> On Nov 26, 2016, at 10:18 PM, Richard Aiken <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Nov 25, 2016 at 6:02 PM, Bruce Johnson <xxxxxx@pharmacy.arizona.edu> wrote:
> Well, given that a properly maintained conventional firearm will work in a vacuum, I don’t know that there was much need for these.
>
> The first edition Serenity RPG stated that most projectile weapons in the game were spaceproofed designs that used caseless ammunition (so that the firing chamber could be more completely sealed). But you could find cheaper, non-spaceproofed versions if you looked of them, although there was a chance these would misifre in a vacuum and finding cased ammunition to fit them could be difficult.

Since gunpowder and modern smokeless powder is a complete system that does not require air to function I don’t see how this is an issue.

In fact, caseless might be at a disadvantage here, because conventional brass cases utilize the case to form a seal in the end of the firing chamber, do they not? They form a new chamber each round; whereas a caseless one has a single chamber, subject to thermal expansion.

You might get some leakage around the projectile to to the lower pressure external to the projectile, but on the other hand you have no air to ‘push’ out of the barrel in the way of the projectile, so I expect it’s a wash.

The issues with conventional firearms would be the volatility of lubricants and, with longer term disuse, vacuum welding.

In Zero gee you DEFINITELY want a ported muzzle :-)

--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs