Have we reached the pinnacle of self contained cartridge small arms?

[Mjolnir]

The only thing new is materials and material processes.

[Trajan]

And the BHP was, in fact, originally going to be a striker-fired pistol. And then he died.

Source?

I would like to see a smaller and faster pistol cartridge replace 9x19. If it would have the same effectiveness as 9x19, hold more bullets, and have less recoil, I would consider that an advancement.

.22WMR seems promising with those Gold Dots...

I don't think 5.56mm is going to go anywhere until we go to case-less. And we're not going to replace the AR-15 platform until we move away from 5.56mm. We need to generally adopt brown tip.

[uffdaphil]

I think the next great innovations will be in detection and targeting. Much like smart missile systems writ small for the infantryman. Not smart bullets at first, but computerized scopes that take situational inputs, lock on a target, and fine tune the gross movements of the shooter. How about satellite/drone sensors relayed through a hi-def, rifle mounted screen. Facial recognition type profiling to designate enemy type as well as individuals in BOLO files. Scanning from urban crowds to room clearing for whatever percentage degree of confidence the ROE allow to engage. CGI highlighting building occupants and interiors and exteriors; topo maps in real time.

All of which will be painfully expensive. But hopefully bring the price of a decent current thermal scope down to earth.

[TMS951]

I feel even in the last ten years we have seen improvement in bullet technology. Speer Gold dot and Barnes TSX come to mind. Now I get these may be much older than ten years, maybe some one more knowledgable can chime in.

I do however feel in recent years we have started to settle on some of these loadings as being superior, and available to the public.

The base of the AR has gone unchanged but I do feel in the last 8 years we have seen huge advances in user interface products for these guns.

A lot of AKs seem to have not changed much to me, I do see some custom stuff out there, but the design really lacks modularity.

The new small arms out there SCAR, ACR, AX100, XCR and the like seem to offer only subjective improvement over the AR. So no, there probably has not ben much new.

The next step will be something new, really using an explosion to move a projectile is quite old fashion. If we chose to we really could go about it differently.

The issue is we (USA or other super power military) are not pushing for the next step, it seems for financial reasons we are sticking with what we've got.

[Greg Bell]

I think we have pretty much figured out the best ways to propel metal slugs at each other. From here out it is just tinkering. I think a guy with a 1911 in 1918 would be perfectly fine today. Sure the sights were meh, but the gun is basically as good as it gets other than a few engineering and ergonomic tweaks. Bullet wise the 230 FMJ was effective in its day, and no less effective now. Of course, developments like the Golden Saber, Gold Dot, Ranger, etc have really improved lethality, but it was always pretty good. Some would argue that 9mm is an improvement, but I have seen the pendulum swing in both directions at least twice in my lifetime--and I have no reason to believe it won't swing back again.


I will be a stick in the mud and agree, small arms are pretty much done until there is something completely category changing like a beam weapon or something like that.

[MountainRaven]

Source?

[Trajan]

Thanks Fjallhrafn. That's pretty neat. Makes you wonder.

I think the next great innovations will be in detection and targeting.

A HUD integrated into your Oakleys with crosshair and remaining round count.

[TehLlama]

Thanks Fjallhrafn. That's pretty neat. Makes you wonder.
A HUD integrated into your Oakleys with crosshair and remaining round count.

That'll be comparably easy. Real-time distance-sensitive situational overlays with contextual crosshairs (Rifle/GL/Airburst/Laser) and Thermal/ImageIntensified nearIR integration with the ability to flag heat signatures from self-organized drone swarms is the 2020-2025 Objective technology development goal. In the same way that missile based combat in air to air engagements became primarily about signature acquisition, and target discrimination, bringing that same capability to urban infantry combat will be the answer there.

While the focus is going to be on sensing systems attached to the soldier/rifle in the soldier as a system concept, that still leaves room for a fair bit of marginal improvement in the kinetic projectile delivery portion of that system, and most of the weight savings is going to be dictated by a greater willingness to have a more expensive modular weapon system (that enables more high tech hardware to be mounted onboard a rifle, improving overall capability for each weapon system package); they'll be small incremental improvements, but some improvements will be made as the overall system cost goes up and designs can better leverage composite materials and more compact electronics systems.

[ptmccain]

How many weapon systems are in current use that are based off designs 50+ years old? This can be extended to much more than just small arms (B52s, ships, heavy artillery, dumb munitions, etc) but strictly speaking - small arms in use around the world are relatively old.

Think about the rapid advancement of firearms from 1800-1900. We went from muskets to machine guns. From 1900 to 1950 we went from belt fed water cooled machine guns to automatic shoulder fired assault rifles...and since the 1950s? We've just improved on those original designs.

Examples :

AK platform - Fires a smaller cartridge and has synthetic furniture but is still nearly identical to the original AK47...which was almost a direct copy of the STG44...

AR platform - Fires the same cartridge and has gotten more modular since the 1950s and the operating system remains the same.

M249/M240 are loosely based on (or at least inspired by) the German MG34 platform.

M2 - Has this weapon changed at all since the 1930s?

Handguns - Still recoil operated like the 1911 a hundred years ago - just polymer frames and striker fired now.

If you get beyond the aesthetics just about every small arm (to include crew served weapons) can find a direct ancestor. Lacking are the laser guns of the future. We've been using the self contained cartridge now for over 150 years. 150 years before that the flintlock had just started becoming commonplace.

When and what will be the next great innovation in small arms and will any civilians get to use it?

Consider how many cartridges are basically what they were over 100 years ago!

9mm Parabellum and .45ACP

It's a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" situation.

Until we do come out with the phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range, I don't expect any major changes.

[Outlander Systems]

When a design like the KRISS Vector can be scaled down, and fully eradicate all felt/perceived recoil, and a built in suppressor reduces the volume to not requiring Ear Pro, THEN we will have reached the pinnacle of slinging lead.