FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

Let's talk about Vera

POSTED BY: ZICSOFT
UPDATED: Thursday, October 10, 2002 12:15
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Saturday, October 5, 2002 9:14 AM

ZICSOFT


It's been over a day since "Our Miss Reynolds" aired, and Jeff Timm still hasn't posted his usual firearm summary. Jeff, you're falling down on the job!

What I don't get is why Jayne doesn't own a gun that will shoot in a vacuum. Shouldn't be that hard to design. The loads would have to have a built in oxidizer of course, since gunpowder needs oxygen to burn. But how hard is that? They do it with solid-fuel rockets.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

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Saturday, October 5, 2002 9:25 AM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


I don't know much about guns (I'm an archer), but wouldn't it be possible to use an airsoft gun with an explosive tipped bullet or something?

Take a look at these:

http://www.airsoftpro.net/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code
=AP


I have a friend who is really into this stuff as a hobby. And some of the guns he has looks and feels like the real thing.

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Saturday, October 5, 2002 12:01 PM

DELVO


Well, no, it isn't hard to design; Hayne even said that there are cases that this kind of gun can be accessorized with that would take care of this, and he just doesn't have one.

As for why he wouldn't have one... there's probably very little use for it, and it could be expensive. Things in space tend to be very far apart and moving very fast relative to each other, which makes aiming many times harder even when in range at all, which is seldom, which makes shooting bullets (instead of missiles that can steer themselves) impractical most of the time. Also, what would the targets in space be? A ship, which is very big and almost certainly designed with little planetoids/asteroids (which move multiple times faster than a bullet) in mind? Or are we talking about investing a lot of money just on the offchance that you and someone you want to shoot will happen to end up in spacesuits in space within range while you happen to have the gun with you? It turned out to be useful here, but we can presume the giant electrocutor's exposed circuit breakers are not a common feature on space ships because most of them don't need to generate such giant electrical forces, especially not outside themselves.

Also, it's possible that he's got some little antipersonnel (as opposed to antiship) guns that will fire in a vaccuum, but they didn't have the power (or maybe ammo that goes boom) of Vera.

Personally, I'm far more concerned about the electrical bolts in a vaccuum, flickering and jagged like lightning bolts that get that way by taking the momentary path of least resistance through the atmosphere.

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Saturday, October 5, 2002 12:16 PM

LIVINGIMPAIRED


Besides, if Vera was able to fire in a vaccuum, then Jayne wouldn't have gotten that spiffy line to the effect of: "See, Vera? You dress up nice, you get to go to nice places."

________________

"You still don't get it. It's not about right, not about wrong... It's about Power." —Morph-O-Monster, "Lessons"

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Saturday, October 5, 2002 1:48 PM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by Zicsoft:
It's been over a day since "Our Miss Reynolds" aired, and Jeff Timm still hasn't posted his usual firearm summary. Jeff, you're falling down on the job!


Ok, OK! My wife insisted we order the stuff for her new com, get the shlepson his own burner, get her birthday present two months early...and then I had to reimage my computer to get rid of all the feldercarb my shlepson left on it.

Quote:


What I don't get is why Jayne doesn't own a gun that will shoot in a vacuum.


Jayne may own a weapon that shoots in vacuum, but Vera (I don't name my weapons but nobodies perfect) appears to be Jaynes heaviest weapon. I assume it had to be kept in pressure because of lubricants and perhaps leaky cartridges. I suspect because of the design it's firing very large (they looked like 15-20mm rounds) and powerful projectiles. I assume it's not easy to knock out components of a massive vaccuum array.

Let's face facts folks. If Jayne can shoot like that under the worst of circumstances, I'm on HIS side, whichever or whatever it is!

Jeff
Who needs more practice, but my wife spent all my range money today.

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Saturday, October 5, 2002 2:03 PM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by Haken:
I don't know much about guns (I'm an archer), but wouldn't it be possible to use an airsoft gun with an explosive tipped bullet or something?



Actually we have a weapon that would be at home in vacuum. The Gyrojet pistol and carbine. The just didn't work so well in atmosphere. An ordinary revolver would work in vaccuum, but the extreams of temperature and pressure changes would quickly render it unusable, by distorting the parts, and damaging the ammunition, which was packaged under 15 PSI. I am impressed that the writers know this. I'd like to meet their tech team!

Jeff
Who notes several underwater weapons might be effective in vaccuum.

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Saturday, October 5, 2002 2:08 PM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by Delvo:
Personally, I'm far more concerned about the electrical bolts in a vaccuum, flickering and jagged like lightning bolts that get that way by taking the momentary path of least resistance through the atmosphere.



When they were talking about a net, I assumed some kind of plasma held in place by some advanced means. We can't handle plasma well enough to build a fusion reactor. But, we can use electrical discharge for machining metal with very precise control.

Jeff
Who suspects the FFU has fusion or better.

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Saturday, October 5, 2002 2:48 PM

RINGWRAITH


I did get the name of the gun he was using, a "Callahan." I'm thinking that's a reference to the "Dirty Harry" series; that or Joss thought it was a good name for a weapons company.

Now all we need is for Jayne to own a Smith & Wesson Model 29.


************************************************
"How will this end?"
"In fire."
--Babylon 5, 'The Coming of Shadows'
************************************************

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Saturday, October 5, 2002 5:18 PM

BUGDOG


My husband, Eric, being quite the gun-nut, is in love with Jayne. In a guy sort of way, you know? Hell, I thought Eric was going to cry when they first showed a six-shooter (he's recently become interested in cowboy shooting) and I don't think I've ever seen anyone happier about the lack of RayGuns on a TV show.

Of course, we've both been very impressed with the silent explosions, etc, but the rifle not firing in space thing was inspired. We actually talked about that for quite sometime. Might there enough oxygen inside the ammo to still let it fire? Can you vacuum pack rounds or otherwise seal them with enough oxygen to fire? Heh, it was fun and an all new topic to discuss! (Woohoo! New things to talk about! How cool is that?)

~bugdog


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Saturday, October 5, 2002 9:13 PM

ZICSOFT


Aha! Gun enthusiasts will save Firefly from cancellation! I guess I better drop out of the conspiracy to void the second amendment...

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

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Sunday, October 6, 2002 12:25 AM

LOONYTOON


tinytimm, most underwater projectiles are stabilized by a cavitation bubble, therefore would be unstable in a vacuum. I imagine a selfpropelled large bore, such as used in the U.S. OICW(Objective Individual Combat Weapon) is probably what vera was firing. My $.02

P.S. I like Zoe`s 1887 winchester sawed off! Nice to see a sci-fi show with real guns!

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Sunday, October 6, 2002 1:19 AM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by Ringwraith:
Now all we need is for Jayne to own a Smith & Wesson Model 29.



He seems to favor the Taurus.

Jeff
Who favors the Ruger.

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Sunday, October 6, 2002 1:23 AM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Aha! Gun enthusiasts will save Firefly from cancellation! I guess I better drop out of the conspiracy to void the second amendment



Sigh. It's already void. Because Gun Grabber Goons like Teddy "No honest Judges in Federal Courts EVER!" Kennedy are banning them piecemeal. Kennedy is a criminal who can't even BUY a weapon in this country. Doesn't keep him from being a Senator though. Strange Double Standard.

Jeff
Who swore an oath to defend the constitution, so did Kennedy.

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Sunday, October 6, 2002 3:58 AM

RINGWRAITH


My wife and I were also discussing that and she figured that there would be just enough air left in the suit to fire off one or two more rounds. The air shouldn't all escape in micro seconds.

Thought it was a neat solution (rather low-tech) to a high-tech problem.

************************************************
"How will this end?"
"In fire."
--Babylon 5, 'The Coming of Shadows'
************************************************

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Sunday, October 6, 2002 4:19 AM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by loonytoon:
tinytimm, most underwater projectiles are stabilized by a cavitation bubble, therefore would be unstable in a vacuum. I imagine a selfpropelled large bore, such as used in the U.S. OICW(Objective Individual Combat Weapon) is probably what vera was firing. My $.02

P.S. I like Zoe`s 1887 winchester sawed off! Nice to see a sci-fi show with real guns!


Actually, I was thinking of the HK multi-barrel pistol. With rocket assisted projectiles and sealed against vacuum this might be viable. The cartridges on Vera looked 15 - 20 mm. Spin stabalized rocket projectiles would be my guess.

Jeff
Who notes the cut down Winchester is a bit slow to reload, because she hasn't enough stock to manipulate the lever action quickly.

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Sunday, October 6, 2002 10:36 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

Originally posted by Ringwraith:
My wife and I were also discussing that and she figured that there would be just enough air left in the suit to fire off one or two more rounds. The air shouldn't all escape in micro seconds.

Thought it was a neat solution (rather low-tech) to a high-tech problem.

I would think that if they turned up the air supply all the way, they could maintain enough pressure for Vera to operate even with air rushing out the bullet holes. They could hook up the suit to the ship's air supply and thus not worry about running out.

Interesting that Vera makes such small holes when she obviously packs such a punch. But perhaps the visor material is stronger than anything we have access to.

I still think Jayne should have some kind of case for firing Vera in a vacuum. The muzzle end could have some kind of self-sealing force field, like the bar window in "The Train Job." Perhaps he'll ask Kaylee to rig something up once she's finished patching Saffron's hacks.

Speaking of whom, nobody thought to ask Inara if her academy offers courses in infiltration and sabotage. If not, you have to wonder where Saffron picked up these skills. Or maybe there's more to the Companion Guild than meets the eye!

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

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Sunday, October 6, 2002 10:39 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

Originally posted by TinyTimm:
Jeff
Who swore an oath to defend the constitution, so did Kennedy.

Good old Teddie. The poster child for fuzzy-headed liberalism! If he didn't exist, the Right would have to invent him.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

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Sunday, October 6, 2002 10:54 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

Originally posted by loonytoon:
tinytimm, most underwater projectiles are stabilized by a cavitation bubble, therefore would be unstable in a vacuum. I imagine a selfpropelled large bore, such as used in the U.S. OICW(Objective Individual Combat Weapon) is probably what vera was firing. My $.02

Found a link for the OICW (on a Russian site!). Talk about a gun fancier's wet dream.
http://world.guns.ru/assault/as40-e.htm

Two problems with loonytoon's scenario. First, an OICW 20mm round is basicaly a kind of grenade. Not very effective without air to propage the initial explosion. Second, Vera's muzzle seems to be much smaller than that. But I suppose if you were going to design a weapon for smashing electrodes on a huge deep-space device, a large-bore kinetic-round rifle would be just the thing.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

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Sunday, October 6, 2002 9:33 PM

REXRAYGUN


Quote:

Originally posted by Zicsoft:

I still think Jayne should have some kind of case for firing Vera in a vacuum. The muzzle end could have some kind of self-sealing force field, like the bar window in "The Train Job." Perhaps he'll ask Kaylee to rig something up once she's finished patching Saffron's hacks.



I just watched the episode again, and they did, in fact, mention such a case, but Jayne simply did not have one. I think he might want to pick one up the next time he comes across one, to save on suits.



Rex!

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Monday, October 7, 2002 12:55 AM

LOONYTOON


zicsoft, what I ment was that a selfpropelled, barrel imparted, spin-stabilized round would be the most effective. I think the gyrojet pistol or carbine would be just as ineffective in space as on the ground. The reason being this. On a round that is spun by rifling in the barrel, manufacturing defects on the barrel will effect every round the same way, while with a round like the gyrojet that is spun by canted gasports on it base, its flight will be effected by the slightest defect, so every round flys a bit differently. Not a good thing in space where distances would regulurly be well over several miles. And no exploding round short of a nuclear weapon could operate very efficiently in space.

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Tuesday, October 8, 2002 8:14 PM

SHUGGIE


Quote:

Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Interesting that Vera makes such small holes when she obviously packs such a punch. But perhaps the visor material is stronger than anything we have access to.



From "Bushwhacked"

Quote:

Simon: I suppose it's just the though of a little mylar and glass being the only thing that separates a person from nothing


Shug

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Tuesday, October 8, 2002 8:40 PM

LOONYTOON


I just re-watched the ep and have two thoughts.
If you look carefully, It shows where the cartridges are stored on the rifle, pointing up, so you have to use the cartridges as a cheek rest. They appear to be approx. .50 caliber straight wall brass cased. They might have used straightwall sharps rounds as props(.50-90 perhaps?). If those rounds were modernized with smokeless powder and exotic bullets(depleted uranium would be fun) with a rimless design, they could be devastating within 200 yards. Judging from the reflex sights, it is not a long range weapon, and the huge muzzle brake would tell us it is an extremely powerful round.Possibly on the scale of a .50bmg, but probably not seeing how little recoil it appeared to have. Anywho, I want one!

an armed society is a polite society

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Wednesday, October 9, 2002 4:41 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

they could be devastating within 200 yards
Or in an airless, gravityless environment, at any distance at all.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

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Wednesday, October 9, 2002 6:49 AM

REXRAYGUN


Quote:

Originally posted by TinyTimm:
Let's face facts folks. If Jayne can shoot like that under the worst of circumstances, I'm on HIS side, whichever or whatever it is!



Agreed! And the guy never even looked down the sights, managed to take out the array and put five rounds through the window, even though Mal told him it wasn't a priority. I guess Jayne felt it was.

Rex!

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Wednesday, October 9, 2002 6:54 AM

REXRAYGUN


Quote:

Originally posted by loonytoon:
I just re-watched the ep and have two thoughts.
If you look carefully, It shows where the cartridges are stored on the rifle, pointing up, so you have to use the cartridges as a cheek rest. They appear to be approx. .50 caliber straight wall brass cased. They might have used straightwall sharps rounds as props(.50-90 perhaps?). If those rounds were modernized with smokeless powder and exotic bullets(depleted uranium would be fun) with a rimless design, they could be devastating within 200 yards. Judging from the reflex sights, it is not a long range weapon, and the huge muzzle brake would tell us it is an extremely powerful round.Possibly on the scale of a .50bmg, but probably not seeing how little recoil it appeared to have. Anywho, I want one!



Well, We couldn't clearly see if Jayne was braced, since they never showed his back, but recoil in a vacuumwould be equal in the opposite direct, wouldn't it? SO, if he was braced, I'd think he could take much more recoil in a vacuum than planetside, maybe even increasing the effective distance of the round.

Just my dos pesos,

Rex!

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Wednesday, October 9, 2002 7:30 AM

REXRAYGUN


TinyTimm,

I read your article on the weapons of FF, and really liked it. You may want to add, a la "Vera," that the big pistol and knife have names too.

This is from the cast interview available athttp:// www.fireflyfans.net/feature.asp?f=27

"AB: Oh, yeah. [Reaching into the case] That's my prop guy, Rick. [Pulls a big pistol out of the case.] This is Boomer. [Opens a compartment on the gun.] This is Boomer. [Pulls out a knife and holds it next to Boomer.] This is Binky. Binky and Boomer. [Shoots at the camera] Boom."

Thanks for the hard work.

Rex!

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Wednesday, October 9, 2002 8:06 AM

JOHNNYANGEL


Bugdog:

According to the crowd on The Straight Dope Message Board:

Quote:

Beautiful detail, but wrong. Guns don't need air to fire. The oxidizer is in the powder. It has to be - there's no way that just ambient air could sustain a fast enough explosion. Without an oxidizer in gunpowder, you'd just get a flammable powder, not an explosive.

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Wednesday, October 9, 2002 2:15 PM

DELVO


There's a Straight Dope forum? Where?

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Thursday, October 10, 2002 7:29 AM

LOONYTOON


That message shows how much the straight dope people know. Smokeless powder IS merely a flammable powder, it needs a enclosed space to fire. Plus, vera appears to be gas operated, I wonder if it could generate enough pressure to cycle in space. I think recoil would be ammplified in zero-g.

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Thursday, October 10, 2002 8:07 AM

QUILL


What I want to know is--what off Earth was used to break up the planetoid that the bad guys were using as a camera mount? And who did it? If that was the Alliance's way of persuading people to fall into line, I'm going to have to revise my opinion of the bureaucracy.

Inside every cynic there's an idealist desperately yearning to be let out, and when they are let out they're usually a real pain and cause all sorts of trouble. --Chris Boucher

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Thursday, October 10, 2002 11:22 AM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by loonytoon:
Smokeless powder IS merely a flammable powder, it needs a enclosed space to fire.


More specifically. It needs to be properly ignited, by a proper primer, under controlled conditions, 40,000 Copper Units of Pressure in some cases, to accelerate the projectile down a rifled barrel.

Quote:

Plus, vera appears to be gas operated, I wonder if it could generate enough pressure to cycle in space. I think recoil would be ammplified in zero-g.

The recoil wouldn't be "amplified" it just wouldn't be modified by having ones boots pressing against the surface at normal weight. It would be a pure mass ratio system. If Jayne had not been braced he would have moved the opposit direction from the path of the projectile, with equal impulse. "Is there a physicist in the house?"

Jeff
Who is too damn far from Fenn College.

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Thursday, October 10, 2002 11:36 AM

LOONYTOON


You said what I meant, just a little more detailed. Recoil wouldn`t be amplified, but it would seem such when you go zipping across the room!

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Thursday, October 10, 2002 12:15 PM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by RexRaygun:
Agreed! And the guy never even looked down the sights, managed to take out the array and put five rounds through the window, even though Mal told him it wasn't a priority. I guess Jayne felt it was.



Ammo is only good if you USE it. If long exposure to vacuum would make the ammo unreliable then expending it instead of throwing it away is the most efficient use of resources. "I couldn't detect the target, so I left my bombs on Berlin." Unknown A/C Commander RAF Bomber command, early WWII.

Jeff
Who notes you tailor your ammo load to the mission profile. Cross reference: 'No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.'

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