Grrl Power #111 – Truesight Shmuesight
Writing is an interesting process that I’m still pretty new to. (As evidenced by the fact that I just ended a sentence with a preposition. Which people think is bad, but in fact there is no rule against.) I always had a few notions of how Peggy would behave, and there’s a few critical scenes she’ll be in and I know how she’ll act in those, but there was still a lot of character that needed to be filled in. I have done enough writing to know that you generally don’t have to worry about that stuff though. As long as you keep to the spirit of the character and are mindful of those pivotal scenes, characters will write themselves. I like the direction Peggy has taken already. Despite getting along quite well with many of the supers, she is one of those obscenely skilled humans that is probably a little annoyed at the ones think they’re all that when they haven’t put in nearly the same effort into developing themselves as she has. Apparently she deals with it by calmly taking the wind out of their sails as we see here.
Arc-Aegis by the way, is in charge of security and defense. Once a super containment facility is in place, they’ll be in charge of that as well.
Speaking of Peggy, anyone have any recommendations for what pistols she might use? I’ve drawn her carrying two. I googled “accurate pistol” or something and it looks like semi-auto pistols are generally more accurate than revolvers. In fact I didn’t see any revolvers used for competition shooting, but I didn’t spend a ton of time on it. The one in her shoulder holster is a semi-auto, maybe a .45 ACP or something? The problem is if you google stuff like that and stumble blind into a forum, everyone has their opinions and it’s hard to get a feel for what an actual really good, accurate pistol is. I’m sure there are crazy accurate single shot pistols out there but Peggy would carry something that’s actually practical in a firefight. Her hip holster (which you can just barely see poking out from behind the word bubble in panel 5) I figure should have less emphasis on accuracy and more on stopping power. Nothing like Max’s T-Rex, but maybe a 3-5 round revolver loaded with something that would go through someone who’s face is as tough as an engine block.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Wow… 4 pages of recommendations.
So, I changed my mind from FN57 or needler to a jazzed up paintball gun! Instead of paint, it can have anything from explosives to skin absorbing chemicals or even acid in the ‘balls’. Just have to remember what color does what. :p
The FN Five-Seven, or to be more specific the ammunition for the Five-Seven is overhyped. It delivers less energy (Joules) than the 9mm. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good gun and a good round, but it’s way overhyped. Also, I believe it’s proprietary to FN so you won’t find custom ammo for it (i.e. – overpressure rounds etc.).
In addition, the rounds are LONGER than 9mm rounds which makes the gun more cumbersome for people with smaller hands.
The point of 5.7×28 is a combination of armor penetration, low recoil, and high ammunition capacity; one round is less lethal than one round 9mm, but it’s got half the recoil and half the ammo weight, and two rounds of 5.7 beats one round 9mm. On the other hand, in situations where you’re going to fire one round, period (this includes most sniping) the single powerful round is usually more appealing.
I just noticed that Peggy’s eyes are supposed to be blue (according to her bio and bio pic). I prefer the light brown that she has though. It’s way prettier.
Also, it says that when she was injured Maxima was injured too. How could Maxima get injured?
max had put everything into speed and agility or such so she was only as tough as a light armour vehical and got hit by chance artillery or IED is my guess
Could have been before she was a super some hints to her not always having power.
any kind of hand gun is not a good weapon for any kind of range but are used for when the enemy gets up close so I’d say go with the good old fashion 1911 colt 45, very reliable high powered handgun with lots of stopping power which the army is not currently using but is very seriously considering going back to, or if you want to go wheel gun I’d say the 357 magnum which has more stopping power then a 9mm or the 45. but both are very reliable.
and about the accurate thing both revolvers and semi-auto are accurate in trained hands but they are in different classes for competition shooting
five pages? Wow, Dave, looks like you have alot of gun fans as fans…
I think the PK 32 Bond gun would be the best for sidearms, but I like James Bond..
The “Bond Gun” is actually called a Walther PPK,
my advice on a gun if you’re looking for a nice high powered but accurate revolver is an 8 shot Colt Python 8 inch (they come in 6, or 8 shot) you can use 32 or 45 calibur versions. it’s quite a nice gun. it won’t blow any super’s face clean off but it will hurt. and a normal human well they’re going down.
Why go with real life pistols? Make something cool that specifically designed for her, or alternatively, use guns that *aren’t* known for their accuracy in order to demonstrate how skilled she is.
You’re ALL missing the point that she is on helicopter flying / guard duty right now.
Her GOOD and NOT SO SMALL sniper toys are in her vehicle, or her locker, depending if she gets a super to fly her to action or pilot a helicopter.
I don’t know, she seems like an altogether kind of lady, functionality may be an elegant thing to her.
Say, a simple AR15 with a robust 2-9 power, day, thermal night scope. Ammo would be accurately weighted loads and matching slugs to the micro gram. This would allow for good short, mid and long range 1100 yards for this gun, she could shoot the wings off a fly if she wanted, leaving it alive at the end. With a 30 round clip well ya get the idea, but in the long run any kind of a marksman needs a verity of weapons, being good with everything from a .22 to a 205mm from the T75 if I remember the tank, and round right.
Just wanted to say: 5.56 for 1000 yards is a poor choice. Even with the scope and rifle set up to be accurate at 600 yards, you are going to have 302 inches of bullet drop at 1000 yards. Deal with wind-drift that is ridiculous, in the order of 143 inches for a steady 10mph cross wind. And when the bullet arrives, it hits with 180 ft-lbs of force. Which is about the same as the muzzle energy of a .380 Auto. Still lethal, but not going to penetrate anything. And yes, that is with a 77 grain, match grade commercial ammunition, designed to feed through the AR15 platform.
How does it compare to a 7.62x51mm that is preferred?
155 grain pill with 600 yard zero has bullet drop of 202 inches at 1000 yards. Drifts in a 10mph cross wind 95 inches, and hits with 522 ft-lbs of force. Roughly the same force as a .44 Magnum has at the muzzle.
Course, Peggy’s main rifle is already stated canonically as using .338 Lapua. Most common loading is with a 300 grain Sierra Match King.
When zeroed for 1000 yards, has bullet rise of 87 inches. Drifts 51 inches in a 10mph cross wind, And hits with 2012 ft-lbs of force, more energy than the .223 even has at the muzzle.
Correcting a lack of information:
The paragraph about the .338 should read as follows:
Course, Peggy’s main rifle is already stated canonically as using .338 Lapua. Most common loading is with a 300 grain Sierra Match King.
When zeroed for 1000 yards, has bullet rise of 87 inches at 600 yards. Drifts 51 inches in a 10mph cross wind at 1000 yards, And hits with 2012 ft-lbs of force, more energy than the .223 even has at the muzzle.
Ah, yes the data, not that important to me, what is, the idea, concept, and the vision. Sorry that I was not accurate.
I imagine you could get away with Peggy having pistols that are a bit on the heavier side, given her appearance and what she seems to be conditioned to. This said, I think she would probably do well with a Jericho 941 as her shoulder holstered handgun in .40 S&W round size. The mag capacity is decent this way and you have a fairly powerful round in a handgun that’s known for being accurate. It comes in .45 ACP as well, but you sacrifice a fair bit of capacity to use that size.
As for a raw power handgun…I guess a .50 cal round is always an option. The Taurus Raging Bull: Model 500 or the Smith and Wesson Model 500 have a decent style and the latter is reportedly effective for taking down everything up to an elephant.
Completely unrelated, but I’ve been following this comic for a while now, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s one of the few things I look forward to seeing an update for.
I don’t know much about guns myself, but I’ve been told by my marine brother that Glocks are the most reliable hand-gun out there, simply because they -never- get jammed. A lot of people think “Power is awesome, and accuracy is a must” but what happens if Peggy goes into a dusty situation (Like a building that recently crumbled) and her gun jams up? All the accuracy and power in the world can’t help you if you have to dissassemble your gun and put it back together in order to shoot again…
The “Bond gun” was also favored by the GeStaPo too before the end of World War II.
I think she’d have a couple of .45 caliber Glock handguns. 9 mm doesn’t have the stopping power of a .45. They wouldn’t be automatic – that’s for spraying bullets, not accuracy. You can only aim the first shot. My hands aren’t strong enough to handle the buck of a .45 caliber handgun, but I’ll bet Peggy’s are. :)
Just give her a gun that you feel confidant drawing. It can easily be explained away that it is a personal gun for her. Maybe it is her first gun ever. Bond didnt always use the pistol we see him use now he use to use a Berreta but M mad him give it up after it jamed once. … M had to actually take it and force Bond to take the new pistol and even put back his old Berreta so he wouldnt use it agian.
Another point to rember is that you are making a new world and new technology. Give her some new fangled gun and explain that it is a top secret one of a kind prototype.
By no means a gun expert, But I think a military trained as I assume Peggy and she seems more practical she’d go with a pistol that was easy to maintain and use an easy to find ammo. especially in the field. meaning an custom 9mm or such. meaning she could just secure more ammo from downed combatants.
Well, too many comments to read now, so I’m just going to throw some suggestions into the mix based on the news post: “…emphasis on stopping power… maybe a 3-5 round revolver loaded with something that would go through someone who’s face is as tough as an engine block.”
Both of these revolvers hold only 5 rounds, due in part to the thickening of the cylinder wall necessary to deal with the higher firing pressures of heavier projectiles.
(.454 cassull)
(.50 Linebaugh)
I’ll eat my hat if someone hasn’t already posted these =P
Love the comic, by the way :-)
Choice of guns…
She wouldn’t carry two pistols. The first guiding principle is that a pistol is what you carry when you don’t expect to get into a fight. If I’m expecting to get into a fight, I want a rifle or shotgun. So she would carry a pistol plus either a light rifle or a shotgun.
Second guiding principle, she is as good with all aspects of weapons as any of the supers are at their on field. Her skill and knowledge of small arms is almost a super power in its own right.
So, the pistol would be a .45 ACP model 1911A3 The .45 ACP cartridge is standard in the US Special Operations Command because they got tired of shooting someone with a 9mm and having them continue to shoot back. They also have model 1911 pistols in service. The original 1911 has a mystique among small arms specialists who tend to think it is the best pistol/cartridge combination made to date. USASOC considers the round effective to 50 yards, but a good marksman can use it effectively out to about 80 yards. Peggy and the unit armorer are good buddies, so her pistol has had some special accuracy work on it. She doesn’t use a standard holster, but a fast draw one . If someone 30 yards away tosses a beer can into the air, she can draw and hit it 8 times before it lands.
The rifle: 7.62 X 54 Nato, obviously, but the rifle is custom. It’s a Jeff Cooper Scout Rifle that she carries African style She can also draw the rifle and hit that thrown can 8 times. Her rifle looks more like this but has the scope mounted as shown in the first picture. This rifle uses the same magazine as the standard Marine issue M14 rifle. The Scout isn’t standard issue, so “strings have been pulled”.
She would also have a belt or bandolier with pockets for extra magazines for both weapons.
Ummm… 7.62×51 NATO
7.62×54 is Russian, and no ranged sniper would use the Dragunov when a more accurate rifle is available.
1. You can build a rifle around any caliber you want as long as you have accurate dimensions.
2. Drugnov is not a sniper rifle but a squad support/ DMR. Sniping means custom Mosin ;)
However you are correct that 7.62x54R and 7.62×51 NATO/.308″ are indeed different and commonly mistaken
Glock 35 with a RMR(Trigicon Mini RDS) Glockwerks ZEV trigger, Mag well and 4 Mags with Taylor Freelance +5 mag extentions. Or a SVI Infinity https://www.sviguns.com/ in 40 with an RMR. A marksman like her would choose a gun like the G35 or Infinity.
I didn’t read ALL the comments, but:
Corscaria, that was hilarious!
John Farnham, internationally renowned arms teacher, said of handguns:
1) A handgun fight is more like a fist-fight than a nuclear strike. Some people take a surprising number of hits to stop.
2) If I had known I was going to be in a fight, I would have brought a real gun.
Everything else I had to say was already said …
I’ve only gone through a few of the posts on firearms, so forgive me if I repeat what someone else says. With accuracy, high muzzle velocity versus low recoil is what you’re looking for. The .45 ACP in a standard 1911 model has a muzzle velocity of roughly 800 feet per second. It’s considered kind of slow, but because of its weight maintains plenty of knockdown power. The downside is that it fires in more of an arc and the bullet drops rather quickly, making .45 shooting an art in and of itself.
Believe it or not, a .357 magnum in a Desert Eagle is respectably accurate and flat-shooting since it balances recoil and muzzle velocity. Bit flashy and difficult for a person with small hands to use though. I would personally recommend an IWI M941 Jericho in a full-sized all steel frame chambered in 10 mm auto. The Jericho is often called the Baby Eagle since it was made by the same company as the Desert Eagle. It’s compact, very reliable, and already available commercially in .40 S&W. That’s the same diameter as the 10 MM auto, but has less powder behind it. The 10 MM auto round was initially looked into for use for Secret Service and other groups who wanted something with more punch than a Glock. But it was deemed too expensive, plus agents hadn’t been trained to handle the recoil of anything tougher than a 9 mm, so they performed poorly despite the obvious merits of the 10 MM auto. Plus, if you want something with a nasty bite and cost isn’t an issue, you can always go with drilled and patched mercury ignition rounds. (They explode inside you and poison you to death).
As someone pointed out, her main ‘weapon’ is her helicopter. I wonder.. maybe one ‘pistol’ is a squirt gun filled with holy water? And another that used compressed gas to shoot nanobots at targets… and the nanos eat…. armour and gunpowder. It would make for a different set of skills then ‘just’ point and shoot everything.
Note: I came late to this, and skimmed the comments quickly; apologies if any of this is redundant.
If the organization has a “standard” pistol, and we are drawing on the real world mostly, it should be a .45 ACP 1911, one of the accurized and customized ones. Among its other good properties, it has a slim grip, good for folks with small hands.
The purpose of a handgun is primarily defensive. If you are planning to attack someone, you use a better firearm. The handgun is for the situation where you weren’t expecting trouble and you need firepower right this moment now. For most defensive uses of a firearm, six shots would be plenty; but you want those shots to actually have a useful effect, thus the .45 ACP. I am not one of the bigots who thinks that 9mm is inadequate, but all else equal, I’d expect one hit with a .45 ACP to have a better chance of stopping an attacker than one hit with a 9mm.
AFAICS, the US armed forces went to the 9mm because of compatibility with NATO forces, and a military desire for high magazine capacity for use in suppressing fire. But as others have noted, the pendulum is swinging back and lots of groups within the US armed forces are buying .45 ACP handguns.
Note that the military doesn’t usually use hollow-point bullets, and if you aren’t using hollow-points, the .45 ACP is *massively* superior to the 9mm. A full metal jacket 9mm bullet hits someone about like an ice pick… it has a smaller diameter, its shape is more needle-like than the .45 ACP shape, and it can overpenetrate (zip all the way through the attacker and exit the far side, rather than dumping all its energy into the attacker). All that said, maybe the ARC folks use hollow-point bullets; they aren’t exactly military, more like police supers.
I have to disagree about the FN FiveSeven; it’s not what Peggy would carry. It’s top selling point is that it is more likely to penetrate body armor. If we assume Peggy is amazing, we should assume she would just plan on head shots against body-armored attackers. (The standard pattern: shoot center of mass; if target is still attacking, shoot center of mass; if target is still attacking, shoot head.) I’m somewhat dubious about the FiveSeven’s stopping power… it has a little bullet, so I expect it to do less of what handgun bullets do. (Rifle bullets seem to have extra stopping power due to their very high speed. A bullet from an M16 might be going nearly 3000 feet per second; then when it hits, it usually tumbles rather than punching straight through like an icepick, and the green-tipped rounds often break into two projectiles that carve out two wound tracks. So, does a FiveSeven pistol get the bullets up to speeds that would start to act like rifle bullets? I wouldn’t bet on it, with a pistol-length barrel.)
Someone mentioned that even a suppressed .22 can be deadly. True. But Peggy isn’t going to be sneaking up on people and assassinating them; she will be reacting to danger, trying to stop attackers, and .22 is sadly lacking in stopping power.
Given that Peggy is super-amazing, she could likely do well with even a 9mm, and she might want to carry as much ammo as possible. But I think ARC is likely to standardize on .45 ACP and she should carry the standard so she can trade ammo with other ARC personnel at need. But the standard-issue 1911 pistol at ARC probably only costs $2500 each, and hers probably is a custom job that costs way more!
The second handgun…? Many possibilities suggest themselves.
Many people in real life, who carry two handguns, carry a revolver as the second, on the theory that if you need to grab the second, it needs to be super-reliable. (If Peggy carries two obvious handguns, I vote that she has a third one that is not obvious! It can be a compact revolver, a really compact .380 ACP pistol, really compact 9mm pistol, or even a derringer chambered for .410 shotgun. She could have an ankle holster, small-of-the-back holster, or even a “bra” holster; small-of-back seems most sensible.)
In real life, many police officers carry a pistol and a Taser, so they have a non-lethal ranged weapon that has some chance of stopping someone. A real-life Taser has two shots. If your fictional universe has any sort of effective stunner, that ought to be standard issue for organizations like ARC, and maybe Peggy carries one all the time.
Another idea: Peggy could carry what IPSC shooters would call a “race gun”: something designed to allow for rapid shooting, like a pistol chambered for 9×25 Dillon with muzzle porting to reduce recoil flip. I have seen IPSC shooters on the range, and they sound like they are using an MP5 set for two-shot: b-bang b-bang b-bang, and three targets have each been shot twice. Fast! The really good IPSC shooters are fast even with ordinary pistols, but at the highest levels a “race gun” can help them get an absurdly high rate of accurate fire. (Peggy has no need for a Glock 18 full-auto. She will be fast and accurate like an IPSC shooter.)
I have to say, I like this next idea: Peggy could be carrying a secondary weapon that actually shoots little rockets. In a normal firearm, an inert bullet is propelled by an explosion; it receives acceleration only while in the firearm, and receives spin from the rifling in the barrel, but after that it only has momentum to carry it. In real life, there was a firearm called the “Gyrojet” where the firearm was basically just a launching device and the projectile accelerated under its own power. IIRC it didn’t catch on because it wasn’t very accurate; the manufacturing tolerances to make the little rocket jets accurate on each and every Gyrojet projectile must have been a problem in the 1960’s. If we can assume that she has a firearm that shoots rockets, the recoil would be minimal and the range would be excellent. Assuming the rocket propellant doesn’t run out, the further away the target is when Peggy shoots the rocket, the *faster* the rocket would go and the harder it would hit! I think real Gyrojet projectiles accelerated for 70 yards, so let’s say her weapon’s rockets accelerate for 100 meters and reach a peak velocity of over 4000 feet per second. Also, there is very little recoil, which would help accuracy. So she would use the 1911 for close-in shooting and the rocket-based one for distance. And if accuracy is her thing, maybe she can make amazing distance shots with her evolved Gyroget. This seems like the ideal balance of the plausible and the comic-bookish, and a good match for a character whose thing is accuracy.
Getting more far out, in Antihero for Hire, the main character carries a single-shot pistol with a variety of custom rounds: an electroshock round, a freezer round, etc. This lets him pull rabbits out of hats when the plot demands, and he usually only has one of any particular round which is also good plot-wise.
Also, in your universe, are there things like vampires and werewolves? An old idea is to carry spare magazines with special-purpose rounds: silver-plated, wooden-spike-tipped, capsules with holy water, inscribed with runes, cold iron, etc. In real life, I have heard some people say they carry hollow-points in the magazine inside the pistol, but ful metal jacket rounds in spare magazines, in case they wind up needing the extra penetration (shooting tires, trying to shoot through body armor, etc.).
On balance, I suggest the evolved Gyrojet as the secondary weapon. For the 1911 she would have multiple magazines, and some could have “penetrator” rounds (tungsten core or whatever, shaped more like a needle, probably with a sabot so that the round feeds reliably). And some could have the special bullets as discussed above; even if you don’t have vampires and such, you clearly do have magic in your universe and I like the idea of the bullets with special runes carved into them.
Story-wise, the evolved Gyrojet could be a prototype that Peggy is helping wring out, with hideously expensive ammo and thus unlikely for wide issue anytime soon.
Now, as for Sydney?
If your universe has any sort of effective stunner, that’s what they should give her. Maybe even a Taser. Otherwise I vote for a 1911 to suit her small hands, possibly even a 1911 in 9mm instead of .45 ACP if she needs reduced recoil. But she’s tiny, not so much weak, and I think even she should have .45 ACP; the recoil isn’t *that* bad.
But maybe, instead of a handgun, she should have a carbine? Historically, the M1 carbine was intended to *replace* the pistol in the military; the idea was that combat soldiers would carry the real infantry weapon (the M1 Garand in .30-06), and other personnel (radio officers, jeep drivers, etc.) would carry the M1 carbine. The FN 5.7×28 round was invented for a very compact carbine that nonetheless has a very large magazine capacity (50 rounds!)… the FN P90 PDW. The F90 was intended to fill the same needs as the M1 carbine was, and it’s even a better design for someone like Sydney: more compact, has a nifty built-in scope, 50 shots. Sydney wouldn’t have the silly long-barreled variant sold to civilians in the USA, she would have the short-barreled version, and might even carry it out of the way, slung on her back or something. I think if ARC used the 5.7×28 round for anything, it would be in the P90 and not in the FiveSeven pistol.
But really, a carbine makes little sense for Sydney; given that she has a “blaster” orb, that should be her go-to weapon. And nobody can even take it away from her, and as far as we know it never runs out of ammo. (Hmm, people have been making jokes about the mayhem that will ensue if the ARC guys give a pistol to Sydney, but it seems likely that they would give her a pistol hoping for less mayhem than she could cause with her blaster orb!) And since Sydney needs to use hands to use orbs, she wouldn’t even want a rifle or carbine that is best operated with two hands; if she has anything it should be a pistol of some sort.
By the way, I wonder if her “blaster” orb has more than one setting? Your universe might not have stunners, but maybe Sydney’s blaster orb can reliably stun without killing.
Thanks for your comic; I enjoy reading it.
Woo, big post, thanks. I think ArcSWAT’s armory will have a variety of firearms in it, and Peggy will drift back and forth between 3-4 choices for her primary sidearm.
Sydney’s still learning what the orbs do, so she doesn’t know if the PPO has a stun setting.
The military doesnt use hollow points because the us signed a NATO treaty stating that they wouldn’t unless fighting a non-treaty nation that was.
Even though the hollow point tends to cause more “clean kills” by doing more upfront damage causing shock then death. Whereas fmj causes shock, then the agony of prolonged bleeding, pain, collapsed lungs, broken bones then maybe death.
And this treaty was supposed to cause LESS? trauma.
That gyrojet would make a great platform for special material ammo, like the wooden spike, or even the holy water ampoule, as it attains its velocity much less abruptly than a bullet.
.45 acp? Colt model 1911. A classic model still made today and very popular in military forces around the world.
I found a scan of a magazine article, back from when the Gyrojet was new. The most interesting point: a Gyrojet rocket has a flatter trajectory than a bullet, which the article says makes it more accurate at longer ranges than any other sort of pistol. This was from page 6 of the article: https://www.deathwind.com/gunworld.htm
P.S. On further thought, I know the perfect issue weapon for Sydney.
What, in the real world, are the two closest things we have to stunners, nonlethal ranged weapons? Tasers, and… pepper spray. :-)
I think Sydney Scoville should carry a weapon whose strength is rated in Scoville Heat Units. She probably shouldn’t spray it on her food, but I guess she could.
I still want to see the rune bullets… if Dabbler carries a firearm, perhaps she will make some rune bullets for herself. Or if Sydney becomes friends with Dabbler, maybe Dabbler would make them for Sydney.
One last thought on the evolved Gyrojet idea: The Gyrojet in real life depended purely on the rocket’s own acceleration, making it underpowered at short ranges. It seems plausible that a hybrid could be developed, that fires the rockets like bullets, giving them a higher starting velocity that then mounts until the rocket runs out of fuel. This somewhat works against the “less recoil for better accuracy” idea, but perhaps makes the “4000 feet per second max velocity” part more plausible.
You’ve pretty much described the boltgun concept from Game Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000. Two-stage miniature self-propelled rocket with mass-reactive warheads, the first stage being a tiny charge sufficient to get the round out the barrel in time for the second charge to engage. That way you can fire something the size of a stack of quarters without being knocked on your butt. Seems to me the tradeoff between stage one and stage two would be a slight dip in the shell’s arc prior to acceleration. Learning to compensate would be tricky.
In the case of the bolt guns from Warhammer 40k, the second charge (rocket propulsion) activated less than 1cm after exiting the barrel.
The drop in the shell’s arc in the distance is nearly non-existent.
Keep in mind, those shells have advanced sensory mechanisms built in, such as the ‘mass-reactive warheads’ you mentioned, that cause the explosive charge to detonate about an inch after impacting a solid object.
Cool, I hadn’t ever heard of that stuff (haven’t played any Warhammer).
Actually I can imagine the little rockets having seeker heads, where the pistol fires a laser as well to “paint” the target, and as long as the seeker sees the laser in front, it steers toward it. This would effectively compensate for any drop, so as long as you keep painting the target long enough for the little rocket (missle?) to make its flight (under a tenth of a second, I think), it would hit exactly where you aim, with no adjustment for drop and despite any cross-winds. All it would take is tiny movable fins on the missile, a tiny, disposable computer guidance system, and some sort of disposable camera in the nose. Each round of ammo is likely to be pretty expensive though!
The US Navy is developing railguns for Navy ships, and they have developed guided railgun missiles that have GPS guidance and use movable fins for steering. So my basic idea is not that far out; the far out part is doing it in a handgun-sized projectile.
I like the idea that Peggy would carry a conventional 1911 for close-range fights, and the evolved Gyrojet for shooting back at people who have rifles. At far enough distances, a real-life Gyrojet would hit with twice the energy of a .45 ACP bullet; the fictional one can hit even harder than that, let’s say four times the energy, possibly allowing feats like shooting through cover. And I can imagine ammo with a sort of drill tip, which would defeat body armor.
First, I love your comic.
Second, it is awesome how you are not only willing, but eager to ask for advice & opinions concerning firearms & other topics.
Third, you take the answers you get very well.
I respect that, & you are awesome.
Now then:
I know there will be those that disagree with me about what I am about to type, but this is from my opinion & personal experience (I was in the military, I qualified with ALL of their standard weapons), so to everyone who disagrees with me, let me know why, but keep it friendly please.
For an accurate semi-auto pistol, there’s a reason the U.S. military switched to the Baretta M9.
It has a 15 round magazine standard, uses a 9mm round (VERY common & versatile), is extremely durable (I saw someone drop one from 50+ft onto concrete, still worked fine), and very accurate.
Now I’m not extremely familiar with a wide range of firearms, but I have fired a few of the ‘better’ hand guns, and I sill prefer the M9.
It has great balance, is fairly light, good recoil control, and reliable mechanics (it doesn’t jam easily, I’ve tried to make it, it just won’t).
In adition, you can customize the heck out of it.
As for a handgun that has power?
The S&M 500.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Wesson_Model_500
I know there are a lot of different ‘power-houses’ handguns out there, but in my opinion, this is the one that has taken the crown.
Smith & Wesson designed & made this gun specifically to retake, & hold, the title of “the world’s most powerful handgun”.
It fires a 50 caliber magnum round.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.500_S%26W_Magnum
That is a bullet 1/2 inch (12.7mm) in width, & a casing that is 1.6 inch (41mm) in length, total length is 2.250 inch (57.2 mm).
“Any of the available bullet weights can be relied on to take game at a range in excess of 200 yards (183 m), a feat matched by only a handful of other handguns.”
That’s fantastic range for a handgun, good accuracy, and amazing power.
Yes, there are slightly bigger cartridges or handguns out there, but none of them are in production, they are custom only, this big boy IS in production, & so is it’s ammo.
I imagine that, going toe to toe with nasties the likes of which supers face, you might need the power & force such a beastly gun could provide.
Thanks! I’ve gotten so many suggestions it will just have to come down to Peggy’s preference. If I could spare the weekend I’d go down to a firing range and try out a bunch of different pistols.
First of all, thank you for your service. Now, I would like to respectfully and in friendly fashion disagree.
I am a male with average to larger hands, and I found the Beretta 92 to be rather chunky in the grip. Don’t people with small hands, including most females, have trouble getting a comfortable grip on an M9/Beretta 92? If you are going with 9mm at all, the classic Glock 17 would make more sense. (I have a strong personal prefernce for the Browning Hi-Power, at least the recent-generation design. Very comfortable grip, and the safety sweeps down the way God and John Browning intended. But I don’t think any major police agency or military unit uses the Hi-Power… probably because it is a single-action pistol with no grip safety.)
The .45 ACP 1911 is good in the same ways you listed that the M9 is good. The only exceptions are that it has a bit more recoil, and it has a much smaller magazine capacity (7 rounds vs. 15). But it has a very slim grip, good for anyone with small hands, and there are many professionals who really swear by them.
As for the .50 Smith and Wesson… wouldn’t that be rather a beast for a small person to shoot? Instead of giving it to Peggy, let’s give it to the supers who are large and strong. Maxima maybe doesn’t even need a gun but guys like Achilles ought to standardize on this.
If you really want to go over the top, how about pistols chambered for .50 BMG? That seems like a rather ‘super’ pistol. Something like a Barrett semi-auto cut down to pistol size. You would need lots of strength just to aim something like that… it would probably weigh 20 pounds! (I read about a single-shot .50 BMG pistol, bolt-action, that weighed 16 pounds.)
Hmm, with either .50 I would worry about overpenetration… the good guys may need to shoot bad guys, but they don’t want their bullets going through the bad guys and killing innocent bystanders.
A side arm for a sniper?…… I’d go with the H&K Tactical. It’s chambered in 45 acp and was designed for special forces use. The weapon is very accurate with it’s blue O-ring lockup system. I mean round after round in the same hole accurate. The barrel is threaded for a silencer from the factory. Weapon cost is around $1200 US but that kind of accuracy is well worth it. …….Or you could go the other direction and give her a High Point semi automatic in 45 acp. The weapon is ugly and heavy at almost 2 pounds plus. And it only costs about $150 US. It’s a strait blow back system so the barrel is fixed thus it’s very accurate. I love shooting tight 2 inch groups at 25 yards and showing up all the expensive 1911s at the range. Something of a running gag maybe?
You need to make Peggy more identifiably female. I mean, sure, there are all kinds of people, but she doesn’t have superstrength like Maxima or Anvil, and this page especially is a bit much for being misleading. I got through many pages thinking “Wait a minute. The guy with the pink hair is named PEGGY? Poor guy, to have pink hair and a name like that on top of it!” and it was only with the page that came out on November 12 (6 days ago) that SHE is shown with a chest that doesn’t look like just a tough male physique and I realized she was supposed to be a she.
…Why? Not all women are the personification of femininity. Peggy is Peggy. Leave badass Peggy alone!
But I wonder how long it would take for me to be thrown in a mental asylum if I went around yelling “I see invisible people!”
for an accurate pistol at range id recommend an FN Five-seven smaller caliber but higher muzzle velocity makes it more accurate than most handguns, especially at longer ranges, and as a plus has a 20 round magazine capacity.
as for rifles well we are talking stopping power so best bet for massive impact and long range id go for anzio ironworks 20mm anti-material rifle, for comparison sake a .50 BMG is a little less than a third of the power of this monster.
I don’t see you sourcing a pistol that can be carried all day, every day capable of chambering a cartridge ” that would go through someone who’s face is as tough as an engine block.” On the other hand, if I hit that engine block with a 127 grain +P+ 9mm 12 to 15 times at a measured pace, I stand a good chance of disorienting it enough to allow me to access something with a little more… authority. Even if the round doesn’t penetrate the target, it still dumps a sizable portion of it’s energy on the impact site. I’m not going to dis the venerable .45, but up to twice the round count of 9mm, .40 or .357 Sig might be comforting when trying to stop a charging “engine block”.
Take a look at the Sig line, the Walther P99 (or it’s licensed S&W clone) and H&K before you decide on standardizing the field agents’ side arms.
The strong side belt holster is a practical choice: the low slung thigh rigs are a fashion bastardization of a concept designed to drop a belt holster just low enough that you didn’t foul your draw stroke when wearing body armor.
Look at the 7.62 x 51mm AR-10 platform as issue long gun.
Maybe you’re over thinking Maxima’s side arm. Take a look at the Thompson Encore:
https://www.handgunsmag.com/2011/06/09/review-thompsoncenter-encore-pro-hunter/
It can be factory chambered for the .500 S&W and I’m sure the unit armorer can fit it with something beefier. Any practical barrel length wouldn’t allow enough dwell time for the .577 to achieve useful velocity. Not to mention the fire hazard.
Just finished working my way through the archive. I’m a fan.
Now get back to work.
Don’t forget Jerry Miculek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uisHfKj2JiI
This is coming late to the game, but the Webley-Fosbery is a distinctive firearm with high stopping power and low recoil. It’s a hybrid of automatic pistol and revolver, recoil-operated and firing the low-recoil .455 round, so it’s got a tremendous reputation for accuracy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webley-Fosbery_Automatic_Revolver
Looks like a nice collector’s piece, I’m not sure Peggy would go for an automatic though.
Pre-1979 cz-75s are insanely accurate, and it would be a reference back to that old manga, “Gunsmith Cats.” The problem is, if you go about it the wrong way, you might sound like you’re ripping off Rally’s diatribe expounding the gun. Otherwise, the SIG 226 in .357 SIG caliber is considered to be highly consistent and accurate.
Also, for raw power, she might make use of a .454 Casull super redhawk, or maybe more recent .500 S&W magnum.
Lots of suggestions for good accurate pistols here so I’m going to throw out a nice simple one for the revolver. They make a reasonably sized 3-shot revolver that fires shotgun rounds.
A clip is something that holds two things together. A magazine is where you store your artillery rounds.
I haven’t read all the comments yet but how about Judge Dredd’s “dial a round” as a starting point?