High/ultra tech sights/accessories on muzzle-loaders

[Agemegos]

Suppose that you were on a world where the best firearms local industry could produce were rifled muzzle-loaders with percussion locks and single-set triggers, firing Minié bullets etc.

Suppose that the importation of weapons, ammunition, military body armour, and military vehicles were effectually prohibited, but that most other things were available, albeit that any more sophisticated manufacture than that of say England c. 1830 had to be imported in spaceships at an exchange-rate disadvantage.

In those circumstances, what sights and accessories might you have fitted to your Springfield Model 1861 (or equivalent) or your double-barrelled rifled caplock pistols with hair triggers? Is there something nifty that was invented recently but that could be made with TL5 tools and methods? Would you attach an imported optical sight, night-vision, or laser sight?

[Anthony]

Some TL 7 machine tools so higher TL weapons are now locally buildable?

[Culture20]

Firearms are fairly low tech compared to TL7+ optics. If local industry can't produce a TL8 firearm, then they probably can't create an infrared nightvision scope with laser sight and smartphone mount and software to calculate optimal aim for the next shot.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Some TL 7 machine tools so higher TL weapons are now locally buildable?

Please don't reject the premise.

If you like, suppose that:

• you are not rich enough that you can afford to import a complete suite of steelmaking plant and a standalone machine-tool shop, and power supplies for them, and operators for them, so as to have a handful of personal weapons
• the planet you are on has such lousy economic infrastructure, such poor consumers and so few of them, and such narrow markets that nobody who did what you suggest could sell enough smallarms at a high-enough price to make a profit on the investment
• there are other planets elsewhere where what you suggest was economically viable, with the result that somebody did what you suggest, with the result that those planets are no longer as described in the original post
• this planet that you are on is fundamentally even more screw up than would normally support TL5 specialist manufactures, that it is fundamentally fit to build TL 3, and that the availability of TL5 products as described is the result of people importing critical equipment to the extent that the environment will support them. That is: skyhooks are already in place to the extent possible.

If you don't like then you don't want to play this game. No need to spoil it for those who do. If any.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Culture20

Firearms are fairly low tech compared to TL7+ optics.

Indeed. But there is a trade ban on weapons, and no trade ban on optics. So your weapon has to be produced locally, but your sight can be imported.

[warellis]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Indeed. But there is a trade ban on weapons, and no trade ban on optics. So your weapon has to be produced locally, but your sight can be imported.

Is it possible to build like TL5 picatinny rails or some equivalent that is designed to be able to mount various TL7/TL8+ optics and other accessories onto them?

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by warellis

Is it possible to build like TL5 picatinny rails or some equivalent that is designed to be able to mount various TL7/TL8+ optics and other accessories onto them?

I can't say that I really know what a picatinny rail is. The phrase is familiar to me, its referent is not. Would you say that it is less sophisticated than a rifled barrel? Than a single-set trigger?

[Varyon]

Provided optical-grade glass can be produced locally (Low Tech indicates TL3, so should be doable by your colony/colonies), some sort of primitive reflex sight should be doable (with crosshairs or other aiming aid etched into the glass). That's the main one I can think of for local production. In terms of firearm design, if cartridges aren't doable those with access to modern knowledge may opt to make revolver rifles (some modern experiments have found ways to make these more reliable IIRC), but if that doesn't work well for what you have in mind it can be safely ignored.

For import, proper reflex sights, as well as scopes, are likely (while locally-produced firearms aren't going to be as accurate as modern weapons, they'll still likely be accurate enough to get use out of some zoom). Hunters may get good use out of night sights/scopes. Targeting lasers strike me as unlikely - they're more useful when you don't have time to properly aim, but with muzzleloaders you pretty much always want to aim (as you are unlikely to get a second shot), and giving your target an increased chance to avoid the shot is a bad idea. If there are any issues getting reflex sights past space customs, however, targeting lasers could be a good alternative (although they'll be separated into a laser pointer and some device to connect it to the weapon).

Outside of sights, rifle slings are likely (you want all the bonuses you can get when you've only got one shot), but can probably be produced locally. Suppressors, compensators, and flash hiders are unlikely to be available for the weapons, although a decent gunsmith might be able to get those designed for similar calibers to work for local weapons. Muzzle weights, despite being TL7 in Tactical Shooting, should probably be producible locally (one of those "high TL concepts that would be doable at low TL's").

For UT accessories, if available an underbarrel electrolaser could be highly useful, provided you have a reliable way to replace/recharge the power cell. Other UT accessories seem inappropriate for such a weapon.

Originally Posted by Agemegos

I can't say that I really know what a picatinny rail is. The phrase is familiar to me, its referent is not. Would you say that it is less sophisticated than a rifled barrel? Than a single-set trigger?

It's in High Tech as the Accessory Rail, page 161. It's noted as TL7, but I suspect it would be doable at TL5 or so; if your firearms are standardized enough that identical models can use each other's bullets (as opposed to the user needing to cast his own bullets), I suspect you have the sort of precision needed to be able to make rails. Whether there's a real market for it may be a different question (those shooters who import fancy accessories may be well-served enough by just having their local gunsmith install the accessories).

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

I can't say that I really know what a picatinny rail is. The phrase is familiar to me, its referent is not. Would you say that it is less sophisticated than a rifled barrel? Than a single-set trigger?

A picatinny rail is a standardized mounting rail for modern firearm accessories.

To answer warellis's question: Yes. And unnecessary.

Unnecessary because A) they can be imported and mounted locally by most gunsmiths, and 2) most accessories can also be mounted without one. And if the accessory were being imported specifically to a backwater world without local tech infrasctructure, the imports would probably be built to be compatible to local weaponry.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Varyon

It's in High Tech as the Accessory Rail, page 161. It's noted as TL7, but I suspect it would be doable at TL5 or so; if your firearms are standardized enough that identical models can use each other's bullets (as opposed to the user needing to cast his own bullets), I suspect you have the sort of precision needed to be able to make rails.

If you have the year 1800 tolerances of 1/16th of an inch you can do neither. If you have the year 1900 tolerances of 1/1000th of an inch you can do both. Intermediate dates are iffy.

Picatinny rails are a particular standard for the attachment points for interchangeable accessories. The only technology required is the above mentioned precision manufacturing.