far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Yeah, lots of stuff works great in the movies, where real physics takes a back seat to cinematic flair
For the Alien (and other movies) rig I imagined (filling in the blanks) it had some sort of active recoil dampening built in to help when actually firing. The main benefit of the rig seemed to be simply ease of carry and quick aiming. Well, more pointing than aiming. For that a steadicam rig will work.
My only beef is once you start adding recoil, especially rapid multiple heavy round recoil, to a system that is essentially balanced for zero inertia(?) the weapon is going to take off like a greased pig. Normally you have the benefit of the weapon weight and action helping the recoil a bit and I think a steadicam rig would take that out of the equation. But I could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time
As for praciticality, good question. I think that would be down to the choice of weapon and type of employment. I think such a rig would be good for a heavy weapon, allowing rapid target acquisition and reducing ready weapon fatigue. And it might be beneficial for a sniper, allowing a steadier aim in situations where you can't be braced. But how often will that happen for a sniper? Almost never, or less. Or it might be useful in situations of heavy gravity, again to reduce the apparent weight and inertia of the weapon. And, as mentioned above it could be handy for laser weapons, heck even for laser sighted small arms, allowing one to hold a steady bead of the laser dot on the target.
Just speculation though. I imagine such a rig (the early ones at least) would present new problems in the field. Least of which would be breakdown. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rules. Which would you rather have, maintenance on a weapon, or the weapon and rig? And how long will the extra weight of the rig be a benefit more than a hinderance? When you have to lug it across miles of country. When you could carry extra ammo or armor instead.
There will be times it will be useful but I don't think it would be general issue.
I'm hoping some of the experienced gun nuts show up and weigh in with some real data or more grounded speculation on this
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsmile.gif&hash=1cfd60796e07197b75d7b7de95fa9177)
For the Alien (and other movies) rig I imagined (filling in the blanks) it had some sort of active recoil dampening built in to help when actually firing. The main benefit of the rig seemed to be simply ease of carry and quick aiming. Well, more pointing than aiming. For that a steadicam rig will work.
My only beef is once you start adding recoil, especially rapid multiple heavy round recoil, to a system that is essentially balanced for zero inertia(?) the weapon is going to take off like a greased pig. Normally you have the benefit of the weapon weight and action helping the recoil a bit and I think a steadicam rig would take that out of the equation. But I could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time
As for praciticality, good question. I think that would be down to the choice of weapon and type of employment. I think such a rig would be good for a heavy weapon, allowing rapid target acquisition and reducing ready weapon fatigue. And it might be beneficial for a sniper, allowing a steadier aim in situations where you can't be braced. But how often will that happen for a sniper? Almost never, or less. Or it might be useful in situations of heavy gravity, again to reduce the apparent weight and inertia of the weapon. And, as mentioned above it could be handy for laser weapons, heck even for laser sighted small arms, allowing one to hold a steady bead of the laser dot on the target.
Just speculation though. I imagine such a rig (the early ones at least) would present new problems in the field. Least of which would be breakdown. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rules. Which would you rather have, maintenance on a weapon, or the weapon and rig? And how long will the extra weight of the rig be a benefit more than a hinderance? When you have to lug it across miles of country. When you could carry extra ammo or armor instead.
There will be times it will be useful but I don't think it would be general issue.
I'm hoping some of the experienced gun nuts show up and weigh in with some real data or more grounded speculation on this
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsmile.gif&hash=1cfd60796e07197b75d7b7de95fa9177)