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Whats the future of assault weapons?

6K views 43 replies 22 participants last post by  Jbmid1 
#1 ·
Hi! I'm new to the forum and excited to be here. I hope I am posting this on the right board.

I'm currently working on a bit of fiction and I would appreciate some input from those who study history and or are intimately familiar with military assault weapons

In a dystopian future where the economy completely collapsed in the 2090's. what sort of military assault weapons would have been made up till then?

how much would military infantry equipment change, bearing in mind factors of economics as well as durability, functionality and efficiency?

If a radical country with sufficient wealth ignored international regulations for warfare. what sort of weapons would they produce to be carried by infantry men and ground troops?

Any input would be much appreciated.

Related info would be on the evolution of tactics and ground warfare etc.
 
#2 ·
My input is this.

There is no such thing as an assault weapon. If you use that terminology in your book then the world becomes more brain washed. Instead of referring to firearms as assault weapons I think there are better terms. To say firearms are assault weapons is the same thing as saying my gun safe is an assault safe when in reality it has no ability to assault anyting. My guns are not assault weapons because in reality they don't have the ability to harm anybody. Heck, they can't even pull their own trigger.

My request to you is to put it truthfully so the world will read the truth. Call it what it is.

That is my input.

Thanks.
 
#4 ·
yep. bear in mind the term 'assault weapon' is a fabricated term by our lame stream media. I'm active duty and I've never seen or heard the military refer to our M4's or anything as 'assault weapons'.

but as for weaponry, my input is this; more and more focus is on smart bombs, technology that saves lives. Better armor, better electronics, etc.

While there is plenty of experimenting with 'future' small arms, my guess is the good old fashioned firearms will survive as the mainstay while we see a bigger surge in computer controlled gizmos.
 
#6 ·
I see. I was under the impression that "assault rifle" was a correct term. I admit that I buy into some of the jargon's used in games and movies. I don't see why it would have such a negative connotation though. It would be common sense that defending yourself from armed violence would be achieved with armed violence. Defense weaponry wouldn't simply prevent an assailant from hurting you? You would use it to take your aggressor out before he would harm you or what you are defending.
 
#7 ·
I see. I was under the impression that "assault rifle" was a correct term. I admit that I buy into some of the jargon's used in games and movies. I don't see why it would have such a negative connotation though. It would be common sense that defending yourself from armed violence would be achieved with armed violence. Defense weaponry wouldn't simply prevent an assailant from hurting you? You would use it to take your aggressor out before he would harm you or what you are defending.
AR stands for ArmaLite Rifle. The libs coined it assault rifle. You say you don't know why "assault rifle"would have such a negative connotation? What if airplanes were called "Flying coffins?" What if knifes were called "Suicide sticks?" The negative emphasis on the words would effect their out come in a negative way. Once again I will say, I have never seen a gun pull it's own trigger. It seems you don't know much about firearms so I doubt your book will be successful. That is why Hollywood is a failure, because there are no more good writers and they are controlled by the libs.

Gun guys don't like the term assault rifle. I know I don't.
 
#8 ·
In a dystopian future where the economy completely collapsed in the 2090's. what sort of military assault weapons would have been made up till then?

Any input would be much appreciated.
2090??? It's going to come way sooner than that!

Okay, just for the sake of discussion I give you 2090. At the rate that military technology is changing, I would say by then that they won't be using an explosive cartridge. It'll be hand held lasers or some such.

Personally, I hope by then we'll all be so afraid of each other that we give up warfare!!!
 
#9 ·
As the other members have expressed here, the term 'Assault Weapon' has been misused by media and political intrest groups to the point where it means nothing, except of course, to demonize certain rifles.

As a writer, you certainly know the value of verbage. To fall into the trap of useing this charged verbage is to surrender to groups with an adgenda. I would hope that you have an independant mind and are willing to learn from others who have expertise in firearms and responsible firearm ownership.

Welcome to this forum. I hope that you may expand your horizons through interactions with members here.
 
#11 ·
Bumblebee - I'd bet that your M1 Garands WOULD be on a ban list IF the Liberals get their way. I can almost certainly say that eventually even Garands will be called 'Assault Weapons' because they are military 'weapons of war' and they fire more than one shot without manual operation.

Who knows after that? lever action repeaters, maybe. They are already yelping about semi-auto shotguns. Pumps will be after those.

Someone in our forum once said "Circle the wagons around lever action rifles, revolvers and shotguns, just give them the ARs and semi auto pistols". Like I told him then, after they get the 'Assault Rifles' they'll be after yours. They were not satisfied with GCA-68, and have been chipping away at us every since.
 
#13 ·
Thanks for all the input. I am here to learn. I will share what I've been taught (incorrectly or correctly) so that it can be debunked. As I grew up in Sweden civilian owned guns are quite rare and even then only hunting guns really. I've handled and fired military weapons in training. Almost got killed by an idiot during a live fire exercise so I know the horror of being on the receiving end of a beltfed fn minimi. But that's pretty much the extent of real life interaction with firearms that I've had. We're I come from we're not really scared of firearms because they are seldom used for crime.

What I'm working on is the background story for a video game that I'm making a rough layout of. Games might not be everybody's cup of tea around here but where getting a gun is illegal or a hassle I'll have to take my love of shooting into a simulator.
 
#14 · (Edited)
If I whack you on the head with a stick, I have assualted you. Does that make my stick an assualt weapon? As to your story, and the date you have chosen, I think you need to think outside the box. The next giant step in firearms will be the one that takes us in another direction than the cartridges we use today. Case, primer, powder, and bullet will have to change into something else, like hand held lazers, or something. Guns, and ammo, will not change untill a better, cheaper, system comes along, and they are working on this right now.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Looking at it retrospectively the main mechanics behind firearms have largely been the same for the last 400 years. a tube with a projectile being fired out of it with the help of an explosive charge. Everything else is an appendage. What I am really asking (and thank you carver for pointing out the futility of classifying sticks) is if there is anyone who has served in the armed forces for a good while and has seen things come and go. what do you need out of a weapon in combat. what equipment would you ideally be carrying with you. and no I'm not trying to think outside the box I want it to be as plausible as possible. so no lazers or plasma blasters. what I see as a possible upgrade would be smaller caliber rounds that travel faster, enabling the shooter to disregard lead, drop and wind conditions. if that round then was of say tungsten (wolfram) it would give it armor piercing capabilities against light armor.

Ok guys, I'll play the devils advocate with you on the "assault" terminology since I sense you'd like to say a few more things on the subject. If I select a stick I would do so with the intended use in mind. If the particular stick I'm looking for is to peg a hot dog with so I can grill it over an open fire it'd be silly to call it an assault stick since it'd be too light and too flimsy to cause any real damage or even intimidate. But if I'm looking for a stick that I can use to knock someone unconscious with it would be a completely different type of stick. I'd need it to be hard enough long enough and heavy enough for it to be used effectively to "assault people with" the intent has given it cause to classify. If this stick is then used to kill someone it becomes a "murder weapon" because it was used for murder. obviously the stick could care less about how it is being used, its just a stick. It will never get up on its own and kill people, even if it is a "murder weapon"

Similarly when a military asks contractors for a new weapon design surely there is a certain regard to the intended use of the gun. I wouldn't find it very funny to be issued a .22 ruger pistol if I am to defend a checkpoint or clear a building. So naturally the contractors are instructed in what the weapon is for and the design then is made to answer the needs.

the reason we don't call planes flying coffins would most likely be because that's not their intended use. but I don't know in what world this was not designed with the intent to kill and maim.



In a perfect world there wouldn't be weapons I suppose but we have them here and I've been trained to use this kind of weapon in a way where I am the first to fire and my enemy is dead before he can retaliate. In effect I assault my enemy in an attempt to inflict death and injury upon him so that he cannot do it to me.

Your turn

Still I agree that demonizing firearms by giving them names that suggest that they are used for misdeeds is an error. If I owned military grade weapons it would be for mostly recreational purposes with perhaps only one gun that I would designate for home defense. No sane gun owner has military grade weapons because they'd like to "assault" someone

(yes that m4 is kinda silly)
 
#16 ·
The point is that the stick does become an assult weapon! So do the gun grabbers include sticks in the "assult weapon ban"?
 
#19 ·
There are many innovative changes that can be made to modern firearms.

Heckler and Kock in my opinion is far ahead of everyone in R&D.

A idea that has come and went was that of caseless ammo.

As we go further into the future you may see this come back.

Do a search of caseless ammo guns. YOu should be able to find something of interest there. Or the gun that shoots underwater.

There are also smart bullets to look into.

Have fun.
 
#20 ·
I honestly don't see anything replacing bullets/powder for quite a while. While there are wiz-bang lasers and such out there, practicality will leave the good old fashioned firearm as the mainstay methinks, even as late as 2090. Guns have been the ultimate small arm since it's invention how many hundred years ago?

lasers just burn ya or punch a clean hole I would imagine, not gonna transfer any significant physical stopping energy or shockwave damage. Even if something cool does come out, how long will it take to get small/light enough and cheap enough to field and mass produce?
 
#21 ·
There are many innovative changes that can be made to modern firearms.

Heckler and Kock in my opinion is far ahead of everyone in R&D.

A idea that has come and went was that of caseless ammo.

As we go further into the future you may see this come back.

Do a search of caseless ammo guns. YOu should be able to find something of interest there. Or the gun that shoots underwater.

There are also smart bullets to look into.

Have fun.
The caseless ammo is a good point. What if it had really worked the way the inventors had hoped? Magnetic rail guns have been tried, as well as several other types of propulsion systems. We know about different materials for bullets. What about sound? Could it be used to agitate the atoms in a persons body to the point it explodes in an instant? What about other bands in the light spectrum than the ones we currently use? From now untill 2090 is over 75 years. Look what we humans have done in the last 100 years! What will the next 75 - 100 years produce?
 
#22 ·
Caseless ammunition works just fine. The problem was that it didn't work that much better from what was already around. After reading up on the LSAT program and prototype weapons and why they failed I've come to the conclusion that for a new military weapon to be put in production it has to comply with the wish list.

This is what seems to be the on wish list.

Lighter
More reliable
Cheaper
Hit harder
Shoot further
More accurate
Easy to maintain
Easy to use
Rugged
(Quieter maybe)

Unless a new design outdoes the old one by a good deal, there won't be much of a market for it.

Funny thing about banning ARs is that les than one percent of gun crime is committed with a select fire rifle. It's mostly pistols so if they take away the ARs all they do is enrage people and take away power from the people. A government shouldn't really have more power than the people but rather enforce the will of the people. In Japan in the edo period the japanese government outlawed the carrying of swords. The sword ban made it possible for the government to do things contrary to the will of the people without fear of severe retaliation.

I fear America is on the threshold of a similar situation
 
#23 ·
Using the California definition, "assault weapons" any firearm used in a war. So that includes all firearms including ancient wheel locks and matchlocks. You could probably extend it back to the crossbow and long bow of the 100 years wars. Have you ever read about the battles of Crecy and Agancourt? The early pilgrims weren't allowed to bring the English longbow to America, because they were afraid the Indians would copy the improved technology. Instead they brought matchlocks which were too technical for the tribes to copy.
 
#24 ·
I see. I was under the impression that "assault rifle" was a correct term. I admit that I buy into some of the jargon's used in games and movies. I don't see why it would have such a negative connotation though. It would be common sense that defending yourself from armed violence would be achieved with armed violence. Defense weaponry wouldn't simply prevent an assailant from hurting you? You would use it to take your aggressor out before he would harm you or what you are defending.
Assult weapons are available to the military. Civilians have as noted 'defense weapons'.

Assults would include m14s and M16s-full auto type. Do you have those. Some civilians do-at a price to be REGISTERED and pay a $200 tax/gun.
 
#26 ·
Many military forces are now adopting the bullpup designs.

While the AR and AK still remain state of the art, the 7.62

mainstay has given significant ground to 5.56, 5.45, and

similar more efficient short range offerings.

Leading edge designs now incorporate heavily with CQB

and urban warfare in mind, with a couple SAWS and Snipers in a

squad to offer medium range backup short of air or other support.
 
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