Weapon tech is progressing very quickly. Depending on the time period of your WIP (And since humans seem to inhabit Mars i would imagine its in the future a ways) I would think that your weapon would be long since made obsolete by this little guy they currently have in production. http://www.gizmag.com/darpa-sniper-bullet-change-path/32952/ In the future, and by that i mean in the next 10-20 real world years, the only concern of the gun will be its ability to propel the bullet. Precise aiming will be handled by guidance systems. So if the gun can shoot the bullet 4km, it can hit the target 100% of the time with that DARPA munition.
Well it wouldn't be since it was made by a civilian with the skills (built back in 2300's). I have shortened the range a bit as well. It would be pretty hard to make a solid tungsten bullet track a target anyway. That and it is 7mm to cut the munitions weight. But hey in the 2700's it don't matter. Have walking war frames too. Guess I want to make things a challenge that is based on skill rather than making it too easy on my characters. I just don't think people much care for my old school approach to gas powered guns for the humans. Of course I have a race that still uses swords. Also one of my MCs uses a Desert Eagle, so I suppose it will disappoint some. Plenty of blood and guts to go around though (some brutal up close and personal hand-to-hand combat also).
Hello, pardon the newbie status but here are my two cent. I love the fact that you are using balistic weaponry. I wont go into my whole "genesis" and turning into a writer (at what point do I call myself that?) but my starships use many simple Newtonian weapons and explosives. I do tend to focus on starships a lot so I have designed systems (as in 3D CAD work) from torpedoes of varying guidance propulsion and warhead depending on the mission to the stereotypical particle beam (but them again I did see a drone shot down by a laser test bed on youtube) and turrets. Tech is good but put a man (or woman or alien sentient cucumber thingy) behind the controls of a mechanically controlled turret eliminates the devastation of an EMP. With that in mind the crews aboard my ships are proficient in hand held phasers (generic term I'll use here, in my novel I call them something else but that may change) and also chemically propelled projectiles. I have experience first hand with this so if you want a simple weapon that can be fabricated that showcases skill more, I'd go with a traditional rifle, as in long barrel, pistol grip etc (think M-16, M-4, AR-15 or even a .50 cal sniper rifle) You can even avoid recoil through any number of ingenious inertial dampers (not the sci-fi kind) mechanical, gaseous. It may not be nice and pretty and could be bulky with the air of home made. I would recommend increasing the round's weight. Heavier round the greater the distance. Yes, there will be a bigger casing with more propellant but with recoil-less (a term that just means less recoil) it wont blow the shooter's arm out of it's socket. The trigger should be closer to the body, and the other hand further up the barrel to steady movement. A silencer can function both as sound suppression as well as steading the barrel while the round makes it way out the muzzle. I dont know how others might see firing iron sites as opposed to scopes or acogs, but I and a few others I knew did better without the fancy hardware. (I did shoot marksman with the iron, and just ok with an M68) Hopefully that was helpful and the rambling of an old man AB
From what I understand about suppressors, is that they cut the velocity down on the bullet to a small degree. At least that is what I have heard and read. Pretty sure tungsten is heavy enough a material though. Figured on cutting the barrel length down by making it a bull pup (of course it will not cut the length by much). Also use other means of munitions delivery, such as rails, coils, and a form of fusion (don't ask how it works, cause I am no physicist). As well as less high tech methods using mortars, and missiles.
Ultimately anything can work, but for accuracy at distance a traditional rifle layout is best. Yes a 50 cal is one large weapon. I'm tall and I look like a kid holding it. If carrying it around is an issue, then the barrel can be detachable (like a 240bravo) Another issue that just came to me now is the alloy itself. Tungsten like Wolfram (I remember from highschool chem) are strong metals but very brittle. Lead then steel allows are used because they need to be flexible enough to withstand the shock of the powder going off. (or whatever the means may be, inertia is going to want to keep that bullet still). You can have the MC have a grenade launcher attached to it (like an M203) those are ridiculously simple to build, and can have decent range (depending on the round, which can be rocket propelled) What about thinking about what a marine in that time frame would use? Then see what kind of ammo would be required and then with available tech engineer something the MC can build. (if of course ammo is readily available)
