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 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).

[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.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Varyon

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).

Reflex sights will need to be imported, as they require a compact and robust source of high intensity light (such as a LED) and a compact power source (such as a modern battery), and probably won't be in much demand when maximum hit chances matter more than being roughly on-target very fast.

Telescopic sights will be in demand, but are outside local production abilities - people have been making the things since the late 19th century, but they weren't particularly good even in WWII, and that was about the earliest they were really worth using.

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.

Slings have been around for a very long time. Modern slings, designed for shooting more than carrying and so on are useful today mainly because the rifles are smaller and lighter, and because long route marches aren't common. If most of your time with your rifle is going to be spent marching or walking from point A to point B, and not in a tactical environment, you want a sling that's good for carrying the rifle on your shoulder, more than one that's perfect for bracing.

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").

Any of these could be made locally. However, the compensator isn't really needed, and the flash-hider irrelevant if black powder is in use (all that smoke can't be hidden, and there's not that much flash). A suppressor might be useful, though all that smoke makes hiding the fact a gun was fired hard, so most likely it's not.

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).

Unless you intended to change the accessory load-out of your weapon a fair bit, a rail or rails is unnecessary and just added weight. As old-style rifles were pretty heavy anyway, I can't see this being popular, except perhaps with the fashion-sensitive if it gets promoted as the 'latest and greatest' from off-world.

[night-hunter]

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).[/QUOTE]

Prior to the picatinny rail was the simple dove-tail rail on the receiver, which allowed the early versions of scopes, which had decent optics. Fixed as well as collapsible telescopes were one of the major early technologies (First telescope in1608 built by Hans Lippershey in the Netherlands.) Scopes were in fairly common use by the 1860s. Note the Berdan riflemen of the US Civil War.