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PiD Weapons...things that were very, very wrong...
Posted By: Jonathan TennantDate: 1/31/07 3:55 p.m.

Some weapon examination I did on PiD...some of it was obvious to me, but some was so obscure I had to do a little research. Turns out the inaccuracies were quite glaring at times.

First: The M-16

"This is a magazine of 7.62mm rounds for the M-16."
Since when? All military AR family members are chambered for 5.56x45mm (AKA .223). Though there are civilian models available in .308 (7.62x51mm, AKA 7.62mm NATO), there has never, to my knowledge, been a military AR in anything but 5.56mm. Second, the M-16 would be a really crappy choice, in my opinion. Now, I'm not fond of AR's at all myself, but the proper selection for this type of mission (totally indoors, close range fighting) would be the M4 Carbine. Not only is it shorter and better suited to close combat, but it also has full automatic fire instead of three round burst.

Next up: The M-79 Grenade Launcher

The first M-79 GL's were delivered to the US Army in 1961. A very crude weapon by modern standards, they have been almost totally replaced by underbarrel systems (namely the M203). Modern uses of the M-79 have been extremely rare for a long time, and it was surprising to see some being dusted off for clearing IED's in the latest Iraq conflict. So, when you have an alien situation that has to be contained, best equip your soldiers with weapons systems that have been out of mainline service for a couple decades or more, right?

Next up: The Colt .45

Ok, I have to say, one of my favorite weapons of all time. "The Colt .45" is the term most people know the 1911 and 1911A1 by. A very distinct pistol with a 7 round magazine (oh...of course), and legendary combat reliability. But, would you see it in PiD? Of course not...these have been out of US military service since shortly after Vietnam, when we switched to NATO standard for mainline troop weapons (now we use M9s, which is a fancy name for Beretta 92Fs made for the military). So the M9 would be more accurate? Given the situation, I'd expect a non-standard sidearm to be issued...the SOCOM AKA H&K Mk.23 mod.0. This is a large .45 ACP pistol with a 12 round magazine. This pistol usually comes complete with quick detach silencer and underbarrel laser sight attachment, though it is quite modular and can easily be customized with other addons. All in all, this is what I'd expect to go into the alien pyramid...

Next up: Relics, the Walther P4

Anyone familiar with the Walther P4? It's actually quite obscure, only 7000 were made and at least 6700 of those were for German police. The Walther P4 was basically a short barrel version of the P38 to the casual viewer, but did feature a few interesting modifications. One was a hardened steel hexagonal pin that was placed where the locking block recoiled into the frame when firing. This simple concept strengthened the aluminum alloy frame at the point where it received the greatest stress, and this was so successful that all P38 varients and weapons using the same short-recoil system were then manufactured with that pin. They also shortened the hammer which made the pistol more suitable for concealed carry, and replaced the traditional smooth trigger with a grooved one. Oh, and when were they made? From 1974 to 1982. A little late for WWII, actually. They were also assembled in France so the German police could use them (at the time they were not allowed under treaty to use German made weapons).

Next up: The Schmeisser MP-41

Again, this was not a military weapon. It was a police version of the MP-40, featuring a more traditional fixed wooden stock. The weapon we see in PiD is, obviously, not an MP-41, but an MP-40. Interesting bit of trivia, Hugo Schmeisser did NOT develop the MP-40, but he did help develop the MP-41. However, he was often associated with the MP-40 because he produced the magazines for them (thus the name Schmeisser was on every MP-40 magazine).

Next up: The AK-47

This one is really hard to screw up, honestly. Firing 7.62x39mm rounds, it is a very powerful weapon in close combat (sometimes too powerful, as the rounds often go clean through and thus do not impart their full energy into the target). The first big error is the SABOT rounds...honestly I've never seen a SABOT round for the AK, though I am sure someone has probebly made some. However, there ARE fairly common armor piercing rounds for the AK, but they are often called just that, or "steel core." They are just normal rounds with a conical steel core, not SABOT rounds. Now, the HE rounds totally blow my mind. There isn't enough room in that bullet to make anything 'highly' explosive, that's for sure. You could make crude explosive rounds by filling a hollow point bullet with mercury and capping it, but that's some serious McGyvering and not exactly safe. A hell of a lot of work too...if you want to fill whole magazines with them.

So, here are my ideas to "fix" the weapon errors.

*Replace M-16 with M4/M203 combo. Say you lost the grenades...award M-79 point upon finding the first 40mm grenade.

*Replace Colt .45 with SOCOM Mk.23 mod.0.

*Replace Walther P4 with Walther P38.

*Replace Schmeisser MP-41 with MP-40.

*Replace AK-47 SABOT rounds with AK-47 AP (Armor Piercing) rounds.

*Replace AK-47 HE rounds with AK-47 API (Armor Piercing Incendiary) rounds, which would actually seem the perfect round for use against nightmares. Then someone might actually use them...

So, if I do pull off this remake...can I trust nobody will hunt me down for making

these horrific changes?

-Jonathan

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Replies:

PiD Weapons...things that were very, very wrong...Jonathan Tennant 1/31/07 3:55 p.m.
     Re: PiD Weapons...things that were very, very wronJohannes Gunnar 1/31/07 9:23 p.m.
           Re: PiD Weapons...things that were very, very wronJonathan Tennant 2/1/07 12:27 a.m.

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