What exactly is an Automatic?

Adventures in Firearms

I'm a self described "gun guy". I'm also a RPG guy. Sometimes these two sides of me are somewhat at odds with the other. Having taken several shooting classes and practicing and teaching self defense and martial arts has given me different view of combat as compared to what I see in most RPGs, especially 5^th edition Shadowrun. I've played SR since 1^st edition, and have always loved the world and feel of the world they have built. I have an on again off again relationship with the various rule sets that it's been played with, but this is the first time I've thought about making a Home Rule Set for firearms. I may mess with combat in general later, but there are some parts of the firearms rules that out and out stink.

My first grump: Clips.

Holy Crap, how hard is it? Clips are the metallic devices that hold loaded cartridges (not bullets) on the left. Magazines like on the right are boxes that hold loaded cartridges and are placed into weapons. Technically, these are detachable Box magazines, as there are also Internal Box magazines that are usually charged with clips and are not able to be removed as in the SKS  (Yes, you can get detachable MAGAZINES for the SKS, but it's not common, nor the original design of the weapon).

Every time I see this in the main rule book, I sigh. PAY someone who gives a shit about firearms to help you with the firearms part of your game. Better yet, pay someone who shoots and is knowledgeable about it.

"Automatics"

WTF are automatics? Honestly. I think it's basically a way to have a gimme skill and not have to worry about having all sorts of combat skills but being flexible enough to have a concealed machine pistol and an assault rifle in the trunk but only one skill to spend between them. Basically saving skill points for characters, but giving them flexibility. Well, I hate to disappoint folks, but if you know the care and feeding of an Uzi (a submachine gun) you may not have the foggiest how to run a Beretta 93 (a machine pistol), much less a SCAR (as assault rifle). Now, I know, certain concessions have to be made in games. Here, let me suggest some changes that make sense.

Machine pistols vs Sub Machine Guns vs Pistols

It is generally accepted that there are two kinds of hand guns in common use. Revolvers  and Pistols. Simply put, a revolver stores it's ammunition in a revolving cylinder and a pistol uses a magazine. Revolvers are either cocked by the trigger pull , or by manually moving the hammer to the rearward position. Pistols are called semiautomatic because they fire one shot for each trigger pull and loading of rounds into the chamber happens because of their mechanics and inertia of the fired ammunition. For the record, there are no firearms generally called "Automatics". Yes, I know about the Mateba. It's a mutant. A cool mutant, but it isn't covered in the game anyways. It would break it.

Machine pistols are usually burst fire or sometimes fully automatic capable pistols. The Beretta 93  is a selective fire pistol that has an almost identical manual of arms (how you use it) to it's older brother the model 92. My problem with "Automatics" being it's own beast is that in real life if you can run a Beretta 92 (A Pistol), you will be able to run the 93 (A Machine Pistol). Glock has a similar full auto fire capable model the Glock 18  that, other than a selector switch, is identical to the 17. Some machine pistols like the above Ceska have folding stocks, or like the Stechkin have a stock that can be attached, in the case of the Stechkin using it's holster to attack to the pistol grip.

Submachine guns, a phrase coined by the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, are firearms that usually shoot pistol caliber ammunition. Most are select fire, meaning they are capable of semiautomatic, burst fire, or fully automatic operation. They are generally shaped like short assault rifles with a pistol grip and forward magazine. Their shape varies wildly such as the Mac-10  that feeds through the pistol grip in the manner of the pistol, or bullpup style (Action sits behind the fire control group) such as the P90  or even the PPSh  that's shaped like a conventional rifle (no pistol grip) but is select fire and fires a pistol caliber bullet.

In rare occasions, submachine guns that are quite small, like the Ceska Scorpion  or Mini Uzi  are considered machine pistols mainly because they can be held in a pistol sized holster.

In even more rare occasions, extremely short barreled assault rifles are sometimes considered submachine guns like the Krinkov . This is basically because of the very short barrel effecting the range so dramatically and the relative size as compared to the service rifle that it's derived from.

With the above exception, all three classes fire pistol caliber ammunition from a magazine. Pistols and Machine pistols are almost the same thing. I'd class Machine pistols as a feature of some pistols, not a distinct class in Game Terms. In fact I'd go so far as to say that in the future of Shadowrun where the arms race is so severe and firearms are much less regulated or at least more pervasive, most pistols would have at least burst fire capability. It's a simple mechanical design, and the increased emergency firepower available would be a great benefit.

Submachine guns generally have longer barrels and are fired from the shoulder unless you watch too many movies, so generally they are easier to fire because of their longer sight radius and more stable support as opposed to pistols or machine pistols held with one or two hands. Most submachine guns are very similar to larger assault rifles, often being derived from them as the above Krinkov.

My Suggested House Rule

Choose several high end pistols to have the burst fire machine pistol feature for an additional 100 Nuyen and the select fire feature for another 250 Nuyen. It's not expensive tech. Weapons listed as machine Pistols are treated as light pistols. Ignore the Machine pistol range table, as it's identical to the light pistol entry anyway.

Continue to use the folding stock or attachable stock rules as written, both for recoil compensation as well as concealability. Decide if any converted pistols have available attachable stocks or even folding stocks.

Availability should stay the same, as I said, this would likely be a common feature of pistols in the future of Shadowrun.

I think it won't break the game, and here's why.  Thematically, real shooters will likely have pistols for concealable firepower or as sidearms and "Automatics" (submachine guns or assault rifles or Longarms) for when the tough gets going and the pink mohawks come out.

Machine pistols will allow Shadowrunners the ability to put the hammer down when they need to even if they snuck them into a dinner party.  The thing that will prevent things from being Over Powered is the dismal range of the pistol and the relatively low ammunition capicity.  If a GM allows you to have a select fire Ares Predator and Six 33 round magazines concealed in your cummerbund, then he deserves whatever happens.  Part of why I did this in the first place was to add more realism.  You couldn't realistically carry that much ammo very easily.  I can carry a full sized Long Slide M&P 9mm and so long as I choose the right shirt and pants combo, you won't see it.  That's with a simple in waistband holster, and off the rack clothes, not custom tailored gear.  If I were to add a couple magazines, then things get sketchy.  4 more?  Not gonna happen, and those are half the length of the 33 rounders.

 Realistically, they should also have shitty control (increased recoil) in full automatic, but I'm not sure how much I want to mess with that.

I don't think the (relatively easy) availability will mess with anything either.  If anything, if will make them more desirable for folks to have, much like machine pistols currently enjoy, so not really breaking that.

I think the only thing it will mess with is now having to allocate skills to the Pistol skill.  It's a sacrifice, but an important one, I think.  For all the cries to avoid min-maxing, "Automatics" seems like a bullshit way out that allows people to have their burst fire side arm and eat their AK98 Cake too and still leave skill points to allocate to sneaking or perception.

That's my first Shadowrun 5^th edition Hole Rules suggestion.

I'll be addressing different pistol sizes and concealability in my next addition.