Gun Ammo Confusion

Geeky Meerkat · 08-23-2013, 07:34 PM

Normally I've played in fantasy settings or futuristic settings and so have never really taken the time to learn how to read how modern weapon ammo works in GURPS.

I'm used to the future weapons having batteries with a charge of 400 and a reload of 3 seconds to change out the battery. On the charts that reads 400(3)

But now I'm looking at modern weapons and I see things like an assault riffle with 30+1(3), and I see that +1 on most modern weapons. I get that the (3) is that it still takes 3 seconds to do what you need to do to get a full set of ammo in the weapon but I don't see anything in the GURPS Basic book on what the 30+1 means.

I have tried to use some logic with what I know about RL modern weapons and think I've reached an answer but I'm not fully sure.

If I have a magazine and I put 2 rounds in it, then load this into my rifle, I'll have a rifle with 0 rounds in the chamber, and 2 rounds in the magazine. If I then make ready with my rifle, I'll have 1 round in the chamber and 1 round in the magazine. If I then fire my rifle the 1st spent round casing will be ejected and the 2nd round will move up into the chamber. The magazine at this point will have no rounds and can safely be removed without preventing the weapon from firing. I can then load a new magazine into the rifle with any number of rounds in it, and when I next fire one of these rounds will automatically be moved up into the chamber.

So that tells me that GURPS is taking this into account, so when they say something like 30+1, that a standard magazine can hold 30 rounds in it, but the gun can hold one round in the chamber.

If this is the case does the game take this into account at all for speed of reloading? As I say I don't see anything specific in the rules, but I do know from personal experience that reload speed IRL is effected by if there is still a round in the chamber or not.

08-23-2013, 07:34 PM	#1
Geeky Meerkat Join Date: Aug 2013	Gun Ammo Confusion Normally I've played in fantasy settings or futuristic settings and so have never really taken the time to learn how to read how modern weapon ammo works in GURPS. I'm used to the future weapons having batteries with a charge of 400 and a reload of 3 seconds to change out the battery. On the charts that reads 400(3) But now I'm looking at modern weapons and I see things like an assault riffle with 30+1(3), and I see that +1 on most modern weapons. I get that the (3) is that it still takes 3 seconds to do what you need to do to get a full set of ammo in the weapon but I don't see anything in the GURPS Basic book on what the 30+1 means. I have tried to use some logic with what I know about RL modern weapons and think I've reached an answer but I'm not fully sure. If I have a magazine and I put 2 rounds in it, then load this into my rifle, I'll have a rifle with 0 rounds in the chamber, and 2 rounds in the magazine. If I then make ready with my rifle, I'll have 1 round in the chamber and 1 round in the magazine. If I then fire my rifle the 1st spent round casing will be ejected and the 2nd round will move up into the chamber. The magazine at this point will have no rounds and can safely be removed without preventing the weapon from firing. I can then load a new magazine into the rifle with any number of rounds in it, and when I next fire one of these rounds will automatically be moved up into the chamber. So that tells me that GURPS is taking this into account, so when they say something like 30+1, that a standard magazine can hold 30 rounds in it, but the gun can hold one round in the chamber. If this is the case does the game take this into account at all for speed of reloading? As I say I don't see anything specific in the rules, but I do know from personal experience that reload speed IRL is effected by if there is still a round in the chamber or not.