Nightcrawler
New member
We've discussed future developments in firearms many times. The majority seem to think that caseless weapons will be the next step; they seem to offer advantages over standard types, though they have drawbacks.
Energy weapons have also been discussed, but these all await a suitable power supply, and all have their own limitations.
There's also railguns, but they are essentially projectile weapons with a different means of propulsion.
Anyway, a thought occured to me. I've heard that they've recently developed a soft armor that will stop 7.62x51mm point blank. Now, you'd still likely get your sternum shoved through your lungs from the impact, but the bullet apparently won't penetrate.
Current body armor will reliably stop pistol ammunition, from .22 short to .500 Linebaugh. This does have the potential to make handguns as they exist today obsolete; the limiting factor is that body armor is, generally, expensive bulky, and in many cases difficult to come by.
However, if the criminals in your neck of the woods used body armor more often than not, would you still feel secure with you .45 or .40, knowing that it wouldn't penetrate?
In the future, advances in materials technology could well develop thin, light, shock disbursing body armors that could reliably stop current service rounds cold; furthermore, if these advances rendered the materials cheap, the armor could be inexpensive and easy to get. Hard armor development, or different soft armor technologies could render current "armor piercing" designed cartridges like the FN 5.7mm no more effective than any other round as well.
So, if everyone is just as likely as not to have a vest that'll stop, say, everything from 9mm to 5.56x45, does that mean that the weapons we have are obsolete? Or are we going to start using .338s for home defense? Could such developments in body armor spur on the next generation of small arms development, in a rush to make the body armors obsolete?
For a comparison, imagine if you lived in 1875, and invented somehow a Level IIIA body armor vest. Concealable, light, and perfectly capable of stopping all of the common cartridges of the day. (The rounds of the period were generall anemic by our standards; even rifle rounds of the period were low velocity to the point where they wouldn't reliably penetrate modern soft armor.)
You would have, in essence, made most of the guns of the era obsolete. If you mass-produced the armor, and sold it at prices the average gunslinger or cowboy could afford, an arms race to develop weapons that could defeat the armor would begin.
See what I mean?
Energy weapons have also been discussed, but these all await a suitable power supply, and all have their own limitations.
There's also railguns, but they are essentially projectile weapons with a different means of propulsion.
Anyway, a thought occured to me. I've heard that they've recently developed a soft armor that will stop 7.62x51mm point blank. Now, you'd still likely get your sternum shoved through your lungs from the impact, but the bullet apparently won't penetrate.
Current body armor will reliably stop pistol ammunition, from .22 short to .500 Linebaugh. This does have the potential to make handguns as they exist today obsolete; the limiting factor is that body armor is, generally, expensive bulky, and in many cases difficult to come by.
However, if the criminals in your neck of the woods used body armor more often than not, would you still feel secure with you .45 or .40, knowing that it wouldn't penetrate?
In the future, advances in materials technology could well develop thin, light, shock disbursing body armors that could reliably stop current service rounds cold; furthermore, if these advances rendered the materials cheap, the armor could be inexpensive and easy to get. Hard armor development, or different soft armor technologies could render current "armor piercing" designed cartridges like the FN 5.7mm no more effective than any other round as well.
So, if everyone is just as likely as not to have a vest that'll stop, say, everything from 9mm to 5.56x45, does that mean that the weapons we have are obsolete? Or are we going to start using .338s for home defense? Could such developments in body armor spur on the next generation of small arms development, in a rush to make the body armors obsolete?
For a comparison, imagine if you lived in 1875, and invented somehow a Level IIIA body armor vest. Concealable, light, and perfectly capable of stopping all of the common cartridges of the day. (The rounds of the period were generall anemic by our standards; even rifle rounds of the period were low velocity to the point where they wouldn't reliably penetrate modern soft armor.)
You would have, in essence, made most of the guns of the era obsolete. If you mass-produced the armor, and sold it at prices the average gunslinger or cowboy could afford, an arms race to develop weapons that could defeat the armor would begin.
See what I mean?
