Grrl Power #111 – Truesight Shmuesight
Writing is an interesting process that I’m still pretty new to. (As evidenced by the fact that I just ended a sentence with a preposition. Which people think is bad, but in fact there is no rule against.) I always had a few notions of how Peggy would behave, and there’s a few critical scenes she’ll be in and I know how she’ll act in those, but there was still a lot of character that needed to be filled in. I have done enough writing to know that you generally don’t have to worry about that stuff though. As long as you keep to the spirit of the character and are mindful of those pivotal scenes, characters will write themselves. I like the direction Peggy has taken already. Despite getting along quite well with many of the supers, she is one of those obscenely skilled humans that is probably a little annoyed at the ones think they’re all that when they haven’t put in nearly the same effort into developing themselves as she has. Apparently she deals with it by calmly taking the wind out of their sails as we see here.
Arc-Aegis by the way, is in charge of security and defense. Once a super containment facility is in place, they’ll be in charge of that as well.
Speaking of Peggy, anyone have any recommendations for what pistols she might use? I’ve drawn her carrying two. I googled “accurate pistol” or something and it looks like semi-auto pistols are generally more accurate than revolvers. In fact I didn’t see any revolvers used for competition shooting, but I didn’t spend a ton of time on it. The one in her shoulder holster is a semi-auto, maybe a .45 ACP or something? The problem is if you google stuff like that and stumble blind into a forum, everyone has their opinions and it’s hard to get a feel for what an actual really good, accurate pistol is. I’m sure there are crazy accurate single shot pistols out there but Peggy would carry something that’s actually practical in a firefight. Her hip holster (which you can just barely see poking out from behind the word bubble in panel 5) I figure should have less emphasis on accuracy and more on stopping power. Nothing like Max’s T-Rex, but maybe a 3-5 round revolver loaded with something that would go through someone who’s face is as tough as an engine block.
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Hey whatever gun you do decided on I highly suggest that you have Peggy put her own spin on the guns cuz I get the feeling that after all that training, hardwork and all tnat time with the supers she would modify her guns to be on par with her coworkers.
…and wax the bullets to prevent ricochet, or somesuch.
It’s the debut of Sydney’s archnemesis, Newspaper Mask!
Most favor semi autos since they can spray lots of lead… and their magazines can hold 2-3 times the amount a revolver would. Still, the Olympic sharpshooter types use hyper custom 22s and some SWAT types have all the lasers and dot sights and such. But, I’ve enjoyed watching some History Channel shows (and Top Shot) and have seen some guys shoot amazing targets with ‘six shooters’… so….. sure, make her’s unique but they can be quirky too…. if she’s a ‘deadeye’ shootist.
Now me personally — I liked the idea from a movie based on Michael Moorcock’s character Jhery Cornelius. He had a neat little hand gun which was based on a magnetic linear accelerator. Magazine held a couple hundred ‘metal needles’ (or cut up paperclips in a pinch) — anyway, point at a tree and the ‘buzz’ of hyper accelerated metal needles tended to shear a trunk in half. Might be a bit messy for this comic though.
some use the six shooters like you say for olympic some for big game there are revolvers that take down elephants, rhino and cape buffalo. no one would really go after any of those with a semi-auto becase the restrictions on ammo. a revolver can hander alot bigger rounds than most semi-autos but that also translates in to a lot more recoil in to the shooter. so pros and cons…
in my personal opinion on wepons i have three recumondations the first is classic 1911 with a twist. i have a lazeraim mark III and it is compation grade acurite at 75 yards (love it) its light enought that i use its full frame (= 8 round mag 3 1/2″ barriel ) as my conceled carry.
the second is a revolver called the mateba 6 unica aka “the auto-revolver” this is an italian made wepon that come in 3 diffrent calibers, 357 magnum, 44 magnum and the 454 calsul.
the thing that make this unlike any before it or after (edit besides the rhino, sorry) is that if fires from the bottem of the cylinder insted of the top and the top porstion of the revolver slides automaticly turning the cylinder and cocking the hammer thus the nickname auto-revolver.
the third is another 1911 style called a coonan but insted of fireing the standered for the 1911 the 45 acp, the coonan fires a 357 magnum round.
the coolest thing in my opinion about this wepon is the big fire ring that is vizable for about a second after it is fired.
Steve Perry’s Matador series, and the Mass Effect video games used a similar concept — shaving slivers of metal and mass-accellerating them to very high velocities to cut down the target with thousands of micro-strikes. Very cool; very scary
In science fiction they are called “needlers.”
And rather common.
Battletech for example has them as well. Interestingly enough it’s also quite similar to one of the explanations I’ve read on how Warhammer40ks Eldar shuriken-weapons work… And that’s just what instantly popped up in my mind without any further thinking about it.
arnt deem more monofili edge cut weapons than tap fast repeatedly till it adds up wons
The problem with LinAc-based weapons is the energy requirement, and the ‘barrel’ length often required to achieve useful velocity. Maths from Atomic Rockets seems to imply that for anything less than field artillery, a LinAc (either a railgun or a coilgun) is probably more of a liability than an asset. (Scroll down about 80% to get to the relevant bit, which starts just above the pictures of a naval railgun test.)
or.. for reality’s sake… try the Belgian FN 57 with a 30 round extended clip.
And maybe she could also use the uber cool looking companion piece, the FN 90. Considered to be a compact assault rifle or submachine gun; it was designed as a compact but powerful firearm for vehicle crews, operators of crew-served weapons, support personnel, special forces and counter-terrorist groups.
Always liked this pistol – Steyr GB. 18 rounds, gas operated for low recoil, very accurate.
https://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg/at/steyr-gb-e.html
Chamber it to 10mm and load it hot – nice battle pistol.
“This” is the pistol you want to use to lay the smack down on(fictional) enemies that dont seem to notice they’ve been shot by a lesser weapon. Mateba Model 6 Unica auto-revolver – .454 Casull caliber, reduced recoil by lowered barrel position on frame. So Shiny…
https://world.guns.ru/handguns/double-action-revolvers/it/mateba-unica-6-e.html
Finger groves on custom grip to accommodate smaller hands perhaps. Close range load might consist of stacked conical tipped tungston carbide with driving bands of bronze – 6 per cartridge, very high velocity(when you care enough to send the very best..:)
Always liked the “Idea” of the Gyrojet but the tech just wasn’t up to the ideal accuracy. Perhaps a redo with modern tech would work better.
Heatseekers.
On the gun issue I’d personally go with any of the S&W .40 cals people have mentioned for most things. But it would be cool if she also had something really heavy like a Ruger Super Redhawk in .454 casull when she really needs stopping power. (she’s a comic character, she can handle it.)
Actually, for Sydney, given her (assumed small) hand size and inexperience with handguns, I might suggest a 9mm Beretta PX4 Storm, possibly the PX4 Compact.Tthat particular weapon has a rotating barrel as part of the firing mechanism, which reduces recoil rather significantly – one review I read said that the kick from the .40 version was less than a standard 9mm round. Plus, given that there are multiple versions – full-size, compact, and subcompact – with multiple calibers – 9mm, .40, and .45 ACP – you can find a PX4 for just about any eventuality. Both my dad and I have been muttering about buying pistols (slightly for home defense, mostly for just going out and putting holes in targets at a range, which we both find relaxing), and we’re both looking at the PX4.
Peg, on the other hand… I’m thinking either Beretta M9 (her being former USAF, that’d probably be the pistol she’s most familiar with or at least been working with the longest) or the Sig Sauer P226 (which is the issue weapon for pretty much any civilian federal agent). If you really want to get fancy with her, I might suggest the H&K HK45, which is the latest generation of the USP style pistol – the USP being favored, to my understanding, by a lot of special forces and tactical teams in the United States and abroad.
Sydney with an actual gun? No one will license someone like THAT with a gun!!
I have meet worse employed as army infantry in our reality and those people where the ones that got crew serve weapons, grenades, and the vic mounted cannons. so sid in that environ would have no prob getting issued some form of firepower.
My suggestions:
If you want something with a lot of power and a relatively compact frame, go with with an M1911 chambered in 10mm Auto. A lot of recoil, but you can have 14 or 15 rounds in the mag, and it has slightly more muzzle energy than the .357 Magnum, if you use the right loading.
If you want a large caliber but manageable recoil, use an M1911 or Glock in .50 GI.
If you want something flat shooting, use a CZ-52 chambered in .22 Reed Express (vastly superior to the poncy 5.7x28mm FN) or 7.62x25mm Tokarev, or an M1911 chambered in 9x25mm Dillon (the 9x25mm Dillon is bloody fast and was used for Matches).
If you want a lot of power, use something chambered in .500 S&W.
Quirky weapons filled with awesome? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrojet
The gyrojet, low impact at less than 30 feet but reaching 1,250 feet per second (380 m/s) past 30 feet. These are rare hard to find and ultra light weight weapons… the rounds are actually self propelled rocket bullets.
and may I request that she carry a reproduction modified Le Mat revolver? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeMat_Revolver its 9-shot cylinder revolves around a separate central smoothbore barrel that functions as a short-barrelled shotgun.
I’m no gun monkey, in fact I’ve never owned a gun in my life, but these two come to mind when people say awesome pistol.
Thought I should mention, though not sure if you like anime and manga, that you may wanna check out the Manga of Gunsmith Cats. The earlier books share a good bit of info about guns.
a really good accurate and strong pistol is the smith and wesen 460. it’s used for long range hunting and it’s a very big gun. the 460 bullet is bigger than the 454 casul, anime fans might recognize that as alucards gun from hellsing.
Morbo was wondering where she got that scar.
Then Morbo slapped himself for being silly. Clearly she got it during an Osprey crash.
How she survived the US Airforces ensuing assault on her character to the point where she could obtain work is more the mystery.
For a revolver with more punch, I’d go with a Raging Judge. It can take three different rounds: .410 (A shot gun shell) .45 and .454 casull. The .454 can one shot any wild life North America has to offer, brown bear, black bear, dear, moose. The .45 is good on the biped verity and the .410…well that works with smaller game and even bipeds. Plus she could load the .410 with flame thrower rounds or nails or bees…or…yeah you get the point. Also the gun is designed to absorb some of the recoil, from what I’ve read a .45 feels more like a 9mm. It’s a big handgun, but hey when you need to put a hole in something…
Okay, something I can chime in on.
First off, it’s all well and good that people want Peggy to carry something that is impractical, difficult to find loadings for, God awful over penetrating etc. etc. etc..
May I suggest a simple solution? She’s military, obviously SF typed (Sapper Tab maybe?) Stick with what works and what she would be used too. As a SF member she won’t be using the M-9 (Beretta) pistol, she would either have the Sig-Sauer or Heckler&Koch sidearms. Either are excellent choices, ammunition is readily available and in most arsenals that she would be drawing from. As a precision certified shooter she would NEVER rely on ‘spray and pray’ as some people seem to suggest, nor would she choose to use a round that would over endanger people. Therefore, a .45ACP is the choice. Single stack magazine (most likely) to allow the grip to fit her hand properly, and the stopping power she needs for any normal threat (Okay, against Super Battle Tank Guy – it may be wanting, but then so would any hand gun). Remember, she’s not a kid or a ‘banger’ type that knows not what they are doing, nor would she be one to buy into silly hype, she goes for reliable, accurate and proven.
As someone noted, a FN FiveSeven would be a good choice for a sidearm as well, especially if she used the P90 for CQB use. After all, the USSS uses the P90 and they don’t choose a firearm for it’s cool factor. So don’t listen to the detractors, I know a thing or five about the round and trust me, it’s up too the job.
Also, carrying two separate hand guns makes little sense, and confuses the issues of rapid, instinctive use, which once again would be a practical priority for her. So she’s carry a single type, probably a single handgun as well, since using two at once in a combat situation isn’t that practical and would add to her combat load making her have to give up something else in exchange for the weight.
Final suggestion, once again, one of the two most proven Spec Ops. pistols. Sig and H-K. In a Sig, P-220 ‘SAS’, Carry’ or ‘Carry Dark’. On the H-K side, HK-45 Compact Tactical or an USP-Compact Tactical. Yes, I know the MK23 got all the press, but it’s a huge gun and she’s not a huge lady.
If you have any additional firearm questions, please, don’t hesitate to ask.
good call on the SF gear, this is what i was about to suggest, myself. the HK USP compact tactical is a great option and one i use myself. and since this is science fiction, she could have some kind of compact, specially made micro-SABOT rounds or some other such, to deal with any excessively high penetration needs. it’s not like i’m seeing a huge lack of funding for Archon. ^_^
I like the idea of using a normal sidearm for someone with her history, then having special rounds against supers. When I hear special rounds I immediately think of this incident https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5335.htm. 1st half of the article is a claim that the blended metal rounds were super effective, 2nd half is heavy skepticism ( they don’t do anything special to ballistic gel ). While these bullets probably don’t live up to the claims of an armor piercing round that disintegrates flesh and is stopped by sheet rock, in fiction they could. At any rate Archon should have access to expensive nonstandard bullets that are more effective against super skin, and if your using them in a gun that allows you to practice with cheap rounds all the better.
The only thing I would rule out is any sort of EMP for fighting robots. An EMP would fry anything with an antenna remotely near it. Shoot that robot way over there and your still taking out all of your own comm gear. Robots really mess with things. I could see a robot forcing a sharpshooter to spray and pray, just spraying the chassis hoping to hit something vital inside that they can’t see.
P.S. I think it’s odd that for all the advances in the past century, we’re still using basically the same smokeless powder.
I always wondered why no one ever made (to my knowledge) rounds that were propelled by a tiny shaped charge of C4 or C8 or C12… assuming that sort of thing exists. Presumably since a pound of C4 is way more destructive than a pound of TNT, you could make much smaller rounds, or higher velocity rounds for the same size. The obvious drawback is that you’d need an electrical charge to set off the round, so you’d have to attach a battery to the gun, which immediately sounds stupid. But the advantage would be there wouldn’t need a hammer slamming into the bullet to fire it, just a button that you could depress as hard as the button on an Xbox controller or something. I imagine a lot of the inaccuracy of shooting comes from the trigger squeeze, this would alleviate that, so maybe it could be useful for extreme accuracy shooting. Competition sniping maybe, but probably not practical for field work.
“I always wondered why no one ever made (to my knowledge) rounds that were propelled by a tiny shaped charge of C4 or C8 or C12… assuming that sort of thing exists.” Newton’s law. For every reaction there is and equal and opposite reaction. Simply, put the force on the bullet is also exerted on the barrel, gun, and person holding it. Guns are limited not by explosive charge they can fit inside a round but by how much force the gun itself can handle. Adding a stronger explosive might make the round slightly lighter but that’s not a good tradeoff for the huge extra expense.
A gun is significantly more efficient than a shaped charge, and the reason you don’t use C4 as a gun propellant is because requirements for gunpowder are much different from requirements for high explosives. For a gun propellant, you want to produce the highest pressure that won’t damage your gun, for long enough for the bullet to get pushed down the barrel at least a ways. For a high explosive, you simply want the highest pressure possible, and you don’t care about the duration, so you’d get a shockwave that would probably damage or destroy your weapon.
Static discharge is why you don’t see em.
Hah, good point.
Thanks for the input. I kind of like the FN 57. I thought it was a peashooter, but as I read up on it, it seems like a nice balance of power/penetration and accuracy, but there are obviously a lot of choices that would work for her. Peggy is probably something of a firearm purist, so I think she needs two guns. Otherwise she’d be carrying around a gun that tries to fulfill too many roles, balancing between accuracy and power, and a second gun would allow her to switch ammo if she needed to quickly. Regular rounds in the Five seveN, and I’m sort of leaning towards .454 Caskull in the revolver. Sounds powerful and versatile, probably keeps it loaded with armor piercing so if the 5.7×28mm bounces off someone, she still has a reasonable chance of putting a .454 through their knee before they’re on her. And all this assumes she’s doesn’t have one of her rifles on her.
Plus the revolver would let her load crazy anti villain rounds like… whatever, silver, UV (how would that even work), kyrptonite, etc.
Going to double comment for this:
1: High explosive propulsion: Is…simply not feasible. It creates too much of a pressure spike to be contained within an easily portable barrel. And if you could harness the energy, the bullet itself is likely not going to survive the shockwave passing through it, and extremely violent acceleration loads placed upon it.
2: 5.7x28mm vs 454 Casull for armor piercing. Short answer: If 5.7 bounces off, so will 454.
Long Answer: The 5.7x28mm round is designed as an armor piercing round. That is what it does. Period. Even “non-AP” rounds will still go through pretty much all soft body armor. This is a function of energy vs area on point of contact. Because the 5.7 uses a very small, spire-pointed bullet, it has a lot of energy concentrated onto a very small area of the body armor, thus punching through it. The armor piercing versions of this round are capable of punching through NIJ Level IIIa (soft) body armor, and Level III (first level of hard plate protection) at close ranges, as in less than 20 feet.
454 Casull might….might get through Level IIIa with the right round/loading, but you are trying to shove a big thing, through a lot more material, without the aid of the spire point (Spire point is going to look really weird, and lose a lot of grain weight from the bullet if you try, due to maximum overall length for the cartridge to fit in any currently produced firearm. She could though of course, have one made with a longer cylinder.)
Just also be aware that there is Level IV armor as well, and nothing you can put into a hand gun is going to be getting through it. Not even from Max’s handcannon due to lack of velocity. To get through Level IV, which is designed to stop 7.62x51mm AP rounds, you need to start looking at .338 Lapua with AP rounds, .408 Chey-Tac, .50BMG,….
Good info. Maybe instead of a regular revolver I need to give her something custom, like something with a longer cylinder. So as long as it the cartridge is the right calibur, she can load it with ammo of varying length, in case she needs a pointy AP round? It doesn’t look like the inside of the cylinder pinches down to hold the bullet itself, I guess revolver ammo doesn’t have that pinch in the cartridge, so you could load it with ammo of varying length? Or is that a horrible idea?
Yeah, pretty much. Except…not always :D
A revolver chambered in .454 Casull can also accept .45 Long Colt. A revolver chambered in .460 S&W Magnum can also chamber .454 Casull, and .45 Long Colt. How this works, is that because the cartridge is rimmed, it is “headspaced” by the rim, or located by the rim. The cartridge is held into the cylinder by the frame of the revolver itself basically. Basically what I’d be suggesting if you want the big revolver to work as a “closer” range weapon than her rifles to penetrate basically anything, is to probably take a revolver chambered in .460 S&W Magnum with an 8-10″ barrel with minor compensator porting (holes in the barrel that direct excess gas up, and back slightly to try and control the muzzle rise, and recoil. Can’t have large, very effective porting because of the ammunition). Fire normal .460 S&W and also modified cartridges: Shortened to 40mm from 46 (Casull is 35.1mm for frame of reference), and fit in a Saboted Light Armor Penetrator (SLAP). Say a 7mm or .28 caliber hard tungsten penetrator with a light polymer sabot. Penetrator should weigh roughly 180 grains, and should hit in the neighborhood of 2300 fps. This should roughly approach the ability of a 7.62x51mm rifle with AP, but with less range. It is firing a heavier round, but firing it slower. It is going to kick like a mule with the reduced compensator porting, but Compensators and Muzzle brakes don’t play very well with Sabots.
Again, it will punch through everything up the Level IV armor, give her more standoff range against people in Level IIIa and III, and will definitely punch through anything short of a very well armored car. Should punch through about 3/4inch of unhardened steel (I’ve witnessed WWII 8mm mauser AP rounds punch through sections of rail from a railroad.), and in general, wreck people’s days. But also remember, that Level III and IV protection comes from hard plates. These hard plates are ONLY on the torso. All leg, arm, and heavy protection is level IIIa maximum. There has been IIIa face protection, but you are still mangled if you get hit in the face…just not dead.
And, it would still be able to fire regular .460 S&W, .454 Casull, and .45 Long Colt at any given time. Giving her flexibility, and tactical usefulness.
Also, just making a note, as I am not sure how much you’ve researched: But if Peggy ever refers to a magazine as a “clip”? I will be disappointed…Verily.
This is the sort of detail that Peggy might go into if she ever goes on a tear about her weapon selection. Given the limited amount of space on each page though, she’ll only be able to deliver a highly truncated version. (Really, just boiled down to “I also carry a _____ which can chamber X Y and Z.”) But it’s good to know all the behind the scenes stuff. Is there a page somewhere that breaks down the levels of body armor you mentioned?
This is probably the best post I’ve read in this discussion so far.
Heh, thanks DavB and L_86, I do try to put this massive amount of semi-pointless knowledge to good use.
Just one other thing, if you do go with a revolver for her “secondary” hand gun, I would suggest she load it via speed-loader ( https://richsgunshop.com/catalog/zencart/images/large/hks-revolver-speed-loader-10037024.jpg ). To use: Simply open the cylinder, eject spent cartridges, line up, drop speed-loaded cartridges in, twist the knob, close cylinder, stash speedloader, and go. Much faster than loading by hand, but not quite as fast as magazine changes in a semi-auto pistol. She could probably carry 2 or 3 stacked in a 40mm grenade, or hand grenade pouch.
Without being nasty or sarcastic or anything, it is very interesting how the discussion(s) about guns have already blown out the Comments section so much more than usual.
I mean, four pages already, and it isn’t even halfway through the week.
Well, usualy we are making comments on what others have wrote before us, so there aren’t as many pages. On this one most people are just wrighting about what their favorate choice in handguns are, so it’s usualy a stand alone post.
I liked it better the other way. there is more of a sense of community when we actualy talk, or wright to each other.
Well, next Monday it will hopefully be back to normal.
Undoubtedly. Not complaining. Just making an observation.
judging from the caliber of threats the team goes up again I could see her going with the FN five-seven. it would have penetration/stopping power I would go for.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_Five-seven
the five-seven IS good for penetration, and it is great for accuracy, but stopping power? no way. each round masses HALF what a nine mil does. I am not saying it wouldn’t be a good gun for her – great accuracy, lots of rounds, great penetration (for its size), but if they go up against big non-human critters that you need to put on their butts, well…
five-seven – 2 grams
nine mil – 5 grams
.45 – 13 grams
But big things you want to knock down may call for a rifle anyway. This thing is exactly what it was designed to be – a high-powered hole-puncher.
Actually, the 5.7 round does a very good job with regard to ‘stopping power’. Yes, it’s smaller and lighter then a lot of rounds, however it’s also moving at obscene (for a pistol) speeds and the round was designed with certain… Characteristics, shall we say for use against medium sized targets. So when you look at the kinetic energy transfer and both the primary and secondary wound cavity, you’ll see these round are extremely capable. Also very controllable for rapid second shots. However based on other logistical items, it’s not a good choice for Peggy who could end up anywhere in the world on short notice and need to dip into local stores for supplies which could be wanting for everything except the most common military loads.
Then Again…
My suggestions were based solely on what I know of her and her background. Those pistol types are both primary choices for a lot of quasi-special teams as well as some of the more elite units and both have ready availability of parts, ammo and a very wide range of add-on bits for various mission specific tasking.
IMHO some of the suggestions really don’t take into account what happens AFTER you drop the hammer either. And it’s kind of scary if people think they need that kind of power for the intended use.
I think a lot of people forget the 5.7 round has a tendency to “tumble” on penetration, it may be smaller that a 9mm but the way it stops transfers its energy to the target far more efficiently.
The idea behind the more monsterous calibre weapons in these suggestions is to provide Peggy with an option for dealing with a target who’s “face is a tough as an engine block”. Something that might actually have a chance of briefly disorienting Maxima if she’s distracted.
Actually, there’s a couple of effects at work with the round… Didn’t want to go into too much detail, but here’s the basics; Imparted on the round at the barrel, you have an eccentric spin which yes, reduces the effective range a bit (Like the original AR-15 design before the Army messed it up) this allows the round to actually rotate on impact, thus what is striking a target (medium density, this won’t happen on paper) actually is much larger then 9mm as the round rolls sideways and creates a temporary wound cavitation and accompanying shock wave similar to a larger round, then by design, the round tends to spall as a tertiary attribute. Thus both the primary and secondary wound cavities are much more massive then one would expect of such a small round (remember, the tip is just for initial penetration before the round begins it’s roll) the transfer of kinetic energy is now added to the effect, creating a shock wave effect that passes through soft tissue items causing the kinds of trauma usually seen in a controlled expansion hollow point of greater caliber. Lastly, because of the energy transfer caused by the spalling, the round tends to not over penetrate and should not pass through a medium density target, thereby endangering possible innocents behind that target.
From FN, there are several variations available. The supposed (BATFE Designated) AP round is not sold to civilians in the US and I’m sure other countries. But is the standard LE/CT round in use. There are also, FMJ, JHP, BtHP, Tracer, True AP as well as API and of course practice variants available.
– Dang.. Sorry, the teacher in me came out… I suppose I’ll have to set up a wound ballistics class online at some point now huh? Oh well… Hope this clarifies the 5.7x28mm FN round some. And no, I don’t work for FN, nor do I play an employee of theirs on TV.
If you are trying to maximize accuracy and range, a long barreled revolver is the way to go. That being said, they reload more slowly, only carry 5 to 6 rounds each, and are impractical to one-hand. The eternal question, matching set or a gun for each job? Anyone who’s had to carry ammo will tell you that only having to lug around one size/style of round is the way to go. There are very high end pistols with good accuracy of every size and style. If you’re going for super-high accuracy and range, you’re going to use a rifle. The size of the round, especially for pistols, is a matter of personality. If peggy is comic-book accurate, as in she shoots guns out of hands with a pistol at 50 paces, low caliber .22s will literally let you core out a dime. If, as a sniper, pistols are plan B, she may want a pistol that garauntees an expert like her gets one shot kills, which means something between 9 mil and .45. You can still have her shoot a gun out of a hand, but there will be progressively less intact hand remaining at higher calibers.
Ohh, wait…
I thought her illusion-defeating orb was one of the two she couldn’t figure out how to use, and I thought you were making a mistake about what orb she was holding.
How does telepresence undo magical illusions? That doesn’t make sense. And now I’m really confused because she activated that power and destroyed Dabbler’s illusion without creating the clone, and then later created a clone without destroying it.
I would suppose that she was just “seeing through it” if not that everyone’s reaction in the room, and her letting go of the orb, coincided with the idea that it was dispelled.
She didn’t destroy the illusion. And she wasn’t “using” the orb. She was just holding it.
When she grabbed the orb, it allowed her to see through Dabbler’s illusion, as well as through X’s invisibility, without activating it.
Then why does dabblers illusion spell seem to disappear when she uses it?
And, okay, I re-read those pages and I see now that she was seeing him when others did not.
Strip #105, Panel 3
Okay, I follow now. When I first read that I interpreted it as he thought Dabbler dropped the illusion when in truth Sydney dispelled it.
I’m on track now.
The Comm orb is unusual amongst the orbs in that it’s kind of a twofer. The base orb has set of functions separate from the remote orb.
Also, about what guns she should use, I would give her a SOCOM. Not out of any performance issues, but as a nod toward MGS. Given the nature of your comic, I don’t think you need to use some super-accurate representation of real life, so just go with what is fun.
I’ve never replied here before, but I do love your comic a lot, and it’s all been very well done.
As per your question, I’d definitely say that an accurate pistol used for competition would be the S&W Model 39 (9mm Luger) or even the Model 52 (.38 Special). The M1911 is still a good choice after all these years, firing .45 ACP. A bit more kick than most competition handguns, but some still use them for their reliability. A good revolver with stopping power would be the Taurus Judge, mostly for it’s versatility in available ammo and ability to chamber shotgun shells. The Taurus Raging Judge Magnum is chambered for .454 Casull, .45 Colt, and (this is the good one) 410 shotgun shells. There’s a few length availabilities, but I figured for a bit more accuracy you could choose the longer barrel.
I hope I’ve been of some help, and I’d like to say again how much I love this comic. I look forward to many more updates the same way I’ve looked forward to all the rest in the past. Thanks.
Sorry, that should be Taurus Judge. Also, I’d recommend the .410 rifled hollow point slug to knock someone down a notch.
Did you read the comments on the .410 page? From what I read it jams a revolver and is only good for dog sized animals, so not so great for stopping supers.
Thanks, glad you like it, and thanks for the suggestions.
So, how long until Arc-Aegis attempts to Sidney proof the building. I imagine that would be a hilarious but futile endeavor.
The most common handgun of late in use by govermental agencies is the sig sauer p226…it is availiable in 9mm, .357 sig, or .40 Smith and Wesson.
It is used by everyone from US Customs to the Navy Seals.
My buddy suggests either the CZ-52 which his family agrees has great accuracy but kicks like a mule. Or something in a .40 cal., a lighter round allowing for typically faster, more accurate results for the skilled aficionado.
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ai vin wrote (October 8, 2012 at 12:06 pm)
” Remember when we were trying to come up with a codename for Peggy? – I vote for “Killjoy” ”
That’s a fine nickname for Peggy – very fitting. ^_^ I hope David reads about that.
I know I’m coming late to the party… but I have a suggestion:
I would think she would have custom firearms from something like Infinity Firearms. Photo 173-176 in particulars gives me the warm and fuzzies.
And I would expect her to use .45 ACP rounds for a pistol. It’s very accurate, lower recoil than .357, and extremely reliable. Most semi-auto pistols chambered in .45 hold fewer rounds per clip compared to a 9mm but she is likely a dead-eye shot. And with .45 cal rounds and even marginal accuracy you only need one shot to put a human opponent down. Dead, dying, or alive depends on where you aim. They also use less propellant than .357 which typically means lower recoil, less muzzle flash, produces less noise (though a .45 round is far from quiet), and causes less wear and tear on the weapon it’s fired from.
She also likely uses full metal jacketed rounds which have better effectiveness against armor and do less over all damage to a target (incresing the likelyhood of taking an enemy alive) but, in a .45 caliber rounds, are still effective at taking the fight out of a fully grown man right quick and in a hurry.
Since she is often dealing with supers she wouldn’t use something like 9mm as that lacks the stopping power she would need in many cases. And she wouldn’t use .50 caliber because that’s just silly for a pistol. (Though having one fired at you is likely to make your heart stop even if they miss. And for the record… both of those guys in that video are idiots.)
However, honestly, while a pistol is definitely cooler looking… she likely needs armor penetration and range more than anything else (how many supers are out there with armored suits or shield generators or scaly hides, etc). And for that she needs an assault rifle in bullpup configuration. Perhaps a modified FN F2000. It’s a pretty high-tech rifle that’s just now gaining traction with major militaries due to its high price. It’s made from composite materials to keep it light and can be easily used left or right handed unlike most bullpup ARs… features a tip top best-of-the-best marksman would appreciate. It uses 5.56×45mm NATO rounds… the same ones fired by the M16.
And there is a special grenade launcher for it that can also be used with a fire control system to aid in range finding, windage adjustment, etc. I doubt she needs the FCS but anything that makes life easier is generally worth while. And I imagine she would have modified it to work with “smart grenades” for airburst capability. Image that with UV grenades for vampires or some sort of super adhesive foam grenades for capturing supers.
Oh… sorry for the double post but for the record… there is no pistol on earth that can shoot into an engine block. There aren’t many rifles that can manage that feat. For that you need anti materiel rifles.
She would probably use something like the Barrett XM500 firing .50 Caliber BMG (the real big one on the left) rounds. That’s what you want to use against a super with a face as hard as an engine block. Alternately she might use the Barrett M107A1 instead. It’s considerably larger and heavier though.
and one more thing… she might have a heavily modified/custom rifle similar to (but much larger than) the Barrett XM500 firing Depleted Uranium rounds.
Anything hit with such a round is dead. No ifs ands or buts. Fired at a tank it will penetrate the tank armor then explode inside it and kill the tank crew. Fired at the face of the hypothetical “super with a face like a engine block” it could potentially disintegrate him from the waist up.
Hey JD,
DepU rounds are not explosive, they are just incredibly dense. I think you’re thinking of some of the modern rocket type rounds for anti-tank use. As for the DepU rounds, well… Yeah, they’re really hard and will penetrate just about anything, but modern reactive armor can defeat them. The secret to their truly scary effects on delivery, come from something a bit more intense then a shoulder fired weapon, if Think Spectre or Spooky at 1000 Ft. Combined with the other ordnance they deliver on target all at once… Now, you’re looking at a crater where a building once was.. But as a single shot, it’s a barrier defeat round (like a re-enforced wall acting like paper) and is very effective at that, also the pushing mass allows for great accuracy over longer ranges as you only need worry about coriolis and not so much initial wind effects.
Okay, I’m taking off my instructors hat again and moving on… Sorry…
My understanding was that DU rounds are “pyrophoric” meaning that when they contact enough moisture combined with enough heat (to activate the reaction) they self-immolate. This combined with their tendency to shatter into shards after they strike a solid object (thus increasing the surface area exposed to ambient moisture in the air and letting a single round fill a larger volume) means that after passing through say… tank armor… they *would* explode in the sense that sodium explodes when it comes in contact with water.
This is reputed to turn the inside of tanks into death traps for those targeted with DU rounds while doing relatively minor damage to the tank itself. Granted this is when fired from rotary cannon type weapons (such as the GAU-8 Avenger mounted on a Warthog)… so as a single shot you very well may be right about it not having the same effect.
Did not know active armor was that effective at stopping DU rounds. I suppose that’s because it’s never really seen major use against a military that has access to active armor… so it doesn’t get mentioned much… so I haven’t read about it.
As for disintegrating the aforementioned hypothetical super from the waist up… I was assuming his insides aren’t as hard as his outsides. Which means that when the DU round enters his body it would contact the moisture inside… immolate itself and the surrounding tissue very rapidly causing his insides to expand and burst his skin like an over pressurized diving tank.
All that said I could be misinformed as to the significance of DU rounds’ pyrophoric properties.
Some stuff is pyrophoric AND burns with moisture (like some finely ground reactive metals), some DOESN’T burn with moisture (Like white phosphorus, coal powder). Wikipedia’s article is imprecise here. Note also that “burning” (Combustion) and “Explosion” (Detonation) are not the same.
The fact that DU can be pulverized/shed flakes and burn has more to do with going through armor at supersonic speeds that whether the gun spins or not (It’s also used in APFSDSDU shot for the L-44 and M-242). I doubt you’d get that effect from hitting flesh or bone, mostly likely I’d just create a big hole and go right through. In fact, DU might even have less effect than mild steel or lead in soft targets.
I don’t think archon would use DU rounds or explosive rounds in any case. Use of any small arms round that does anything “exotic” (Fragment, mushroom, explode, set fire, poison, etc. etc.) and is intended for use against people is a war crime under the Hague convention (I’m unclear as if to this extends to non-state parties at war, and apparently so is the U.S.). That’s why most militaries use full metal jacket rounds.
Just looking to clear up some things:
If you put a bullet made of depleted uranium in a .50 BMG weapon….you are not going to be shooting through a tank. The 12.7x99mm round just doesn’t have the power to push any round fast enough to get through a modern tank’s armor, and throwing a heavier DU slug is going to lessen your ability to penetrate. DU is not some magical material that turns turns every gun into a tank killer.
The 30x173mm cartridge used in the GAU-8, Bushmaster II, Rheinmetall Mk30-2 and a few others is able to kill tanks with it’s DU rounds by 2 means: Enormous energy, and hitting the second weakest point on a tank. If you fired one of these guns at the front armor of the tank? The round would bounce off, sparkling into the twilight. Every. Single. Shot. They penetrated because the armor on the top of the tank is insanely thin compared to the armor on the sides, front, or rear of the tank. And no, no even shooting at the roof of the tank will 12.7x99mm penetrate.
To give scale to the size of the round: https://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9428/modernactf0.jpg
Hell, 12.7x99mm isn’t likely to even pen any APC made right now, without using “SLAP”, which only penetrates 34mm of armor at 500meters, and 23mm at 1200meters.
AFAIK, they don’t make DU bullets in small arms calibers. They use tungsten alloy penetrators instead. DU seems effective but way overhyped, and quite frankly it’s still low level radioactive waste. Shaped charges can have more armor penetration and HESH is better for multipurpose munitions.
What kills the crew in a tank that gets penetrated by a solid penetrator is usually shrapnel from the inside of the armour. In some cases the impact can also contain enough energy to turn the penetrator itself into white-hot shrapnel ass it passes true the armour. This, in no ways means that DU goes ‘FOF!’ if wet. But if fired, with enough energy against a heavily armoured target, it will do bad things inside it.
Fired at an ordinary human being, it will at most make only as much mess as a comparatively sized bullet would do, given that against unarmoured targets, a DU round will not in any way fragment, deform or even wobble, causing a bit less tissue damage.
how about a modified Pfeifer Zeliska .600 Nitro Express revolver?
If you’re intending to take out an engine block, you probably want to try some sort of handgun re-chambered to take Frag-12 rounds. They’re the mini-grenades they developed for the aa-12. Those come in fragmentation, high explosive, and HEAP versions. You could always take some artistic liberty and make the .410 firing pistols use of .410 version of this round. After all, a funneled cone of molten copper is going to hurt regardless of how big it is. The Taurus Raging Judge is the most popular one I’ve seen in your comments so far. That pistol was produced with the option to run 28 gauge for a bit, which is just a bit smaller that 20 gauge. https://cheaperthandirt.com/blog/?p=5980 Also fires those big .454 Casull cartridges, which I suppose is a plus if grenades just dont’ feel right. You’re not really going to find a practical pistol that fires an enormous cartridge. Completely enveloping someone’s head in a fireball, however, may be a good substitute :)
My mistake. The 28 gauge version only fires 28 gauge. If you decided to add a custom cartridge for it, the cartridge would be 55 caliber. A .550 would be…quite a beastly round to fire. The .500 Smith and Wesson is already pretty famous for the knockdown power it imparts on the shooter himself XD
if your looking for an accurate pistol i would suggest a 9mm sig sauer if you want a powerful heart stopping semi auto go for a 44. caliber it is one of the most popular large bore calibers. if your looking for an iconic revolver go for a 357. colt python
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/55L.jpg
.454 Casull, 5 shots. If it worked for James Caan in Alien Nation, you’re good.
I also feel in a supervillain fighting business, she’d have silver bullets with a bit of garlic inside (for werewolves & vampires) as well as a few more options in her locker at work.
You know — just in case. Possibly not even Peggy’s idea, since there is Maxima and others at hand usually and she can probably send any sufficiently invulnerable bad guys in orbit real fast if nothing else will do…
Both the split infinitive and closing preposition allow special shades of emphasis unique to English. The “rules” against them reflect the opinions of classically educated English gentlemen of the nineteenth century, who felt that any grammar differing from Ciceronean Latin was “degenerate”, as if Republican Rome held the patent on grammar! I stand with Winston Churchill on this point; “This is the sort of arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put!”
On a different note:
Panels 8-thru-10 are wonderful – a perfect example of someone BESIDES Sydney who can administer a proper “Lawyer”-ing, when someone is inaccurate with their English. I’m guessing that poor Syd doesn’t get to be on the receiving end of this very often. I’d also guess that in a more military environment she’ll meet a *LOT* of folk who might just be better at it than she has been so far.
Ive always favored Revolvers, mostly because they put off a certain style that pistols dont. My favorite just due to the sheer grunt of it is the smith and wesson model 500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Wesson_Model_500 or the nitro express which isnt a production gun but thats like 13 pounds
Just my 2 cents. .45s are large guns with large grips. (Yeah, there are some compact ones, but then you run into lower ammo count. The Berreta 92 (probably misspelled) is also a large framed gun. She doesn’t look all that big. Glocks are available in 9mm and .40 caliber and are supposed to be quite reliable (very important to someone whose life may depend on it.) Also several versions from compact to long barrel extended magazine.
In the immortal laws of gunfighting: “Nothing handheld is a reliable man stopper.”
This isn’t to say handguns won’t kill a person, because they often do. But training involves using more than one round on a target to improve the chances of quick incapacitation.
There are, of course, larger magnums such as the .454 Cassul, .500 Linebaugh, .500 Smith & Wesson, etc. But most of those firearms have tremendous blast and recoil that make it either uncomfortable or painful for the average shooter to use more than a few rounds. Many of those weapons amplify blast through compensators to reduce recoil. Firing any of those weapons inside, without hearing protection, would probably be the equvalant of having your ears boxed; punctured eardrums, disorientation, and the like.
As for rechambering semi-automatic pistols in larger calibers: It’s not a good idea from a reliablility or safety standpoint. Most firearms are designed for one specific caliber such that boring them out for larger calibers would require sacrifices in safety or reliability due to changes in feed angles, chamber support, and imbalances in springs and weight unless the entire handgun was redesigned from the ground up.
I love Peggy right now.
I’d like to put the idea to you of using the Metal Storm system for Peggy’s pistols and maybe even a rifle :)
Here’s a link to a youtube video that demonstrates the system, it’s even used in pistols:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXECU3YKMfI
I hope this helps you with your comic :) you can look up on google images for what some metal storm pistols look like.
I believe this would really help her stand out from other gun toting characters :)
Kriss Vector. Automatic .45 caliber goodness without recoil. Can be tailored into pistol, submachine gun, carbine and rifle configurations.
They should have those in the armory.
*Skims through the comments*
…I bet you regret asking the internet for “best pistol” right about now huh David?
Not at all. I didn’t think I’d get a definitive answer, I was mostly looking for a trend in the suggestions.
Hey, as long as it isn’t a .22 varminter, .38 peashooter and doesn’t break the laws of physics (without a suitable dose of Handwavium), we’re all good :P