Sidearm

[ShadowEnigma]

Well after doing a quick search of the forums I didn't see any threads about this, so I decided we should have one. =P

What does everyone think of the sidearms in the show? I was wondering about one specifically, the first handgun we see in Miniseries and Season 1. I found an interesting article on it, but I was curious what anyone else may know about it.

http://www.hellinahandbasket.net/2007/08/the_guns_of_battlestargalactic.htm

[Kregano]

I found the first season sidearm to be a real sign that the Colonials were serious about being prepared to take on Cylons. I really wish that the prop department had made the effort to make some of the other guns look unique, particularly the rifles. I wanted to see a pulse rifle :( .

[ShadowEnigma]

*wonders how the pistol is reloaded*

[Kregano]

Theoretically, there could be a magazine in the grip (I've seen a fanart schematic with one). The explosive rounds might be loaded through the slots on the side, as seen in this pic:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj292/kregano/pistol_side.jpg

[alpha5099]

I always preferred the first season design. I've read that they're supposed to be modeled after the gun in Blade Runner (one of my favorite films), which might explain why I liked them so much. The redesigned guns just seemed much less interesting.

[ShadowEnigma]

The explosive rounds I'm almost 100% are muzzle loaded. The grip seems pretty small to load a clip into.

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

I seem to recall that the switch was made between the Blade Runner gun and to the regular gun because the latter was cheaper to outfit and maintain. (The parts being available in the real world, whereas the "Blade Runner gun" was custom built.) Understandable, but a bit regrettable at the same time.

[Osprey]

darn, it's almost like they under some sort of reasonable production budget or sumtin' ...
:-)

[Kregano]

I was rather disappointed that the season 1 sidearm was not really utilized in Razor besides the one flashback scene. I'm not sure whether they were trying to avoid confusing casual fans, but I always assumed that the season 2 sidearm was the same gun, so seeing Cain using the "Colonial clamshell" to Belzin away would've been nice.

[buerger23]

if anybody wanted to know what the main gun that the marines use its the Cx4 Storm and the pistol that boomer gets a hold of in home, part II is a stallion pepperbox

[ShadowEnigma]

And from Season 2 on they use the FN Five-seveN with rocket attachment instead of the season 1 sidearm.

There are also guest appearances from the Skorpion, UMP, Thompson, Mp9, P90, Mp7, Tec 9, SA 80, Remington 700 (I wish I had one), and many others.

But I'm still curious as to how they load the gun. I know the attachment launcher loads from the muzzle. I'm just wondering if the side opens or if those slots on the sides right above the handle are loading slots or something.

[Lestat]

aside from budget considerations we might assume that it is very dangerous to have assault weapons loaded with explosive rounds on a starship , but if there are two kinds of weapons those for ground combat with longer range and high potential charge in the rounds and a less powerful weapon to be used onboard a starship, you know if a bullet hit the hull or a vital circuit it would be very dangerous , not to mention all the damage an explosive round could do. When they were boarded by the cylons in fact the explosive rounds were locked and the regular bullets useless.Also Adama couldn't survive if Boomer hit him with two explosive bullets.
So for show's sake let's assume they now use sidearms designed to be used on starships

[buerger23]

i found out that my rem. 700 actually has the same stock as the one used in resistance

[buerger23]

the five seven is a bottom loaded magazine pistol so we can assume that it loads that way in the show

[ShadowEnigma]

buerger23, I'm not discussing the Five-SeveN. I'm talking about the gun from the miniseries and season 1.

As to the explosive rounds, I would assume only a few if anymore then 1 or 2 would ever be carried by even the marines at one time. That's something that would be locked away under normal circumstances.

[buerger23]

okay because its just how u said it FN (which is a real company) and Five seven which is a real pistol i didn't understand but i still think that the pistol would be magazine loaded from the bottom of the pistol

[buerger23]

http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Image:OldPistol_Resistance.JPG

this shows that there would be room in the grip and there doesn't look like a hell of alot of room to put the magazine anywhere else in the pistol

[ShadowEnigma]

That isn't really proof. That's a side shot of the gun. I know the gun model was based off of a revolver. Maybe it's supposed to have a revolving cylinder in the inside or something, who knows. I was hoping they'd actually reload it at some point on the show, but I guess they haven't since they probably don't know the answer either.

[Dwyn2435]

I was rather disappointed that the season 1 sidearm was not really utilized in Razor besides the one flashback scene. I'm not sure whether they were trying to avoid confusing casual fans, but I always assumed that the season 2 sidearm was the same gun, so seeing Cain using the "Colonial clamshell" to Belzin away would've been nice.

I'm thinking of it this way: Say perhaps the Clamshell was an older service model, and the FN FiveseveN was a newer service pistol, thus why Cain and the Pegasus would have them. Maybe the Galactica only had a few hundred of the newer pistols, and the people who served on the Galactica maybe prefered the older Clamshell model.

Just a guess?

[ShadowEnigma]

I'd prefer the clamshell, I think it looks nicer =P

[Kregano]

I'd rather just pretend the Five-seveN's are the same as the clamshells. That way I won't have to rationalize them using pistol rounds with poor stopping power (aside from the explosive rounds) and that look foolish. Also, it would allow us to say that the Cx4 rifles and the UMPs can share ammo, easing logistics. Although I must admit, I wish they used Spectre M4s instead of UMPs- they can be easily dressed up to look futuristic (as seen in I, Robot).

[ShadowEnigma]

I'd rather just pretend the Five-seveN's are the same as the clamshells. That way I won't have to rationalize them using pistol rounds with poor stopping power (aside from the explosive rounds) and that look foolish.

Well I can see why they would be weak against the cylons. They Cylons probably would want to design their fighters to be able to withstand shots like that, similarly how modern day military kevlar can protect against rounds like that.

And are you saying the clamshell if foolish looking?

I wish they used Spectre M4s instead of UMPs- they can be easily dressed up to look futuristic (as seen in I, Robot).

That may be a reason why not to use it though. For as much as they are 'advanced' they also compare to us modern day as well. I think the feel of battlestar wouldn't be as good if they used guns that would look too futuristic.

[Kregano]

Actually, I was talking about the Five-seveN's looking really foolish. But having some guns with fiberglass casings around them to evoke an M41A Pulse Rifle feel would reinforce the idea that the Colonials were a society separate from humanity on Earth. And depending if the prop department stuck on a grenade launcher, it wouldn't make the Colonial military look as incompetent as they appear to be on the show.

[ShadowEnigma]

Why do you believe the Colonial Military is incompetent?

[JDS]

I know this is an unpopular view, but I never liked the Season 1 clamshell gun as much as the Five seveN + launcher. The shape just doesn't work for me...it looks awkward. Why the wooden grips? Mass-produced modern military small arms do not use wood. However it's reloaded, it looks like it would necessarily be less efficient than a drop-down magazine in the grip. And as the article points out, it has no ironsights!

The Five Seven isn't ideal, because it's just a regular production firearm with a "launcher" tacked on, but at least I don't see it and think "WTF, why are they using that? I'd hate to have to shoot that!"

There are also guest appearances from the Skorpion, UMP, Thompson, Mp9, P90, Mp7, Tec 9, SA 80, Remington 700 (I wish I had one), and many others.I think I've seen G36s more than once, definitely a good choice for wasting Cylons:thumbsup:

[ShadowEnigma]

Yeah, I wouldn't disagree with that. The Clamshell would probably be slow to reload. But I love the size, and the wood grips just make it all the better looking.

The five-seven just looks a little off with such a big launcher tacked on it.

[JDS]

I actually think the size (or rather, shape?) is a particularly bad thing, the primary barrel seems to be too high. I mean the rocket launcher would probably be a joy to shoot, but actually firing the gun would be miserable.

[ShadowEnigma]

I don't think it is too high. It doesn't look like it would be any higher then a revolver's barrel. I don't think the gun is as bad as you think. It's probably about the same size and shape of a medium sized revolver. I've shot one or two (medium sized revolvers, unfortunately not clamshells) revolvers and they are a real blast (no pun intended) to shoot.