Re: [DL][OT-ish] Interesting Thought: World without Gunpowder

["Daniel Gwyn" <dgwyn@colba.net>]

Hi,
    I came across a reference to airguns being used by the military:
"Girandoni air-rifle...the only airgun to see official use in battle. It was
a 20-shot repeater of 13 mm (.51 in) caliber, in limited use with Austrian
sharpshooters from 1793 to 1801.  ... effective range of about 130 yd
(120m)." Weapons, published by St. Martin's Press..
    The book suggests that airguns were relatively common in the 18th and
19th centuries.  I just remembered that in "The Return of Sherlock Holmes",
"Tiger" Moran uses an air rifle to carry out murder silently.
          Daniel
"Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all."
     Hamlet, Act III, scene i.

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Frempath2@netscape.net <Frempath2@netscape.net>
À : deadlands@gamerz.net <deadlands@gamerz.net>
Date : October 24, 2002 6:15 PM
Objet : RE: [DL][OT-ish] Interesting Thought: World without Gunpowder


>Other alternatives would have come along.
>Lewis and Clark took an air rifle with them for game hunting.  Roughly .40
caliber if I remember correctly.  So compressed air or something else would
have come along.
>
>Kevin Jameson
>
>"Wangenstein " <wangenstein@mad.scientist.com> wrote:
>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>Earlier today, a friend and I were discussing history, and I brought up
the notion of a world where gunpowder was never discovered/simply didn't
work/etc.
>>
>>Then we started thinking about not just what would be different (no guns,
no cannons, no artillery, advances in blade/bow/other non-gunpowder based
weapons, etc.), but what would be the same (indoor plumbing, computers,
automobiles, etc.). We thought that tanks and such would be armored,
motorized siege engines, and cities like New York, San Francisco and
Washington D.C. would be based around old castles, which would have been
built for far longer if cannon didn't exist.
>>
>>It wasn't a case of Middle Ages meets modern day, just advancing
technology along its logical line, with gunpowder removed. For example,
troops today might use swords made from an automated process based upon
Japanese swordmaking techniques, perhaps with titanium edges sharpened using
a laser. The world's armies might still have archer corps, or use crossbows
fed with spring loaded bolt-clips and a bowstring pulled back automatically
by a wound spring. Of course, flamethrowers would still work, and perhaps
technology would advance to the point where military 'paint-ball' guns would
carry chemical agents like napalm, pepper spray, etc. (Imagine gelatin
capsules filled with mustard gas being used during WWI!)
>>
>>Anyhow, this was just a conversation I thought might be an interesting
creative exercise for you. Think about how the lack of gunpowder would
affect the Civil War and the development of the Weird West. Think about how
weapons and warfare might have developed if swords/bows/etc. had continued
as Man's primary weapons, and a new sword- or armor-making technique was a
vital military secret.
>>
>>Derek D. Bass
>>Etheric Musings - The Science of the Sons of Ether
>>http://www.steamenginechaos.com/mage/ether.htm
>>--
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