think you're right... you are being generous.

Back in September, Ian took apart the worst gun ever and then, for some mad reason, took it to the range. This really isn't a best that never was, it's a worst that never should have been.

USFA Zip 22
Weight 0.43 kg
Ammo .22 LR
ROF SA, Dam 1, Pen Nil, Blk 1, Mag 10, SS 6, Rng 13

On a 17-19, the gun jams and requires 1/1d2/1d3 actions to unjam (for a 17, 18, or 19 respectively). On a 20, the gun jams so badly it must be disassembled to be reset. This is being generous.

Accessories for the gun include a belt clip, a hold-open lever for the bolt, and a top cover that replaces the iron sights with a Picatinny rail (in case you want to mount a red dot sight to your short-barreled low-bulk .22 pistol).

I'm inclined to think that a roll of 14-17 should be a jam and 18-20 should be a jam requiring disassembly.

[Vespers War]

This time I'm bringing in a rather divisive firearm that did see military service with extremely mixed results during the US Civil War. Some units loved it, some hated it, and in the end the guns were sold for pennies on the dollar. I'm speaking, of course, of Colt's Model of 1855, the Root Revolving Rifle.

The gun had multiple calibers, but in military service was chambered in .56 with a 5-round cylinder, fired by percussion cap. The one held by Springfield Armory Museum has a 78.9 cm barrel and is 125 cm in total length.

Soldiers were afraid of the effects of chain fire. However, I'm aware of no reports of this happening with the rifle in service, and when Joseph Bilby tried to induce a chain fire, he was only able to do so by using poorly-fitted caps - even covering the face of the cylinder with powder would not cause chain fire because the bullets were slightly over-sized and swaged down to fit the chamber bore when rammed. They were used to fine effect by the 37th Illinois at Prairie Grove. They would spit lead fragments from the cylinder gap when fired, so it was recommended to place the off-hand under the trigger guard rather than on the forestock.

Colt M1855 Revolving Rifle
Wt 4.17 kg, SAR, Mag 5i, Dam 2, Pen Nil, Bulk 8, SS 2, Rng 83

Note that this is not a metallic cartridge revolver, and it should reload 1 round per action because it requires loading 45 grains of powder and the bullet, ramming, and capping. Thus, the Mag is 5i rather than 5R to reflect the slower loading.

[copeab]

On Christmas Day, Ian posted a half hour video on the G-11k2, the gun actually approved for issue to West German troops. You get a detailed view of how th thing operated.

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/kraut-space-magic-the-hk-g11/

[Legbreaker]

Watched that earlier today. Beautifully complex while oh so simple!
Such a shame it had to be dropped by the Germans - the world would all probably be using caseless rounds by now I'm guessing after nearly years of military service to iron out the last few problems.

[Vespers War]

The Panzermuseum got a new display last month, receiving the sole example of an experimental Leopard 1 with anti-radar and anti-IR systems. Director Ralf Raths describes it here.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

The Panzermuseum got a new display last month, receiving the sole example of an experimental Leopard 1 with anti-radar and anti-IR systems. Director Ralf Raths describes it here.

Very happy that the Panzermuseum chose to present that tank in both German language and English language videos*

* for those who haven't checked out the Panzermuseum's youtube channel, they only started doing English language videos at the start of this year (or the end of last year).

[Vespers War]

Very happy that the Panzermuseum chose to present that tank in both German language and English language videos*

* for those who haven't checked out the Panzermuseum's youtube channel, they only started doing English language videos at the start of this year (or the end of last year).

They announced they'd start doing them back in November or December, but AFAIK this was the first one (with the exception of a couple videos where English-language channels visited the Panzermuseum).

In theory, one can set up English subtitles (click CC, then click the gear, then Subtitles, then Autotranslate, then English), but Youtube is terrible at translating German to English. I've tried it with a couple videos, and it's bad.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

They announced they'd start doing them back in November or December, but AFAIK this was the first one (with the exception of a couple videos where English-language channels visited the Panzermuseum).

In theory, one can set up English subtitles (click CC, then click the gear, then Subtitles, then Autotranslate, then English), but Youtube is terrible at translating German to English. I've tried it with a couple videos, and it's bad.

Oh yeah, I've used the auto"translate" feature a few times and while sometimes it's a little annoying, other times it's completely nonsensical (and if you're lucky, maybe somewhat amusing, but mostly not!) And it's not just German to English that's badly done, I've had pretty much the same experience with Russian, Korean, French, Vietnamese and Chinese to English.

As for the Panzermuseum, that video on the Leopard was their first tank vid in English, the only other English language vids I've seen from them are messages saying "Hey we're going to be making videos in English" but 2019 should see a good number become available (given their posting rate is about one video per month for their German language vids).

[Vespers War]

Ian's videos are still a great source of weird stuff, and today I saw for the first time his video on the SSK .950 rifle. Using shortened and necked-out 20mm Vulcan cases, it's effectively a 24.1x70mm centerfire round fired from an 85.1cm barrel. Only three of these rifles were made and ammunition is accordingly rare, but if you really need to reach out and touch a light armored vehicle, this is the rifle with which to do it. These rifles were built in 2006 and cost $4,000, with each round of ammunition priced at $40. No ammunition has been made since 2014.

SSK .950 JDJ
Wt 50.0 kg, SS, Dam 16, Pen 2-2-2, Blk 15, Mag 1i, Rcl 4 (7 without the 8.2 kg muzzle brake), Rng 278

The prototype has the following changes: Wt 23.0 kg, Rcl 5/8.

This is one of those situations where it might actually make more sense in Traveller as a marksman's rifle for powered armor troopers just because of the sheer mass of the rifle, even the prototype.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Although this is all just idle speculation on my part, I think there's a use for the SSK .950 in alternate T2k timelines, say 2030+ due to the potential for exo-skeletons becoming a possible military item as well as the possibility of greater use of armoured robots by the military.
The 12.7mm and 14.5mm anti-material rifles in current use might not be enough if exo-skeletons and robots get the benefit of more advanced types of armour. The obvious step would be to go up to 20mm but the .950 may well be just as suitable.

And there's a high likelihood of its use in Dark Conspiracy!

[Legbreaker]

And there's a high likelihood of its use in Dark Conspiracy!

You mean the Storm Gun won't cut it

[StainlessSteelCynic]

You mean the Storm Gun won't cut it

As much as I like the idea of the Storm Gun for a big "boom stick", I really hated the image they made for it so I never much used it in any games I ran. I ditched it in favour of things like the 14.5mm anti-materiel rifles. Some time later I read about some of the attempts to make 20-25mm man-portable weapons like the PAW-20 and the Barrett XM109 and I used them instead.

In regards to the image they used, if you're going to draw up something based on the Barrett M82, why bother messing with all the other crap to make it look different and just make a 20mm version of the Barrett If I was really pushed for an image for a fictional 20mm then I'd rather go with the Panther Assault Cannon from Shadowrun, it has a way better picture!