silent needler pistols

[redwalker]

I encountered "needler" pistols first in the sci-fi of Keith Laumer.
There they were meant to be ultra small-caliber ultra high-velocity pistols.

Then I noticed that TSR products sometimes had needler pistols.

I asked a fellow ref if we could have them in his campaign.

His reply, "No. There are such things as flechette shotguns, but they make a lot of noise. There's no such thing as a silent needle weapon." I had no response.

Later, reading in the military history of the U.S.A., I noticed that the CIA made extensive use of a special form of shotgun shell composed of a solid steel case with a steel piston. The powder propelled the piston forward, but did not allow the gasses to escape. Thus the shotgun was effectively silent.

I believe this is called "Class III" ammunition by the BATF and it seems to be the basis of the "silent needler" pistols encountered in Star Frontiers -- and later, in *my* Traveller campaigns.

 

[mike wightman]

As long as the needler pistol is no better than the best pistol weapons in the game (the gauss pistol, the auto snub, laser pistol) then I can't see a problem including them.
It adds some flavour to describe the weapons slightly differently; and, as you say, there were (are still?) real world examples.

Oh, and welcome to the boards Red

 

[womble]

I've always thought of needlers as being very high RoF, too, so they have a 'shredding' effect on the target.

I suspect your ref might be a touch wary of introducing tech which *might* be more effective than other weapons, thus changing what 'everyone else' uses too. The fiction I've read that's used 'needlers' as the main arm has usually portrayed them as devastatingly effective.

The gauss pistol (TA1?) could be considered to be firing subsonic needles and therefore fulfil the purpose you had in mind.

The shotgun cartridges you refer to are called 'teleshot' cartridges and there was some discussion of 'em in a 'Ship's Locker' thread a short while back. A similar concept has been applied to a light recoilless rifle, the Armbrust.

 

[aramis]

Based upon the energies involved (we can calculate this from the stats given), the Gauss round needs to be supersonic.

But then again, modern microaerodynamics CAN reduce the crack of supersonic rounds drastically...

and laumer's needlers are close enough that the stats for gauss weapons could be used as is...