Re: Re: Rail guns (was: US SOCOM desires...)

["Gareth Livergood" <garethlivergood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Absolutly true, in the last 50 years or so there have be no 'revolutionary'
changes (changing the way we wage war, tactically or stratigically).  There
have been quite a few 'evolutionary' changes; polymers, bullpup, optical
sights, night vision (this can be concidered revolutionary when in general
use).  I do not forsee any revolutionary changes within my lifetime.
> True.  But the matter at hand was 'have there been
> any large advances in small arms technology in the
> last 50 years'.  I mean, sure, if you take untrained
> people and give them a weapon with an optical sight,
> it won't help them much.  But that's not the issue.
> If they *are* properly trained, are they then more
> effective than properly trained 1950's soldiers?
> If they are, and training itself hasn't greatly
> changed, then the ease-of-use or accuracy of the
> weapons themselves may have measurably improved.
>
> But even if we can think of some definite improvement
> over the last 50 years, consider how much things have
> slowed down:
>
> 1850-1900: smokeless powder, metallic cartridges, breech
>            loading, bolt action, autoloading action,
>            detatchable magazines, self-powered MG
>
> 1900-1950: SMG, assault rifle, quick-change barrels,
>            GPMG, IR sights
>
> 1950-2000: caseless ammo/rotary bolt?  bullpup config?
>            general-use optical sights?
>            receiver carrying handles? :)
>
> I think it's safe to say that what we have here is a
> mature technology.  I have to wonder, since almost
> every item in the 1850-1900 category was enabled by
> metallic cartridges & smokeless powder, it would seem
> that for weapon designs to change all that much a new
> form of propulsion is needed.  Putting the gauss weapons
> aside for a moment, caseless or liquid propellant would
> seem to be the most likely contenders for real changes
> anytime soon.
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