What's going to be the next big revolution in small arms?

C

checkmyswag

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Electrically fired rounds?

or something else?

I know it's a ways off before we have lasers/phasers and such as common weapons.

But what will the next big leap in technology be? When will it happen and how long will it take to get to civilians?

I'm not asking for you to consult your magic ball, but maybe you all have studied this as I have not.

As nice as a 1911/Glock/AR15 (whatever is considered great now) will it really be as relevant in the year 2100?
 
It's pretty clear that you're looking for a reply that involves new technology. However one current trend that I see continuing involves the widespread use of black powder guns and the technology that involves the original gun powder (black powder) and its substitutes.
Literally millions of cap & ball revolvers are being sold world wide that are reproductions of mostly U.S. Civil War era technology. These are mostly made by Italian outfits and can be outfitted with cartridge conversion cylinders in various compatible calibers with hardly any Federal restrictions in the U.S..
In many European nations these are the guns of choice for competition and recreational shooting. And now that the former Soviet Bloc countries are free they're having a resurgence of American western style cowboy action shooting, mostly with cap & ball revolvers. But they also have an affinity for Western single action six guns and muzzle loaders in general too.
So what were once 2nd tier nations are now catching up with what most of the 1st tier nations of the world allows with only very few restrictions.
Folks like to load their own black powder cartridges, or use lower pressure modern powders like Trail Boss etc...
Muzzle loading hunting with new inline rifle technology has also grown tremendously with new primer and ignition systems and powders, including a smokeless substitute powder and specialty inlines that use real smokeless rifle cartridge powders.
Some dedicated inline shooters have learned how to get better hunting and target performance from their single shots than they can develop with modern cartridge technology.
Regarding the growth of these forms of "retro" revolver and rifle shooting sports, many folks either totally or partially give up their centerfire guns in order to concentrate on what they enjoy shooting the most. And time and time again as folks grow older they often move into shooting black powder era guns and reproductions.
There's hundreds of models of muzzle loaders and black powder cartridge guns that folks love to collect and fire. Large numbers of dedicated people around the world reenact famous battles of their own country's black powder era wars on a regular basis just as we do in the U.S..
And since these types of guns are the most plentiful and least restricted in country after country, then it's clear that the future of old technology is continued growth.
And as the populations of developed countries keep growing older, the tradition of black powder shooting will never die out.
Some people legally make their own black powder at home. And since retired people have less disposal income, they would rather not spend as much money on centerfire ammunition either.
Cabela's sells tons of these guns and have built a small empire of multi-million dollar stores in the process.
Some folk own 5 - 10 or more cap & ball revolvers. And this is not just in the U.S. but world wide.
So while some parts of society look forward to new shooting technology, an ever growing segment of the population is looking backward, fueling the growth of old black powder technology being incorporated into even more new reproductions and models.
 
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I think caseless rifles like the G11 will be next.
Anything else will never really be a major leap.

Everything I've heard about the G11 and its caseless ammo seemed to have worked perfect and be a huge leap forward, but was just dropped.
Even over coming ammo cook off and being water proof.

If you really think about it there has hardly been any really major changes since the maxim gun, everything else is just making improvements.
 
I don't know about caseless rounds. Civilians don't really get as much out of it as the military does.

It's a lot shorter of a step towards LSAT style plastic cased telescoped rounds, for example.
 
I don't really think civilians would have any use for major changes to small arm design.

Only new bullet and powder design would really make make any difference.
If you consider the influence that bulpup design or new high bc 6.5mm bullet design, the bullet design has a much larger influence on the civilian market.

The needs of civilian and military small arms are a lot different.

I think ARs/AKs/Rem 700s and what not will still be around.
You see plenty of people still using black powder rifles, and the same with archery/bow hunting, both of which is still popular despite being outdated.

Although sharp sticks and boomerangs aren't overly common any more.
 
all the big revelations of the gun industry for the last decade have been mere modifications in material and finishing to designs that were well, patented no later then 1960-1961.

the handgun world, the only actual cartridge development that was NOT for custom wildcatters has been the 357 sig, 40 sw, and the 45 gap. only the 40 sw is a common round by any means.

in rifles, its been wildcatting on a grand scale. just ways to get 30-06 or 300 winchester performance into a slightly shorter case so people will get suckered into buying a new rifle.

when you get down to it,

its been 20 years since an actual revelation in handgun ammunition happened
60 years for rifle ammunition
and maybe 50 years since the glock material revolution.
 
I think the cartridge gun is here to stay for a while. The trend in military right now is towards drones and other remote controlled things. Add in the budget cuts coming to military over the coming years. There's an old saying "If it's not broke don't fix it", and I think it applies here pretty well.

However, I do think you will see materials improve as guns get lighter and smaller. I'm sure projectiles will keep getting better too, but I wouldn't expect much change in the powder cartridge gun in the next 50 years.
 
I participated in another similar thread recently and my thoughts agreed with that about materials. Plastic slides mostly.

I'll add this: with the smart phone craze a lot of the novelty is integrating various digital devices. Camera to microphone to speaker to GPS to Internet to cellular / radio signal. This may be of use to the armed forces and less so to civilians: a GPS and Compass inside standard issue long arms to determine where each soldier is and what direction he is discharging rounds towards. Especially if a program could be written to compile every soldier's data in an area superimposed on a map. My cell phone already knows my vague location and what direction I'm facing. It's a bit scary. they could save money and use Google Maps :)

That is unless this is already being done through other means and not new.
 
It's a lot shorter of a step towards LSAT style plastic cased telescoped rounds, for example.
Click to expand...

And these in fact are being evaluated by US military. It would lighten the load of the soldiers, but the downside is that there would not be heat removed from the gun with each ejected brass case. So, in a firefight, the guns overheat faster.

I don't think those plastic rounds will be adopted for some time, if ever.

Bart Noir
 
Rail gun, if they can ever get the battery packs small enough. Shouldn't take more than another century of electronics technology improvement...
 
Quite a few of the modern military small arms these days have a battery pack incorporated into the gun to run different attachments that need batteries.

I think they could probably incorporate some sort of little screen in the stock that folds out to watch movies on when the M4s jammed up in combat and the solider has nothing better to do.
Or an Ipod dock, you never do know when your ipod is going to go flat.
 
Hey, I came up with the idea of an I-Gun. Cellphone, internet and gun all in one device. However, I thought it might look a little strange holding a gun to your head and talking to it. Ehhh, on second thought.....:D
 
We will have the Lassiter laser pistol but for several hundred years most folks will continue to use pump shotguns, dressed up Mini 14s, revolvers and lever action rifles.
 
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