Paladin's Hi-Standard topic about "space guns" got me to thinking about those in movie and TV productions over the years...Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.

Which were your favorites? I think Han Solo's modified Mauser C-96 deserves honorable mention.

I feel that the Star Trek phasers were designed by techies or electronic people, not by gun designers. The lack of a trigger guard and the proximity of the muzzle to the firer's hand on the original model worry me. And the magazine/power pack doubling as the handle bothers me. Seems as if it would wiggle a bit.

What do you think guns of the future will resemble?

And have you got any pics of sexy space chicks with their weapons? (Keep 'em within board standards of course. And, to avoid copyright issues, better just post links.)

T-Star

I agree on the Star Trek (original series) phasers: They looked good, but their lack of even a "Fitz Special" cut-away trigger guard was likely to prematurely end your Star Fleet career - or somebody elses.

Han Solo's modified Broomhandle was a decent design. Many of the Imperial stormtroopers' blasters appeared to be Sterling SMGs. Still, not bad looking. Star Wars armorers seemed to like slightly modifying existing guns in the studio collection like the Lewis Machine Gun, MG34 & MG42 (a budget thing I'm sure). Sci-fi shows rarely give emphasis to what guns look like. I know it's a money issue again, since those who'd take a real interest are in the minority.

BSG blasters (original series; haven't seen the new series) seemed too large. The Lost in Space (series) laser rifle was a little too retro (Buck Rogers movie era). Space 1999's "staple gun" pistols... well, my description says enough.

Stargate SG1's FN P90s were okay, but even the Secret Service has those, so the "wow"-factor is gone - if it was ever there with that design (different, but not attractive). I didn't care for the alien pistols that resembled ready-to-strike cobras.

Some real pistols that to me look largely ready for sci-fi work include some never-made-it-to-production or out-of-production pieces:
1) H&K VP-70
2) Vektor CP-1 (featured in 1 futuristic flick before taken off the market)
3) .22 Wolverine (that one needs to be resurrected and made to work)
4) Walther P-38/P-1
5) Of course, the Hi-Standard "space guns."

I wish future guns would take on a sleeker look (I'm thinking Luger-laser). A blaster with walnut grips could be classy. Instead we are looking at Glocks and Kriss Super-Vs.

If anyone knows of any other "space pistol" candidates that have that futuristic look, I'd like to hear about them.

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Chiappa Rhino Revolver is a pretty spaced out design that is currently being produced. I would love to shoot one.



For some interesting steam punk styled fantasy guns check out Dr. Grordborts Infallible Aether Oscillators. These things are highly detailed props made buy the same shop that made the weapons and armor for the Lord of the Rings movies.

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IMHO, the authors of science fiction have largely missed the imaginable mark with their "Phasors" and "Light Sabers". I can not believe for a second that in the 25th Century any weapon would be capable of missing its target once activated. And the up close and person physical feature of the Light Sable is just not a happening idea. With that said my imagination came up with; The Personal Particle Beam Ball; a baseball sized particle beam projector that is directed by the owner's brain waves. When put into use the owner pulls the PPBB from its handy pouch and give a small toss into the air. From that initiation the PPBB hovers, rotates and travels to points advantageous to the owner. When given the owner's brain wave command the PPBB shoots a particle beam traveling at the speed of light out to connect with a target selected by the owner. When the owner's brain waves command the PPBB to return it does so and comes to a hover within hand reach for return to its handy carry pouch. A PPBB having been programed by the owner cannot be used by any other being. I am applying for a patent tomorrow. My 25th Century relatives are going to be rich! :-) ............. Big Cholla

Sir, at least one H&K VP-70 appeared in the second "Aliens" movie with Sigourney Weaver and the space Marines. There's a clear shot of it in a black Marine's hand just before all heck breaks loose in the reactor room.

The Marines' rifles were actually Thompson SMGs with a prop shell covering most of the outside. The machine guns were modified M60s. The female machine gunner's pistol was either a Beretta or Taurus 92 type, and I think were were a couple other types of pistols as well. It's been awhile since I last saw the movie.

Oh, and if you want to see some "space guns," go to a high power match some time. A lot of the match rifles built on the Tubb T2K and AR platforms look like they're straight out of Han Solo's gun safe.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

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This isn't too far from the, Lost World episode where Prof. Challeger was rescuing Veronica from some barbarian slavers. He had been exposed to some ancient technology that had imparted special powers to him. He threw a ball of lightning from his hand (mind-directed) to demolish the head of a slaver with his knife at Veronica's throat. He then used his ability to transmit a heat or lightning beam to melt their heathen god, which was a metal idol. If you have the series DVD's, the episode was, Absolute Power. First Season.

For some months, you could watch all episodes on YouTube, but that was recently disabled, probably due to copyright issues. One fan site has excellent screencaps of him, one showing the ball of lightning in his hand, but we can't post pics here, anymore.

There are still many fan videos, but I don't know of any with that particular scene in them. You can Search the episode title on YouTube and see what happens. Or, Search for it on Google, etc. as Images.

Ever read, Friday, by Robert A. Heinlein? That hovering camera "eye" thing is probably not far in the future. Ditto the cloning that created that girl Friday, the heroine. Creche baby, she was jeered as. It was one of Heinlein's best novels.
And he wrote it long before the first clone was made. Actually, I think he was dead by the time that that first sheep was successfully cloned.

My son is a big fan of the new version of, Battlestar Gallactica. He saw some pics of the guns, and they were just overlays over current revolvers for one model. As I recall, the original series had pretty good blasters, made of ceramic material.

I didn't think much of the sidearms on, Star Trek Enterprise,
but liked T'Pol very much, at least, visually. She could make even a boxy pistol look good, if she was wearing it. The actress was Jolene Blalock, if I spelled that right. You can definitely find Images of her on the Net, if you're single or if your wife isn't home.

The use of energy weapons isn't actually necessary. Cartridge firing weapons will work, but there's a couple caveats. The first is that the ammunition has to be loaded in a vaccuum. Otherwise residual air that gets trapped can pop the bullets from the casings. A guy who ejected at 40k+ feet in an F105 mentioned this happening with the .38 he had on him. Other not so well known experiments showed the same.

Temperature changes are a problem too. On the moon for example, it's 200F one minunte and -100F the next. That's if one actually wants to use their gun in exo-atmospheric conditions.

Gravity, or the lack there of, isn't as much of a problem.

Moving to a rail gun system saves some of the ammo problems, but there's still issues with power, what you make it out of, etc.

The old failed Gyrojet was a solid idea and would have worked as a true space gun.

Reality has already exceeded most of the old science fiction, but that advances came with targeting systems and optics, and to a lesser extent with implementing precision guided munitions in a shoulder fired weapon ala the new grenade launchers.

Here's a couple of my favorite. I've lost the 1930s version I really liked:







another favorite:

here's my avatar

my absolute favorite:

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