MGT Only: Using the Gauss Pistol?

[Spinward Scout]

Does anyone have a good handle on using the Gauss Pistol?

Would someone be able to explain it's use in Combat? Or describe these actions:

Drawing and Shooting
Changing Magazines
Aiming
Switching Ammo
and anything else?

TL-13 Gauss Pistol
pg. 126 (2022 Update)
1kg Cr500
20m Damage: 3D
Armor Piercing 3, Auto: 2
40 round magazines
Shoulder Stock
Secure Weapon
Laser Sight, TL-10
High-Capacity Magazines (80) Cr20
Alternate Ammunition: Armor Piercing 6, Incendiary (Fire)

 

[Grav_Moped]

Does anyone have a good handle on using the Gauss Pistol?

Would someone be able to explain it's use in Combat? Or describe these actions:

Drawing and Shooting
Changing Magazines
Aiming
Switching Ammo
and anything else?

TL-13 Gauss Pistol
pg. 126 (2022 Update)
1kg Cr500
20m Damage: 3D
Armor Piercing 3, Auto: 2
40 round magazines
Shoulder Stock
Secure Weapon
Laser Sight, TL-10
High-Capacity Magazines (80) Cr20
Alternate Ammunition: Armor Piercing 6, Incendiary (Fire)

Pretty much a typical pistol, except it looks capable of fully automatic fire and might go "ping" rather than "bang!"
There will be recoil.
Shoulder stock is detachable, should turn it into a carbine for aiming purposes when installed.
Switching ammo is either by using mixed loads and counting shots, or swapping magazines.
Laser sight: put the red dot on the target. At high enough TL, with the right goggles you can see the dot but nobody else can.

I expect people who actually know what they're talking about will add more.

 

[Condottiere]

You're looking at the Core specifications, and I've just completed examining gauss sidearms in Field Catalogue.

There are significant changes, so that you would have to commit to one or the other, in terms of weapon specifications, since there are some incompatibilities, especially in terms of cost and weight, to the point that I rather think there are unlikely to be standard versions, except those acquired by large interstellar militaries.

Also, I disagree with the minus one to hit for folding shoulder stocks, except for wire or skeletal ones.

It's unclear how much you can use specialized bullet types for darts.

 

[Condottiere]

For drawing and shooting, there's this new mechanic called Quickdraw, which factors in the handiness of the weapon system, rather important in who gets to shoot first, where a longarm is zero, and a handgun is four.

Then modified by other factors, including barrel length (handgun barrel plus four, rifle barrel zero), and then you roll for it.

 

[Baroun Tardis]

This is more of a gauss carbine, but if you chop the barrel down and up the reliability and muzzle velocity you'll get a gauss pistol

Second video has some shooting of them in it

Open "bolt" so you're not chambering a round when you load a magazine.
Drawing and firing is just like normal : turn off the safety and pull trigger. Current generation using TL8 capacitors has a switch for the charging cycle, but TL13 room temp superconductors and battery density wouldn't.
Aiming would be as per normal for a TL12 firearm - which probably means a truly holographic sight that springs up when you draw and sundry other things that haven't been invented yet, backed up by iron sights (probably with tritium inserts)
Switching ammo would be swapping magazines, and since there's not one in the chamber you don't have to worry about what's up the spout.

Also note that at TL13, the projectile would be supersonic.
The weird thing there is the "bang" sound occurs a few meters downrange of the gun. Shooting it, you can hear the click-click of the action... and then the bullet's shockwave in the air down range. I had this happen with suppresed firearms and it's creepy as can be. If the target is closer than that magic distance where enough air piled up for there to be a sonic boom, then there isn't one, just the slap of the bullet hitting the target

 

[Condottiere]

Rules say one point less recoil than default bullet.

And then you have fifteen hundred metres per second muzzle velocity, so would expect a supersonic crack.

 

[whartung]

It would be comparable in size I think to a full frame .22 Magnum pistol, like the Kel Tec PMR30, which has a 30 round magazine, and its similarly sized to at least the Gauss Rifle in terms of caliber (though the .22 is more like a 5mm, than the GRs 4mm...that's more .17 caliber). You may well be able to cram 40 rounds of 4mm into a large frame pistol grip. It would be an interesting magazine in that the rounds are simply the bullets, there's no cartridge (it doesn't need one). So, it's easy to perhaps see a high performance battery filling half of the magazine, with the other half being the bullets.

I would imagine the pistol would be heavier, carrying the battery and the magnets. Batteries would be heavier than what the cartridge weight would have been, especially if they're were made of high tech polymer instead of metal. I would think that the magnetic barrel would be heavier than a normal barrel, even though the normal barrel is designed to withstand high pressures, something a Gauss barrel does not.

The Gauss pistol will have quite the recoil, and if there's any kind of compensator in the pistol, it too would add weight. It can't use a gas compensator like a normal gun.

I would think that all of the "Gaussy" features would make it a bit of a cumbersome pistol (perhaps why they add the shoulder stock to make it more of a carbine).

 

[Condottiere]

Batteries were supposedly part of the magazine, so presumably enough power to fire off all of the contents, though I would think that should make the magazine more expensive.

While gauss systems are a quarter more heavy, apparently recoil is less.

I'd speculate it's because the acceleration takes place almost entirely within the receiver, with the barrel boosting the range.

 

[kilemall]

Re recoil, the original LBB4 description text for both ACR and Gauss Rifle do not mention recoil compensation, but they do mention gyrostabilized barrels. Presumably a miniaturized system like for tank guns.

Both guns have battlefield sights so the gun is likely compensating by keeping the barrel on the selected target the sight sees at the time the trigger is pulled.

The power pack being in the disposable cartridge is explicitly mentioned. The magazine costs the same per round as ACR- but gauss darts would inherently be simpler to manufacture than CPR ammo, so cost just shifts to the battery.

The gauss pistol was first introduced in Striker. No flavor text but we can extrapolate recoil from the CT stats DMs, where low DEX creates negative to hit and high DEX positive.

Example pistols

Type	Range/Pen	Low Dex	High Dex
Body Pistol	-10m/(1)	8(-3)	11(+1)
9mm Magnum Revolver	10m/(3)	7(-2)	9(+1)
9mm Auto	10m/(1)	7(-2)	10(+1)
Gauss Pistol	20m/(4)	7(-2)	10(+1)

This is not the full flavor of the weapon differences as body pistols drop off fast while gauss pistols retain more punch, and SMGs get a bit more range presumably from the barrels.

But we can see gauss pistols maintain handling like an auto pistol while hitting with more penetration than a magnum at double the range. That definitely suggests recoil aids.

 

[Condottiere]

Recoil compensation in Traveler (game) mechanics is really neglected.

You could make the assumption it's inherent in the gauss receiver, but it doesn't seem mentioned in the text, and I don't think that for the internal combustion bullet and the magnetic driven dart would be compatible.

However going from what I heard about the catapult on the USS Gerald Ford, there's probably less recoil comparatively.

Gyrostabilization is opt in.

 

[kilemall]

Recoil compensation in Traveler (game) mechanics is really neglected.

You could make the assumption it's inherent in the gauss receiver, but it doesn't seem mentioned in the text, and I don't think that for the internal combustion bullet and the magnetic driven dart would be compatible.

However going from what I heard about the catapult on the USS Gerald Ford, there's probably less recoil comparatively.

Gyrostabilization is opt in.

Gyro may be in later versions but in CT it’s clearly standard issue.

The whole handling DM thing for CT is all about the recoil even if it’s not explicit. I was under the impression MgT1 had recoil.

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on what the writer(s) think what gyrostabilization is supposed to do, or mitigate.

Traits of bulky and very bulky are related, to recoil.

I have enough difficulty figuring out the current rule set, so I'm not really prepared to dig out Mongoose One, except looking at the really wide range of fire arms listed.

 

[kilemall]

Depends on what the writer(s) think what gyrostabilization is supposed to do, or mitigate.

Traits of bulky and very bulky are related, to recoil.

I have enough difficulty figuring out the current rule set, so I'm not really prepared to dig out Mongoose One, except looking at the really wide range of fire arms listed.

I was looking to use weight in Striker vs pen value rather than the CT DMs and tie it into faster sim/reaction as well. Weight to swinging around and then snapshot vs aiming, then recoil weight/pen ratio mitigated by compensator/gyro and skill for following shots.

 

[whartung]

I think the only real benefit of a Gauss pistol is that it fits well in a supply chain with Gauss Rifles. Similar bullet, similar tech, easier maintenance and supply chain. In terms of "bang/buck", I imagine a typical powder cartridge is more efficient, and even more capable. Gauss is specifically limited by barrel length and available power, powder pistols are limited by materials and structural integrity. How much pressure can a bonded superdense barrel and action contain?

Gauss recoil would be softer, even for the same energy, than a powder cartridge because the impulse is applied over the length of the barrel, not all at once. I would imagine that a gauss rifle is a particularly soft shooter, or has as much felt recoil as it contemporaries, but with more net energy out the barrel. We have that today, the M1A 7.62 semi-automatic rifle is known for much softer felt recoil than a generic bolt action due to the affect of the absorbing spring and bolt used for cycling. They also tend to be heavier, which affect felt recoil as well.

If you even want to see the advantages of gyro stabilization, go to a fine optics dealer and try on a pair of stabilized binoculars.

They're amazing! I never looked into how they work (it's not a gyro), but I think the net effect as perceived by the operator is the same. I don't want to suggest that stabilize binocular tech would work for a rifle. I don't think it would, as it stabilizes the image as presented to the viewer, not necessarily stabilizing the actual binoculars themselves. A rifle would need to actually be stabilized.

Mechanically, I would think that gyro stabilization would make "aimed shots" more accurate, as there needs to be a moment in time for the stabilization to take hold. I think it would help mitigate the need for casual rests (against door frames, etc.) for distance shots. But I do not think it would be as good as, say, a bipod or long standing rest.

Stabilization would only affect recoil perhaps is being able to limit muzzle flip and keep the rifle on target more quickly for a follow up shot. But wouldn't particularly affect felt recoil to the shooter.

 

[Condottiere]

Mitigates inaccuracy while moving.

Reaction is independent from effect, in this case penetration, more who manages to fire off first.

Like I mentioned above, the new game mechanic is Quickdraw.

I'd like to mention that gyrostabilization removes one level of bulkiness, which has been defined at requiring Strength Nine in order to control the weapon, less than that, your accuracy suffers.

 

[Sir Brad]

A Gauss pistol can change the configuration, instead of putting the weight in or before the hand like a traditional pistol you can put most of it aft with an extendable stock, getting an almost carbine length barrel.

 

[Condottiere]

Maybe, but the writers have to add that as an option.

 

[Sir Brad]

the Gauss Pistol is in fact a machine pistol that would better be served scaling up slightily to serve as a SMG

 

[Condottiere]

Harder to stick that in your pocket, and pretend you're happy.

 

[Jame]

IMTU the gauss pistol is TL 12, and the civilian version has no automatic fire.
A gauss SMG, at TL12, and support weapon, at TL 11, sound good.