Quote:Hmm. I think I see a common misconception appearing.
Cartridge-firing arms do *not* need "modification" to fire without an atmosphere. Cartridges are sealed units,and both black powder and nitrocellulose provide their own "oxidizer", just like rocket fuel. (In the case of black powder, it's sulfur dioxide, AKA "saltpetre"; I don't remember which chemical provides the same functionality for nitrocellulose offhand.)
The only thing modern firearms need to fire in space is a suffciently low-temp lubricant; Break Free CLP will work in most temperaure ranges.
OK, point taken. However, things like revolvers might benefit from housing the cylinder in a sealed box to prevent loss of the propelent gasses and thus loss of muzzle velocity. Brass catchers might be standard issue (because the casings are recyclable and we don't want to dirty up Fenspace do we?), and I can see them being modified to be sealed units.
Quote:Handling recoil, on the other tentacle, is a non-trivial problem. Best bet is to have your gun mounted or anchored to something *much* larger than the bullet.
Like say, a PERSON? Seriously, with Mag-boots anchouring you down bracing yourself will work. In free fall I think an EVA pack should do the jod if you time it right (or charge at your enemy to use momentum).
Quote:The scene in Firefly where Jayne pus his beloved machinegun/grenade launcher in a spacesuit so it will have atmo to fire? Completely bogus.
Are you sure you want to tell the Browncoats that? Besides, this is FENSPACE.
Quote:Of course, that doesn't mean unscrupulous gun shops don't have some purely cosmetic mods to sell to 'Dane tourists, mind you...*evil grin*
How many 'Dane tourists do you think would have weapons when in the Black?