What is the next big thing?

[Pyromancer]

We are mostly shooting gun designs 10+ years old, bullets designed 25+ years ago, and powders even older (idk, I'm not cool enough to reload yet). Other than minor improvements, there are relatively few (compared to other industries like biotech, energy, auto) revolutionary changes that can occur in the handheld projectile propulsion business.
-Am I wrong?
-What revolutionary or incremental improvements do you see coming?
-What revolutionary or incremental improvements have you experienced in your shooting life?

 

[Mountain]

In my lifetime a laser went from something only a university physics department could afford to an inexpensive battery powered sight system. I don't have any laser sights but my kid has one on an airsoft. I do have laser bore sighting equipment. This was revolutionary in my opinion.

Polymer pistol frames were new and revolutionary. Carbon fiber barrels / barrel shrouds were new but have not had enough impact to be considered revolutionary in my opinion.

What's coming?

Perhaps the military rail gun technology will eventually be compact enough to have civilian application.

I don't think we are done with materials yet. Perhaps some type of advanced ceramic could be made into a barrel with extreme high stiffness and negligible wear. Chambers could be metal shrouded for safety, perhaps. Just my humble rambling...

 

[shootymacshootface]

Caseless ammo electronicly fired with multiple loads stacked in a single barrel. When we can link our brains to our personal electronic devices who knows what we be able to control then.

 

[fencer]

Plasma

 

[Terminator03]

Well you know they are pushing smart gun technology so there's always that...

 

[Pyromancer]

Plastic+striker has been the gun du jour for the last few years. Though there may be a slighr resurgence in plastic hammer fired guns thanks in part to Ernest Langdon and the luckygunner folks. I dont think we'll be seeing a move away from polymer for awhile. Carbon fiber may be too brittle for recoil shock, and plastic is, well, plastic...
Everyone is back on the 9mm bandwagon (big bullet guys be damned). A caliber your European grandaddy used, albeit with better expansion and reliability.

 

[Pyromancer]

In my lifetime a laser went from something only a university physics department could afford to an inexpensive battery powered sight system. I don't have any laser sights but my kid has one on an airsoft. I do have laser bore sighting equipment. This was revolutionary in my opinion.

Polymer pistol frames were new and revolutionary. Carbon fiber barrels / barrel shrouds were new but have not had enough impact to be considered revolutionary in my opinion.

What's coming?

Perhaps the military rail gun technology will eventually be compact enough to have civilian application.

I don't think we are done with materials yet. Perhaps some type of advanced ceramic could be made into a barrel with extreme high stiffness and negligible wear. Chambers could be metal shrouded for safety, perhaps. Just my humble rambling...

For those with MOS sighting systems, is it all that? Ive only used one on a paintball gun, which seemed to help the relatively inaccurate .68 caliber liquid filled sphere bullet

 

[FPrice]

How about this?

 

[Snora]

Smart Guns.

 

[Reptile]

I want to have a pair of glasses that has augmented reality.

As I point my rifle, I want to have a reticle and point of impact appear in my glasses like a heads up display.

Instead of using my rifle's sights, a reticle appears in my glasses.

Much like a 1st person shooter video game.

 

[Pyromancer]

Plasma

.40 cal plasma. It's the only way to be sure.

 

[EC1]

phasers and disrupters

OR

 

[Wrench75]

 

[Waher]

Next big thing will be continued ammo tech improvements & if congress acts integral sound suppression.

Polymer cased, telescoped, or ceaseless ammo.

Because of liability from airborne lead exposure insurance companies will dictate all domestic ammo will have nontoxic primers within 10 years and protected base bullets will be an industry standard be it copper jackets, polymer, or different coatings to eliminate lead at the firing line.

New cooler burning powders that produce the same pressure without the heat. <-this is huge if it can be figured out.

Different more aerodynamic bullet shapes fitted to special casing shapes made possible by 3d printing production.

 

[Zappa]

How about this?

Nice!

At $10 a round, I'd be in for a few, that's like firing two or three rounds of .50 BMG

I need to know more.

Caliber list ???

Maybe .45acp ???

Be nice to lob some fat and slow ones, maybe a straight overhead shot to view your surroundings while it's descending, sort of like a real-time aerial drone pic without the drone.

 

[weekendracer]

Great, I can see it now. Cameras mandated on all bullets and the video feed must be saved for up to 5 years or face some penalty.

Thanks Vortex and Hornady.

 

[greencobra]

Caseless ammo electronically fired.........

this was tried i believe in the 80's. at the time it was a big fail, extremely expensive and no way to reload. iirc, they tried to mate it with a new rifle for the military and they were working on a civilian application also but it just went away. but i do believe the next best, newest, greatest thing will have something to do with ammo. don't know what....we'll see.

 

[Zappa]

this was tried i believe in the 80's. at the time it was a big fail, extremely expensive and no way to reload.

Something else that failed in the 80's were the Kricotronic rifles that didn't have a firing pin.

 

[fitzknny]

Increased airgun lethality and technology . . . . With sound suppression and ammunition options . . . Till the state "hammer" drops . . .

 

[whacko]

I think generally the fire arms industry is slower to produce the "whiz bang" tech every couple of years because for every tech loving gadget grabber gun owner that is attracted to "shiney things" there is a gun owner that owns guns for the self sustainability and nostalgia. Not saying one type of gun guy is better than the other but the community is not so flooded with tech junkies like the rest of the world. I enjoy the simplistic beauty of a model 94.......Auto5.…...And a model 97 shotgun that were all designed 120 years ago as much as a polymer frame CCW pistol.

 

[Mike-Mike]

Food for thought:

The AR platform was invented in the 1950's

Glocks were invented almost 40 years ago

30-06 was a .30 cartridge invented in 1906

The 9mm has been around for about 120 years

We still measure shotgun powder charge by Black Powder Drams Equivalent... (this one amazes me).

The best pump shotgun in the world (IMO) was a 1937 JMB Design.

- - - Updated - - -

How about this?

April fools!

 

[Tallen]

Guided bullets: http://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2015-04-27

I think we'll see widespread polymer-cased cartridges before caseless ammunition becomes the norm but maybe 3d printing will change that. It's easy to understate the importance of ammo weight outside of the military, but for the soldier there are pounds of weight savings to be had there.

 

[whacko]

Food for thought:

The AR platform was invented in the 1950's

Glocks were invented almost 40 years ago

30-06 was a .30 cartridge invented in 1906

The 9mm has been around for about 120 years

We still measure shotgun powder charge by Black Powder Drams Equivalent... (this one amazes me).

The best pump shotgun in the world (IMO) was a 1937 JMB Design.

- - - Updated - - -



April fools!

That black powder equiv needs to be upgraded for sure. But all those other designs are still in use and popular because they work and nobody has invented something better.

 

[Skysoldier]

I think there is a tremendous potential for future, non-lethal weapons. Weapons that can instantly disable a threat with high accuracy and effect.

 

[MisterHappy]

That black powder equiv needs to be upgraded for sure. But all those other designs are still in use and popular because they work and nobody has invented something better.

Actually, over the last few years, the Dram Equivalent has been dropping off boxes - most now have velocity in FPS.

Thing to remember about "new tech" is that people, some inspired, some just loopy, have been "improving" guns forever. Most stuff has been tried. Caseless ammo predates metallic cartridges; anything to make it lighter or harder hitting has been tried. At least that we know of. There was an electrically-fired (no firing pin) .22 years ago. Airgun tech is old - there's a Sherlock Holmes story where a man-lethal airgun is part of the story.

I think that incremental improvement (like the advanced-polymer aerodynamic tips to spitzer bullets, so that they can be used in a tubular mag) across the board is what we'll see.

The only jump in performance that I can see is a gyro-stabilized rifle - get the benefits of a bench, in any position. Add that to an onboard ballistics computer, to compensate for all the stuff that requires thinking, and all the shots will be in the x-ring.

 

[Oldarmy]

I would like to see compressed poop bullets. It would give new meaning to shooting the shit. Yeah I'm in one of those moods this morning. Now I have to go clean up a foot plus of snow.

 

[cockpitbob]

Food for thought:

The AR platform was invented in the 1950's

Glocks were invented almost 40 years ago

30-06 was a .30 cartridge invented in 1906

The 9mm has been around for about 120 years

We still measure shotgun powder charge by Black Powder Drams Equivalent... (this one amazes me).

The best pump shotgun in the world (IMO) was a 1937 JMB Design.

This.^
Very little has happened in the last 100 years.
Smokless powder was the last big leap forward, and that showed up in the late 1800s. Everything since, or at least since John Browning's death IMHO, has been little incremental improvements.

 

[Pyromancer]

How about this?

That is so cool in a gimmicky way

 

[Mike 53]

How about "Happy April Fools Day?"

How about this?

 

[Mountain]

How about "Happy April Fools Day?"

Props to both companies for cooking this up! LOL