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The best John Moses Browning guns are from after he's in the cold, cold ground.
The M1911A1 morphs into the .38 Super Gov't Model.
But "his" best design is the Grand Puissance.
This gun was brought to fruition by his apprentice, Dieudonne Saive.
Saive lacks the name recognition that Browning gets, and two of his designs get accredited to Browning. The Grand Puissance and "Baby" Browning.
Never mind that Mr. Saive also begat the MAG; still in wide service.
I forgot John Moses Browning's birthday.
Again.
It's more post-worthy if I remembered.
My .380 Pocket Hammerless is just about my favorite JMB design.
If you really did spend $2,500 on a t-shirt and dockers; you are a fucking moron.
5.11 stuff is nice, but it ain't that fucking nice.
Shadow, being a kitten, runs 1 or 0.
Because we're still keeping her separated from Beeper, she's confined with me at night.
1.5 hours dead sleep.
1 hour "LET'S PLAY!" "And if you don't play, Monkey, I will disassemble your laptop kinetically."
1.5 hours dead sleep...
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
This has been my sleep schedule for the past... uh... when did we get the little demon again?
Don't worry, I am not in her way.
Rachel Maddow says that electing Trump will be the end of politics.
PROMISE?
I think she thinks that's bad.
I am so sick of politics I've been posting tabulations of TL3 and 4 GURPS ranged weapons in great detail rather than listen to the tripe.
But can end politics just by MAGA?
Sign me the fuck up!
Today is the 20th anniversary of me signing the mortgage on my house.
Go me!
It's a 30 year note, but we've been paying a little extra principle every month, so we should be paid off sooner than 2034.
Harvey noticed that we've both lived here, in this house, longer than any place else our entire lives.
I looked back at where I've lived and I don't think I can call myself an Iowan any more.
Just 13 years, total, in Iowa. 10 in Illinois. 2 in Minnesota. 2 in Germany. A year of other places, most shorter than 6 months.
26 in Florida. I've almost lived longer in Florida than I've lived any where else combined.
Before this house, my previous record for staying in one place was the 8 years in Bolingbrook, Illinois; and that was through the end of 4th grade.
The longest stretch in Iowa was 7 years and I didn't live longer than a couple years at any given address.
I appear to have finally defeated the wanderlust.
Daniel Defense has acquired Hudson and has a new version of the H9 coming out.
Skipping to the important part: $1,299 MSRP.
Colion Noir likes it.
For the price, it'd better be great!
But for the street price of three Glocks?
Is it substantially better or just marginally better?
Daniel Defense, you wanna send me one to review?
Not a single fantasy game I own has an arming sword.
That's not technically true. They all have one.
None of them call it an arming sword.
It's a broadsword or a longsword.
There's entire books on why those labels got applied and why they are considered incorrect today.
Everyone should make an M16A4 clone.
Don't forget the accessories out front!
Do some aiming and pointing for a while and then switch back to your normal AR.
You will be shocked at how light and pointable your normal AR is now.
Think of the kittens!
It should be noted, before I start wandering here, that all the various kinds of swords we have put names to were just called "sword" in their day. Most of the names are from archaeologists attempting to sort out the timeframes of grave goods.
Oakeshott typology is probably the most famous way to sort what GURPS will call a "broadsword" and D&D will call a "longsword."
GURPS has a list of swords that are all "broadswords" under the rules.
The D&D 5e equivalent to "broadsword" is "longsword" and it covers a wide variety of side-arms. Perhaps more because the "versatile" tag means it can be used 2-handed; which would imply bastard sword is included.KhopeshBroadswordLarge FalchionPataShotelBastard Sword (used one handed)DaoEstocHook-SwordJianKatanaLongswordBackswordCavalry SaberEdged Rapier
This is a continuation from 4e where the weapons list is a bit longer, but still much shorter than 2e. I don't have any 3e books (or 3.5e books for that matter).
2e was longer than AD&D.
D&D, starting with 4e makes a distinction between "simple" and "military" weapons. 5e calls the distinctions "simple" and "martial."
With how over-the-top inclusive Wizards of the Coast went, I cannot but wonder if these categories are from the thinking about "assault weapons" among liberals.
The historical divide over some weapons is related to sumptuary laws in that you needed to be of a certain social rank to have them.
Cost wasn't the only reason a peasant didn't have a sword in many places.
But ahistorically egalitarian D&D can't make the common/noble distinction and still have adventurers, so...
I'm amused to note that 2e has a firearm, an arquebus. It also adds the rapier. 4e and 5e don't have guns, but keep a sword that was developed from guns driving armor off the battlefield.
Warhammer FRP is even more consolidated, most everything is a "hand weapon"
Hand Weapon: This broad class includes one-handed axes, swords, clubs, maces and hammers. These weapons are all comparable in use and effect, and no distinction is made between them in the rules.
Yet it still has a rapier...
Pathfinder 2e follows the same pattern as D&D (shocking! I know) but breaks the falchion out from longsword and still has a separate bastard sword.
Rapier without firearms again...
LBB Traveller has guns, so many guns...
Sword is the one handed, all inclusive sword. Broadsword is a two-hander. Cutlass is loosely defined enough to include a rapier.
Top Secret might have rules for swords, it definitely has rules for throwing them...
Top Secret SI has a "sword".
Looking for different weapons because I've become stuck in a rut on every character sheet is something I've done before.
Amusingly, much of the time there wasn't much difference in the game stats.
A Galil in T2K is a heavy M16. It's a heavy M16A1 that does a little less damage has a little less range in GURPS.
9mm pistols are pretty much all the same with small variations in mass and capacity.
I got chided for always having a 1911, Hi-Power or Glock 17 on my character sheet depending on the game.
So one day I took a S&W M&P .38 revolver for a private detective character.
I could have knocked them over with a feather!
Discovering that the lowly sling is a valid weapon in GURPS against Smedley The Orc got me to looking at other weapons on the list that I would not typically buy for a character.
Then I was wondering if some of these weapons were also valid in D&D.
Getting a spear instead of a sword is one example.
This feels like the same moment when I realized that the bog standard mail I'd been buying for my character might not be the most cost effective option.
If you're going to advocate for GURPS, you need to say, "Hi, my name is Angus, and GURPS once sucked."
1e and 2e are very similar and they aren't very good.
The promise of a better system is there, but it's not realized.
In 2e you could make, almost, anything you could imagine but didn't quite have the tools to convert a different imagining to GURPS.
This was, mostly, fine for me because I've made up everything from whole cloth a bunch of times.
But play was clunky. There were obvious gaps where should be rules. There were even a few places where there were rules when there should be gaps!
3e went a long way towards fixing things and realizing the promise of the original game.
But things started to... bloat... from there.
Every world book and supplement had additional rules. Rules which were often contradicted by another world book or supplement.
It took major work to keep them sorted out. Squabbles occurred when someone would prefer the solution from one supplement and someone else preferred a different solution. Both being published and official rules for the game we were playing right this second.
3e (revised) plus the two Compendium books consolidated most of those extra rules and eliminated almost all of the contradictions.
Once characters were made, 3e and 3eR play very smoothly.
But there were still strange things. If you wanted to fly like Superman, the last place you'd start is by buying "Flight". You wanted to custom make a flight like power out of telekinesis. It was a LOT cheaper.
The similar Hero system had something like this too. There, if you wanted to move quickly clinging to the wall like Spiderman, you didn't buy clinging; you bought flight with the limitation, "must touch surface".
4e consolidated things again. Some of the optional rules from the compendium became core rules but the real change was the advantages becoming effect driven rather than process driven.
Flying is now flight, regardless of HOW you fly with some modifications to account for how. Flight is flight now.
Hi, my name is Angus and character creation in GURPS has always sucked.
It's not difficult. It's cumbersome.
It's cumbersome because there are so many choices to make.
There are many choices because there's a lot of detail.
The good news is, once the choices are made, the actual play is simple.
The bad news is a player new to GURPS is going to be needing a lot of hand-holding to make a character that can do everything they're expecting their character to do.
Worse, a player new to the very idea of role playing won't even know what they're expecting of their character and will completely miss essential skills and advantages while crippling themselves with disadvantages.
4e's character templates help a great deal here, but there's still a lot of choosing to do.
Class based games, like D&D, shine at character creation because most of the choices are pre-made for the player and the class also informs the player what their role in the party will be.
Admitting this is the first step to recovery.
I've been a staunch advocate for GURPS for nearly 40 years now.
I've endured a lot of people who've clearly never played it dismiss or insult the system the entire time.
Certain phrases keep cropping up.
One that's certain to raise my ire is "story driven".
What's story driven?
That's when the story is in the driver's seat and the players get to make a limited choice of actions; none of which affect the course of the plot.
The GM is letting the players add some color to their story, not the players making their own.
The counterpart is "character driven" and that's the characters in the driver's seat and the GM "simply" provides a space for them to run amok. The players call the tune and make their own story.
Wanna know something?
They are both game system independent.
You can be story driven with ANY RPG. You just need a GM to sit down and write one, then insert the players into their world.
If you prefer one system over another, that's OK, but don't think that it's inherently better for your preference.
My preference falls from having a setting in my imagination that cannot be presented with rules carefully tailored to a single setting.
Once I'd learned GURPS, I discovered that its toolbox could be applied to the settings with the tailored rules.
Remember that "for nearly 40 years"?
I also remember changing rules every time we changed setting. We had at least four different rule sets for fantasy settings along the way.
Sorting out the details and differences of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, from Chaosium Basic Roleplay, from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying from Rollmaster Rolemaster was NOT easier than converting them all to GURPS.
And those were JUST to play fantasy worlds.
Aside: To anyone bitching that GURPS is too complex and hard to play, try on OG Rolemaster someday. It's got rules and a table for what you want to do, in one of those books, someplace...
We quickly found that we could play in any of those settings using GURPS, but often couldn't play the setting from one fantasy RPG using the rules from another.
They were too setting specific.
But the road to GURPS wasn't paved from trying to run Warhawk with Chaosium.
It really started when a player in Twilight: 2000 tried to get a sword. Years before GURPS came out.
The thing that cinched it was the "reality check," or as I've said here a couple of times, "Will it GURPS?"
The challenge: Without writing new rules, take a real world situation and play it out in-game.
Over and over GURPS has succeeded and other games failed.
Aside: I am sick to death of people dismissing or condemning GURPS when it's obvious they've never played it. I've been doing this a long time and I have seen all of these arguments before, almost to the word, and the person struggling with the rules will phrase it differently from the person repeating criticism that hasn't applied since the very crude 2e rules were in print.
What GURPS is, to me, is a way to tell MY story without making my own book of rules to supplement the published text and having learned its subtleties, found that I no longer needed to learn a different ruleset every time I wanted to tell a different story.
At the end of the day, what I think the real problem is for most people is that GURPS doesn't come with a setting. The GM has to, literally, make up everything from scratch and gets nothing pre-made for them. That will include informing the players of what kind of characters they should and should not make.
The player is presented with more work as well. For many, GURPS will be the first time they HAVE to make a choice about everything on their character sheet.
I've guided a lot of players through this process and the "HAVE" to make these choices often becomes "GET" to make these choices when the GM du jour goes "story driven" and they have to make a D&D character and find many of the things they want to do are precluded by their character's class.
PS: You do need to LEARN other rulesets to port their settings to GURPS. I've done it many times. Its main strength is that you CAN.
What if Goliath was wearing DR 4 scale?
Lobbing a stone:
Heavy Sling $20, Shots 1(2), 2d cr, 36/72; 2-12 raw, 0-8 penetrates, 0-8 damage (average of 3)
Sling $20, Shots 1(2), 1d+2 pi, 72/120; 3-8 raw, 0-4 penetrates, 0-4 damage (average of 1)
Dart Sling $20, Shots 1(2), 1d+2 imp, 72/120; 3-8 raw, 0-4 penetrates, 0-8 damage (average of 2)
Staff Sling $20, Shots 1(2), 2d-1 pi, 120/180; 1-11 raw, 0-7 penetrates, 0-7 damage (average of 2)
Sending a lead bullet:
Sling $20, Shots 1(2), 2d-1 pi, 144/240; 1-11 raw, 0-7 penetrates, 0-7 damage (average of 2)
Staff Sling $20, Shots 1(2), 2d pi, 240/360; 2-12 raw, 0-8 penetrates, 0-8 damage (average of 3)
Clearly, I've been underestimating the value of a sling in GURPS, they're better than bows much of the time! Especially in the confines of a dungeon.
"E85" at the local station is anything from 52 to 83% ethanol.
Doing the test drive to Tampa now!
Update:
E85 ($2.429/gal) with 62% alcohol indicated by scanner gets 20.5 mpg.
Normal 87 octane unleaded ($2.929/gal) is 26.5 mpg.
Ethanol Free 89 octane ($3.519) is 28.7.
With current prices, E85 and Ethanol free are 12 cents a mile.
Regular is 11 cents per mile.
With the factory tune, none of the fuel choices offers more power or acceleration.
There's a form of Crossbow called a prodd.
The main distinction is it lobs a lead or stone ball instead of a bolt.
ST 12 Prodd Shots 1(4), 1d+3 pi, 240/300; 4-9 raw, 0-5 penetrates, 0-5 damage (average of 2)
ST 14 Prodd using one leg on the stirrup or a belt-hook $25 (Shots 1(5)), 2d pi, 280/350; 2-12 raw, 0-8 penetrates, 0-8 damage (average of 3)
ST 15 Prodd using both legs on the stirrup Shots 1(5), 2d+1 pi, 300/375; 3-13 raw, 0-9 penetrates, 0-9 damage (average of 4)
ST 16 Prodd using a goat's foot $50, Shots 1(22), 2d+1 pi, 320/400; 3-13 raw, 0-9 penetrates, 0-9 damage (average of 4)
ST 18 Prodd using a 1.5x windlass $55, Shots 1(16), 2d+2 pi, 360/450; 4-14 raw, 0-10 penetrates, 0-10 damage (average of 5)
ST 24 Prodd using a 2x windlass $100, Shots 1(23), 3d+1 pi, 480/600; 4-19 raw, 0-15 penetrates, 0-15 damage (average of 7)
ST 30 Prodd using a 2.5x windlass $155, Shots 1(32), 4d pi, 600/750; 4-24 raw, 0-20 penetrates, 0-20 damage (average of 10)
ST 36 Prodd using a 3x windlass $225, Shots 1(43), 5d-1 pi, 720/900; 4-29 raw, 0-25 penetrates, 0-25 damage (average of 16)
Just remember, dear readers, someone asked for all this in comments.
You might have noticed that bows give a disappointing performance against a fairly common form of armor, DR 4 medium scale.
That's when you use a bodkin.
This is the original armor piercing round.
It changes damage from impaling to piercing with an armor divisor of 2.
Longbow, $200, 1d+1(2) pi, 180/240; 2-7 raw, 0-5 penetrates, 0-5 damage (average of 2)
Regular Bow, $100, 1d(2) pi, 180/240; 1-6 raw, 0-4 penetrates, 0-4 damage (average of 1)
Short Bow, $50, 1d-1(2) pi, 180/240; 0-5 raw, 0-3 penetrates, 0-3 damage (average of 0)
Reflex Bow, $900, 1d+2(2) pi, 240/300; 3-8 raw, 0-6 penetrates, 0-6 damage (average of 3)
Straight Composite Bow, $600, 1d+1(2) pi, 180/240; 2-7 raw, 0-5 penetrates, 0-5 damage (average of 2)
It should also be mentioned that, despite the average damage seeming to do nothing, players have won fights with these weapons against this level of armor.
It just takes a while.
Of note: Stone arrow heads have an armor divisor of (0.5) and you can't make a bodkin tip with it.
Longbow, $200, 1d+1(0.5) imp, 180/240; 2-7 raw, 0 penetrates, 0 damage (average of 0)
Regular Bow, $100, 1d(0.5) imp, 180/240; 1-6 raw, 0 penetrates, 0 damage (average of 0)
Short Bow, $50, 1d-1(0.5) imp, 180/240; 0-5 raw, 0 penetrates, 0 damage (average of 0)
Cro-Magnon Man will have a rough day against Smedley.
The person who's going to be wielding the bow in a GURPS fantasy setting is more than likely only going to have a ST of 12.
Let's shoot Smedley The Orc, wearing DR 4 scale in the chest and see what happens!
All bows have a RoF of 1 and Shots 1(2). That means one shot every three seconds.
Longbow, $200, 1d+1 imp, 180/240; 2-7 raw, 0-3 penetrates, 0-6 damage (average of 0)
Regular Bow, $100, 1d imp, 180/240; 1-6 raw, 0-2 penetrates, 0-4 damage (average of 0)
Short Bow, $50, 1d-1 imp, 180/240; 0-5 raw, 0-1 penetrates, 0-2 damage (average of 0)
Reflex Bow, $900, 1d+2 imp 240/300; 3-8 raw, 0-4 penetrates, 0-8 damage (average of 2)
Straight Composite Bow, $600, 1d+1 imp, 180/240; 2-7 raw, 0-3 penetrates, 0-6 damage (average of 0)
Smedley is feeling good about his chances.
OK, how about crossbows? All are RoF 1. All are $150!
ST 12 Crossbow Shots 1(4), 1d+3 imp, 240/300; 4-9 raw, 0-5 penetrates, 0-10 damage (average of 4)
ST 14 Crossbow using one leg on the stirrup or a belt-hook $25 (Shots 1(5)), 2d imp, 280/350; 2-12 raw, 0-8 penetrates, 0-16 damage (average of 6)
ST 15 Crossbow using both legs on the stirrup Shots 1(5), 2d+1 imp, 300/375; 3-13 raw, 0-9 penetrates, 0-18 damage (average of 8)
ST 16 Crossbow using a goat's foot $50, Shots 1(22), 2d+1 imp, 320/400; 3-13 raw, 0-9 penetrates, 0-18 damage (average of 8)
ST 18 Crossbow using a 1.5x windlass $55, Shots 1(16), 2d+2 imp, 360/450; 4-14 raw, 0-10 penetrates, 0-20 damage (average of 10)
ST 24 Crossbow using a 2x windlass $100, Shots 1(23), 3d+1 imp, 480/600; 4-19 raw, 0-15 penetrates, 0-30 damage (average of 14)
ST 30 Crossbow using a 2.5x windlass $155, Shots 1(32), 4d imp, 600/750; 4-24 raw, 0-20 penetrates, 0-40 damage (average of 20)
ST 36 Crossbow using a 3x windlass $225, Shots 1(43), 5d-1 imp, 720/900; 4-29 raw, 0-25 penetrates, 0-50 damage (average of 32)
Steel Crossbows, which are TL4 like most early guns.
ST 18 Fowling Crossbow, $450 using a 1.5x cranequin $55, Shots 1(25), 3d-1 imp, 225/270; 2-17 raw, 0-13 penetrates, 0-26 damage (average of 11)
ST 24 (2) Hunting Crossbow, $600 using a 2x cranequin $100, Shots 1(39), 3d+1 imp, 300/360; 4-19 raw, 0-15 penetrates, 0-30 damage (average of 15)
ST 36 (3) Military Crossbow, $750 using a 3x cranequin $225, Shots 1(79), 5d imp, 450/540; 5-30 raw, 1-26 penetrates, 2-52 damage (average of 27)
Smedley is less enthusiastic about crossbows, but the lower rate of fire means he's got a better chance of not getting hit twice.
Now long guns!
Gonne Shots 1(30), 2d+1 pi++, 55/550; 3-13 raw, 0-9 penetrates, 0-18 damage (average of 8)
Matchlocks
Arquebus, $150, Shots 1(60), 2d+2 pi+, 65/660; 4-14 raw, 0-10 penetrates, 0-15 damage (average of 7)
Caliver, $135, Shots 1(60), 3d+1 pi+, 85/870; 4-19 raw, 0-15 penetrates, 0-22 damage (average of 11)
Musket, $175, from a rest, Shots 1(60), 4d+2 pi++, 120/1,200; 6-26 raw, 2-22 penetrates, 4-44 damage (average of 24)
Wheellocks
Carbine, $290, Shots 1(40), 3d pi++, 80/800; 3-18 raw, 0-14 penetrates, 0-28 damage (average of 20)
Wheellock Pistols
Military Pistol, $250, Shots 1(20), 2d-1 pi+, 50/500; 1-11 raw, 0-7 penetrates, 0-10 damage (average of 3)
Petronel, $280, Shots 1(40), 2d+2 pi+, 60/630; 4-14 raw, 0-10 penetrates, 0-15 damage (average of 7)
Pocket Pistol, $190, Shots 1(20), 1d pi, 25/300; 1-6 raw, 0-2 penetrates, 0-2 damage (average of 0)
Puffer Pistol, $260, Shots 1(20), 2d-1 pi+, 50/550, 1-11 raw, 0-7 penetrates, 0-10 damage (average of 3)
Bows are not so great against DR 4, so you want something with more pussiance, but the rate of fire falls off fast.
Remember! An English longbow is a ST 17 item that does 2d imp, 255/340; 2-12 raw, 0-8 penetrates, 0-16 damage (average of 6); when you read about bows in most histories this is the benchmark.
Likewise, the average crossbowman was a peasant levy with a ST of 10 using a ST 13 crossbow using both feet on the stirrup doing 2d imp, 260/325; 2-12 raw, 0-8 penetrates, 0-16 damage (average of 6)
Adventurers are different from historical people!
Reference to George Carlin bit in the title...
Will going GURPS 4e TL4 ruin a fantasy setting by introducing firearms?
I've got player data showing that the rate of fire will deter them from taking a gun instead of a bow from how seldom someone would take the slower firing crossbow.
Guns are even slower than crossbows.
But they could be game changers for people who lay in wait for the adventurers. A volley at the beginning of the fight could change the outcome...
I wish I'd remembered to play test this with FuzzyGeff when he was down.
Looking up how shooting from a tank worked in the past is a deep rabbit hole.
Rangefinding starts as guestimating.
Then stereoscopic and coincidence range finders where the TC tells the gunner the range.
Then stereoscopic and coincidence range finders, operated by the TC, that feed an electro-mechanical computer that inputs the correct elevation into the gun.
Somewhere in here the elevation is automatically changed depending on the kind of round selected.
Then a laser rangefinder, operated by the TC, that feeds an electronic computer.
Then a laser rangefinder the gunner uses themselves.
Computing the lead on a moving target went from Kentucky windage to being calculated by a computer via various means of inputing the data.
Shooting from the move was, effectively, impossible for a long while then, suddenly, commonplace.
Then there's shooting at night. Going from no better than an eyeball to active IR to passive IR then thermoraphic.
Many of these changes are still in living memory.
I've often had issue with the idea that the goblinoid races in D&D were, somehow, unable to make gear (especially weapons and armor) as well as the humanoid ones.
Jim Holloway, apparently, agreed with me, as you can see in this last stand.
Their armor is in a distinct style and it fits!
There's a lot going on in this pic.
It was the cover of Dragon 127. The about the cover says, "The last three survivors of an orcish army, their standard still aloft, challenge their elven opponents to one last fight."
Note: These appear to be bugbears, not orcs, by the description in the Monster Manual.
There were, maybe eight of the oddly ugly... people? surrounding Allen.
Not short, but looking like they should be, with blonde hair and blue eyes; but skin as dark as a snake charmer.
"Wood, does everyone have a shot?"
"Yessir."
"Then let's introduce these heathen to how The 77th does war," Lt Fowler announced as he drew the green sword.
It throbbed in his grip. Eager.
It was the most startling thing...
Today wasn't a day for blades, rifles would suffice.
"FIRE!"
Twenty shots cracked and nine Goo Goo fell dead. Allen fell as well, losing his captor's support.
The leader of the native band still stirred, looking shocked. Almost as if he expected Fowler to negotiate or something.
Well, he wasn't going to live long enough to forget that George Crook, and by extension, his men didn't ask for permission to rescue a comrade.
"They know we're here, Major," magery sergeant Harrington reported when he came back from his aerial scout.
"What did you see?" asked Major Beasley, worrying about just how hostile a reception the Sioux might offer.
"Two things, Sir: First, there's three of them just over that rise laying so they can see us, but we can't see them. Second, they didn't even try to hide the wizard eye they sent up to look at me."
Well, thought the major, at least we're not sneaking around.
"Fowler!" We set up camp here until the Sioux deign to come and say hello.
Thank providence that Sheridan and Custer had long since left the service...
You just mark time until everyone else is in bed.
Pour a beer.
Put on the headphones.
Crank it to 12.
Today is the day we celebrate the, successful, healing of the racial rift that existed in the United States from the end of the Civil War to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
Sixty years of peace, love and harmony!
Oh, wait...
I decided that I needed to start cleaning my filthy Beast.
So I started up front.
The stuff on the brake fluid reservoir is crusty, it's soaking now.
I am torn on the utility of translucent magazines, just as I am torn on the utility of the cute little window on many of my PMAGs.
For the most part I got the medium coyote tan mags with windows because of a rumor that they were being held to tighter tolerances than the other flavors because of the USMC contract. Most places don't charge THAT much more than for the non-window black ones.
It's $15 for a normal 30-round PMAG. $18 for one with a window.
$24 for translucent.
I am not sure it's worth the extra money to me, but your mileage may vary.
Water powered trip hammers are around in TL3.
I'm in a strange place of knowing what they're good for, but not knowing if they were used that way at the time.
Something else to learn!
What I do know is they were used for agricultural stuff, I don't know if they were used for metal working.
These little side tracks keep me from getting any where with other things.
Keeps me occupied though.
The M85 .50 cal. machine gun in a cupola of an M60 series tank uses 200 round belts on M15 links.
But most every source on the M60 says there's just 180 ready rounds for this gun.
Does the box in the cupola hold less than a belt? That would be stupid!
Nope, it holds a whole belt.
What's happening is a stop on the feed system that keeps the TC from firing the last 20 rounds of that belt.
This is to allow them to reload the gun more easily.
So 180 is the ready amount.
The M60A3 diverted from the M60A1 series by deleting the coincidence range finder and replacing it with a laser-rangefinder and digital ballistic computer.
Almost simultaneously, a thermographic sight was introduced and adopted, giving us the M60A3 (TTS).
What I learned today is this sight was also mounted in the M551A1 Sheridan light tank, giving us the M551A1 (TTS).
There are a couple of parallels in the upgrades of the M60 series and the Sheridans.
They change from IR to image intensification at the same time, then transition to thermal and laser rangefinding with them as well.
The level of detail for my GURPS game is getting finer all the time.
I know many of you don't care, but it's what I'm obsessing with right now.
Woo Hoo!
Got my answer!
And why would a search for the M60 series work? Not for M60 stuff.
But the information was there for the M728 CEV.
The M32, M32C, M32E1 and M32CE1 scopes are the primary sight for the M48 and M60 series tanks.
The M32 and M32C are infrared (Night Vision 4). The M32E1 and M32CE1 are image intensifiers (Night Vision 5).
It's got a reticle in it and is 8x (7.1x for the E1 versions) and will tilt up and down with the gun.
The commander cannot see the same images. Though they can both use the M105 sight that's coaxial with the main gun, it's visible light only.
The commander has the same aiming reticle as the gunner's periscopic sight inside the rangefinder, which is also slaved to the main gun.
Who has a copy of one of these?
TM 9-2350-258-10 M48A5
TM 9-2350-260-10 M60
TM 9-2350-215-10 M60A1
TM 9-2350-257-10 M60A1 RISE and RISE Passive.
TM 9-2350-222-10 M728
Need the dash-ten not the dash-thirty four!
For the M60's and M728 the commander gets a similar scope, M36 or M36E1. It looks like it's connected to the M85 machine gun in the cupola.
The M32 and M32C are introduced in 1958 with the M48A3. The M32E1 and M32CE1 are introduced with the M60A1 RISE Passive in 1980.
Night vision for the driver is introduced in 1952 with the T41 scope (Night Vision 2). This is upgraded to the M24 in 1953 (Night Vision 4).
US Tanks since the M4 Sherman have had a "panoramic" periscope through the roof of the turret for the gunner.
The M1 Abrams is the first tank since then made without it.
The M60A3 TTS replaced it with the electronic fire control and thermal sight (there's still a direct vision mirror in there, though).
Before that...
I'm finding an M24 IR, binocular sight that replaces the panoramic.
This is replaced by the M32 which has separate day and night oculars. Depending on the sub model the night side is either IR or an image intensifier.
What I am missing is dates! The internet is lacking a lot of information about these things.
I also learned that gunnery with the IR spotlight is crude as fuck.
The IR spotlight is boresighted to the gun, when the center of the spot hits what you want to hit, you guess at elevation and lead then fire.
It works, after a fashion, out to about a kilometer, in War Thunder. That struck text is based on what the game does, but they made it seem so official.
I've discovered a massive blind spot in my tank knowledge.
It was a matter of common knowledge to us in 1988 that ONLY the M1 Abrams had anything to see in the dark.
That's not true, and the dudes at 1/4 Cav showed us with their M60A3 (TTS). TTS means Tank-Thermal-Sight.
While our thermal sight used the same eyepiece as the primary sight, theirs was a big round TV screen near the gun controls.
M60A3 (TTS) gunner's hole; L->R Gunner's auxiliary sight, gunner's primary sight, thermal sight.
It's big and easy to use!
But, before the TTS, the M60 and M48 used a big ass spotlight mounted over the barrel with an IR filter to illuminate targets in the dark.
I discovered that I don't know what form of sight was used to see the IR illumination.
That Fucker Fleetwood aptly pointed out that I have been shot at unsuccessfully, and therefore I have been missed.
Touche!
Nothing about being a little bummed that the old gaming group, apparently, actively disliked me without my knowledge and my one voice in thousands wouldn't be lost at Arfcom means I am done here.
My mind would eat itself without this relief valve.
Things might have been a bit slow with dealing with the house insurance, FuzzyGeff visiting for new-years and a dozen other small things, but I'm not abandoning this place.
The very thing that caused me to leave Arfcom got me to make GURPS 4e stats for the ENTIRE Patton and M60 series as issued by the US. Plus I have a good start on the Leopard 1.
That puts me well on the way to a T2K to GURPS vehicle addendum.
I couldn't just make the versions you'd likely encounter in the game, oh no, I did all of them.
I think I have finally hit my limit on the wretched hive of scum and villainy which is Arfcom.
I think I can find something else to do rather than mindlessly log in and engage in the cesspool.
I am absolutely certain that I will not be missed.
I'm never missed.
I have GURPS 4e stats for the MBT-70, KPz-70 and XM803.
Like the M551A1 and M60A2, it works perfectly fine on paper, in the game, but doesn't reflect the flaws of such a revolutionary and experimental leap in technology over the contemporaneous M60A1 MBT.
