Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

[Icelander]

After High-Tech came out, has anyone converted the Transhuman Space firearms or made up some new models that represent slight improvements of modern TL8 weapons in line with the proposed technological advances of THS?

Apart from using caseless ammo, having electronic ignition and some inbuilt electronics, most military and civilian weapons would probably be pretty similar to the firearms that already exist.

There are a lot more options for ammunition, of course, and smart scopes interfacing with HUDs and running all sorts of tactical programs mean a lot of nice futuristic functionality, but for the most part, everyone is still using conventional firearms we'd recognise.

I do want to try to avoid having every nation in 2100 having adopted military rifles that are a step backward from TL8 assault rifles, so I'd like to update the stats in GURPS Transhuman Space: Changing Times so that the slugthrower part of the Battle Rifle isn't inferior to 1990s designs. Updated versions of FN SCARs, HK416s, QBZ95s and G11-equivalents with smartgun electronics and high-density magazines for caseless ammunition are what one would expect to see.

Military requisitions are sometimes bureaucratic and stupid, but it beggars belief that no major nation would choose to retain service rifles capable of practical accuracy at longer ranges than machine pistols (Acc 3) or PDWs (Acc 4). If the 'Battle Rifle' is a carbine, it should have at least Acc 4, if it's a bullpup, it should have Acc 5. And the Damage really has no reason to be reduced from the quite reasonable 6d it had in the stats from 3e.

On the other hand, the BCR (Basic Combat Rifle) from Transhuman Space: Broken Dreams can easily be converted from 3e without improving it any, as the main selling point of that design is economical robustness. It's the AK of the 21st century and it's no more effective than a modern M4 in combat, just cheaper to make.

I plan to convert the Battle Rifle, BCR, Enkidu and Xuan Feng in future posts. I'll also write up firearms as they become relevant to our campaign.

Edit:
Behold!

BCR (The 'Basic Combat Rifle' and its variants).
Chahandras (Indian 'Battle Rifle').
Chinese Battle Rifles (the 2020s and 2030s vintange Xuan Feng and a more modern Chinese 'Battle Rifle').
More Chinese Rifles + Grenade Launchers (co-existed with early mini-missile launchers, need to add the upgraded liquid propellant version of the ZH-35 grenade launcher).
The American 6.5mm PTCA round (needs stats and names for the guns it mentions).
Street guns for our PCs in Dar es Salaam (Easily minifacced models including the Mbogo entry shotgun and the FAC-9 machine pistol; also a higher quality, if impractical, 15mmCLP magnum pistol, the Pretoria Defence Ubhejane Mk II).

Facts that have already been established for our campaign is that the most common model name for the BCR in the Tanzanian civil war was Ngiri ('Warthog') and it was minifac-made by all major factions in that war. Also, the most common chambering for illegal weapons in the underworld of Dar es Salaam is 9mm, the same ammo as the Enkidu machine pistol from the Caliphate. More or less faithful copies of the Enkidu made from pirated designs are popular among rich gangsters and corporate security, with the better copies retaining the exceptional balance and ergonomics of the original design.

One unusual firearm that one of our PCs will be starting with is the 'Siri' Bastola, a black-market minifac-made advanced plastics holdout pistol in 9mm, with a sealed scent-masked magazine and low-profile fin-stabilised non-metallic subsonic bullets.

I'll need a reality-check on how heavy non-metallic bullets could be in Transhuman Space. Obviously, they'd be inferior to plain full-metal jacket bullets, but these are meant for concealed carry past basic security scanners, at the cost of performance.