Yeah, I was thinking you can fit it to only one side as it could be operated by only the thumb of the supporting hand (or the fingers if it's on the 'wrong' side for the thumb), it's something you don't have to duplicate for it to be ambidextrous.Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:Easy kids, there's room in the world for more than one firing system, indeed I've invented my own here based on the metalstorm nonsense. This is supposed to be a near future weapon, more advanced in materials and electronics than todays combat weapons, so I've assumed the problems surrounding electronically fired and controlled caseless ammo have been pretty much ironed out and the extra complexities are nothing to late 21st century techs. Our current weapons are far more complex in design than those used centuries past, but we put up with them ok. This also lets me have a compact design with few moving parts and fancy stuff like round counters and selectable rapid burst firing.
As mentioned previously I made space above the breech for any fancy workings that might be need for such a system, although I have little idea what they might actually be. You'll notice it's twice the depth of the rest of the weapon, and there should be plenty of space to play with. As for the space issue at the back, I could shorten the uncommonly wide mag and that would give 2 or 3 inches at the rear, but as I keep saying there's no need as the mag is way longer than the rounds it holds anyway. I assumed the mag did more than simply hold the rounds, it might also power the weapons or the mag feed system.
The stock itself is basically just an MP5 unit slightly reshaped, the 2 arms having a groove down the middle to guide them as they run between the main weapon body and the upper cowling itself. It doesn't foul anywhere, it's made to fit neatly into the bulge running along the side of the upper cowling and doesn't in any way impede on the main weapons structure. Having some little experience with these things, I have already added a notch where the release switch engages, if you look closely at the workshop scene picture you'll notice it on the right hand rail underside.
Rob, are you suggesting I fit a rotating thumbwheel to the forward section for gas flow? On top?
As to the firing system, you don't need anything more complicated than the one I drew up; it's simple, has few moving parts, it's robust and uses proven tech/materials. Your firing of the round is electronic so no need for hammer or Firing pin. Get the Materials right for the springs and you could get away with that design. Why make things more complicated if you don't have to?
As for the mag size, you could have a 'U' feed of the rounds, it would require an exceptional spring to ensure correct feed (it would have a very tight corner to feed around at the base), but if this is future tech I'm sure they could have it. This way you're getting twice as many rounds per mag, and it makes more sense than the batteries thing.
To show you what I mean about the bullets and power being a pain, would you prefer a Camera that had a built-in power supply so you only had to add film, or a camera that had to have batteries attached to the film rolls for it to work?
Like I said before, more ammo is the order of the day. Have the power pack in the Pistol grip and carry a couple of spares, put the mags to maximum ammo storage.
You still need to add some length at the rear for the correct eye relief for the sights (or move the sight assembly forwards), hell you could put spare power packs and a cleaning kit in the extra rear space if you want.
