Revolver of the Future?

[chris_gerrib]

The Space Rescue Service in my books carry revolvers, largely because I think that semi-auto pistols would tend to jam due to a variation on limp wristing. Basically, the gun's recoil would move the shooter and not the slide, meaning the gun wouldn't cycle. Gas-operated weapons wouldn't be affected, but I'm not aware of any gas-operated pistols, at least not any small enough to carry on your hip. (I'm aware of blowback guns, but those are either small caliber pistols or shoulder arms.)

So, revolvers. Chiappa Firearms, a small and fairly new Italian company with a limited product range, is selling an interesting and futuristic revolver, the Rhino. It's a revolver that fires out of the bottom chamber - as far as I know, the only such weapon. As you can see from the pictures in this article, the arrangement results in a complicated internal mechanism, but apparently it works.

Now, in part I'm interested in the revolver because, in the unlikely event that anybody makes a movie of my books and the more unlikely event I have any input into the movie, this is the revolver I'd tell them to use. I'm also interested because Chiappa has decided to re-think the revolver from the ground up. Note please the flat sides of the cylinder, intended for ease of concealment. Also, the lower-barrel arrangement, common in shotguns, (we call them "un-singles") is designed to minimize felt recoil and reduce muzzle-rise. In short, it's a neat gun.

Comments

[daveon.livejournal.com]

The first time I fired a 9mm semi-automatic I encountered limp wristing first hand.

It made me appreciate that many movies were fairly unrealistic on the subject of how you handle a 9mm. Also, empty semi-automatics don't 'click' when they're empty. Especially as you can't pull the trigger anymore.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

The lack of realism of movie guns is subject for another post. One of my pet peeves is "instant knowledge" - hand somebody a gun and they immediately know how to shoot it.

For example, one of my uncles is not a gun person. (This makes him somewhat of a minority in my family.) He's an intelligent person, with a CPA, but not a shooter. Anyway, one day-after-Thanksgiving, we took him pistol shooting while the ladies went shopping.

When we handed him a semi-auto pistol, he got the idea to pull the slide back to load a round, but didn't understand that you needed to let the spring pull the slide forward. Instead he tried to ease the slide back, which meant the gun didn't strip a bullet from the clip. We set the safety for him, but I'm sure that would have been another problem.

Operating a gun is a skill.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

The other thing that alarmed me was that over near to medium distances it really is hard NOT to hit the thing you're pointing at, well, that or I am just very good at shooting at targets.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Point shooting, which is pretty much "point the gun at whatever you want to shoot" is fairly reliable at self-defense ranges. It's that whole binocular vision thing - we've evolved to be able to point at things quite well.

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

That was not my experience with pistols.

That is - I'd learned to shoot rifles 'The Marine Corps' way. Then out to the pistol range so I could carry one on guard duty.

Spent the day or two missing targets. I guess something clicked, I scored Expert at the end of the week, and whenever I went back to the range for score.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

You were probably over-focused on sight picture. Point shooting *IS* a skill. I picked it up a bit because I also shoot shotgun. When the bird is flying away, you can't get TOO wrapped up in the sights.

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

But but but ... if I don't have a proper sight picture Drill Instructor Sergeant Flater will rise up out of the ground and say unkind things to me.

Brainwashing .. what brainwashing?

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Ah. Interesting.

I have a friend who was a Ranger sniper who was partly selected because he'd never fired guns before. They liked having somebody without any bad habits to break.

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

I think that semi-auto pistols would tend to jam due to a variation on limp wristing.

Hunh. I can see that.

I'm trying hard to figure out how to test this theory. Pilots of the Vomit Comet aren't going to be thrilled about the idea. ISS has the room ...

Make a keen story point. Storm Troopers from Ganymede arrive to secure a Rebel fort in the Belt. But - unh-oh - their guns are having a high rate of failure in zero-g. The assault fails. The government forces fall back in disarray from Rebel Marines wielding short-swords and revolving pistols ..

Anyway. I certainly like the looks of the Rhino. Got some probably unfounded worries about the complicated-looking insides. Can't begin to afford it for .. a few years, certainly.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah the insides look complicated. It is a first-generation device, so hopefully the bugs can get worked out of it.