Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Modern Monster Hunting Guns [XM500, MICOR Leader 50, etc.]

Icelander · 09-13-2018, 06:27 PM

Big bore weapons are not necessarily better because they deliver more kinetic energy. It's more a question of the larger projectiles having more volume to deliver chemicals or other agents that affect supernatural beings.

A 50-77 grain 5.56x45mm bullet may be an excellent weapon against natural, biological targets around human size, but there simply isn't much space for a large cavity in the projectile. If you need to deliver a decent 'dose' of silver nitrate or wolfsbane, military rifle rounds do not offer much volume for this, even if you use a hollow-point bullet in the same caliber.

Working with projectiles in the .45 to .50 caliber size range, weighing five to ten times what a standard assault rifle bullet does, you've got a lot more space to fit in a large cavity hollow-point and deliver a dose of something that kills, weakens or inhabits your supernatural target.

Another issue is that you want to avoid overpenetration and cause structural damage, because you can't rely on the same wounding mechanisms as with living, natural targets. Vampires, tulpas, re-animated corpses and a range of other supernatural targets are human-sized and do not have magical armour or anything, but they may not have many (or any) organs that they care about, lack cardiovascular systems and even central nervous systems.

As such, physical damage may only be relevant in breaking the bones or other load-bearing structure that keeps them upright and moving. High-velocity, small caliber rounds that zip through the torso of a human-sized target may inflict fairly rapidly lethal injury on a human by causing severe bleeding, but against a target already dead (or never really living), you might want a much heavier hollow-point, for massive tissue damage and reliable destruction of load-bearing bones.

Don't get me wrong, a rifle bullet that tumbles or fragments will absolutely break bones, but if I'm trying to get a mobility kill against an unstoppable undead menace by shooting out the hip and leg bones, I'd prefer .45 caliber projectiles that weigh 240 grains and move at 2,650 fps over .308 projectiles that weigh 168 grains and move at the exact same velocity.

09-13-2018, 06:27 PM	#57
Icelander Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Iceland*	A Reason for Big Bore Weapons Against Supernatural Monsters Big bore weapons are not necessarily better because they deliver more kinetic energy. It's more a question of the larger projectiles having more volume to deliver chemicals or other agents that affect supernatural beings. A 50-77 grain 5.56x45mm bullet may be an excellent weapon against natural, biological targets around human size, but there simply isn't much space for a large cavity in the projectile. If you need to deliver a decent 'dose' of silver nitrate or wolfsbane, military rifle rounds do not offer much volume for this, even if you use a hollow-point bullet in the same caliber. Working with projectiles in the .45 to .50 caliber size range, weighing five to ten times what a standard assault rifle bullet does, you've got a lot more space to fit in a large cavity hollow-point and deliver a dose of something that kills, weakens or inhabits your supernatural target. Another issue is that you want to avoid overpenetration and cause structural damage, because you can't rely on the same wounding mechanisms as with living, natural targets. Vampires, tulpas, re-animated corpses and a range of other supernatural targets are human-sized and do not have magical armour or anything, but they may not have many (or any) organs that they care about, lack cardiovascular systems and even central nervous systems. As such, physical damage may only be relevant in breaking the bones or other load-bearing structure that keeps them upright and moving. High-velocity, small caliber rounds that zip through the torso of a human-sized target may inflict fairly rapidly lethal injury on a human by causing severe bleeding, but against a target already dead (or never really living), you might want a much heavier hollow-point, for massive tissue damage and reliable destruction of load-bearing bones. Don't get me wrong, a rifle bullet that tumbles or fragments will absolutely break bones, but if I'm trying to get a mobility kill against an unstoppable undead menace by shooting out the hip and leg bones, I'd prefer .45 caliber projectiles that weigh 240 grains and move at 2,650 fps over .308 projectiles that weigh 168 grains and move at the exact same velocity. __________________ Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!