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Broomhandle45
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In any RP, be it non action oriented or not. It's likely at some point there is going to be some violent conflict. Your character might have to draw out a weapon of mighty retribution, but wait! You don't know what your weapon is? That's what this thread is for.
Ideally, this thread is going to be based on the realistic perceptions of a weapon, but that hardly means you have to follow it.
*Disclaimer: This is in no way a complied list of 100% accurate facts from me, this is based on the knowledge that I have recalled through years of obsessive weapons knowledge. I encourage people to confirm or add to this thread with their own opinions/facts, whatever and I'll hopefully add it all to the first post. Anything is subject to change.*
So then! Your character has found himself in quite the pickle of a situation, but what does he draw to protect himself and to unleash a most healthy can of asskicking? That depends on a few factors.
1.What's the technology level like? Is this fantasy, medieval, what? A firearm has many flavors, and melee weapons as well. Do not entirely rule out a melee weapon in a highly technological setting, say..lightsabers from Star Wars, or Chainswords from Warhammer 40K. Your weapon generally would fit the advancements of technology at the time, as in most settings a firearm is a very large technological advancement in warfare, to others it might just be a supplement to a longbow. Just some things to think about, weapons are always integral to a setting.
2. Personality is important, you might not think it but the weapon itself might show more about your character than you imagine. The answer isn't always so simple, either. Just because someone doesn't favor fighting doesn't mean they can't, or have the ability to do so, people make assumptions on weapons, use it to your advantage one way or the other.
3. What do you like? What do you see your character using out of that pool? There is nothing wrong with picking a weapon out of favoritism, but make it fit. If you have a princess armed with a sword, it's easy enough to say that the head of the castle guard taught her how to use it, or even she taught herself watching them train. The weapon doesn't always have to require a background change, but not every weapon is just something that can be picked up and used willy nilly, melee weapons require far more time and training to be experienced with in comparison to firearms.
4. Guns are LOUD, I doubt this needed to be explained. But in the world of action movies and video games, they hardly are. The sound makes your ears ring, especially now when many, many rifles and guns don't have the required length barrel to let the powder burn completely from the round. Indoors? They can be deafening, it is simply a fact of the modern combat world, wear hearing protection when you can help it. That's all you can do.
5. Suppressors/Silencers do not make a gun completely silent, a suppressor's main function is to reduce the super-sonic speed of bullets to subsonic levels, removing the 'crack' associated with most supersonic bullets. This generally requires subsonic ammunition to properly use a suppressor.
However, there are benefits at the onset of weaker shot power, namely that there is more room for the gasses to escape, which removes muzzle flash and increases accuracy and lowers recoil.
Some rounds, such as the .45 ACP are already subsonic..making them very good for suppressing.
--
So, you got all that out of the way. You know your character, know what you want. Know it fits the setting, super. Now comes the fun or easy part. You can make the weapon as detailed or as simple as you like, it could simply be a pistol. Or it could be a M1911A1, there is no rule saying you need detail on something your character might not have a heavy focus on, but more detail fleshes the character out and gives you a visual picture in your head.
As of right now, I'm going to discuss firearms. Later, I'll probably tackle melee weapons. But, before we get into the meat of things, there are a few more things you need to know about boomsticks before you can start becoming a tactical operator of your setting.
--
1. Shot Placement. This is the number 1, numero uno rule of firing any weapon in a defensive/offensive situation, shot placement. Center of Mass Shoot them in the goddamned chest before you start attempting to blow away brains, smaller targets in tense situations are bad things to put yourself in.
2. Automatic is not the end all solution, most weapons have a selector switch that lets them operate in semi-automatic. Controlling an automatic weapon is not difficult, but it expends ammo amazingly fast and ideally should be used in close quarter situations, if anything fire in bursts, two or three accurate shots to the chest is generally better than wasting half a magazine on auto. It's not about damage, it's about accuracy and efficiency.
3. Learn the disadvantages of your firearm, the range, the capacity, the power, everything. Do not rule out a weaker firearm over a stronger one, what do you need the gun for? Are your enemies going to be wearing body armor? Do you need something that has a high capacity and capable in close quarters? Or do you need something more balanced like an assault rifle?
4. Understand the atmosphere of the setting and plan your weapons accordingly, if it's some crazy action based RP. Having a pair of Desert Eagles is incredibly tacky, but fine. If it's something more serious and military based, pick something that isn't retarded, please. There are plenty of weapons chambered in high power calibers that aren't a giant waste of money.
--
So, now that we got that allll out of the way...we're going to come to the meat of it. Unless people request me listing our specific models, I'm going to generalize the idea here, I'll give you guys some good resources to look further into it if you're at all interested.
Handguns
Handguns are the ever popular firearm for the modern action hero, taking down scores of enemies with high powered hand cannons and duel wielding frenzies, it's stylish, it's sexy..you probably don't hit jack shit if you tried it for real.
On a more realistic aspect, Pistols are very capable self defense weapons at around 50 yards in a number of calibers, capacities and sizes. Most pistols (regardless of them being what they are,) come in three sizes, 'full sized', subcompact and compact.
Full sized are basically what it says, a fully sized pistol. The 1911A1 is a perfect example of a full sized pistol, and so is the Beretta M9. They generally are not meant to be easily concealed, and are common for open carry for police officers and military, and often for civilians.
Subcompact are smaller, built generally for people with smaller hands or just for users wanting a more compact firearm without sacrificing much in the way of ergonomics and range. The GLOCK 19 is a perfect example.
Subcompact are also known as 'mouse guns' generally these pistols are as small and compact as you can get for deep concealed carry, there are a few that are chambered for bigger pistol rounds, but most are as small as possible to give it the most concealed and lightweight construction possible. A few examples are the GLOCK 26, the Kel-Tec PF9 and the Seecamp LWS .32. These pistols are generally for very close range contact, and last resort self defense.
The pistol types:
Semi-automatics-
Generally these are the handguns you see everywhere, semi-automatics are generally of 7-20 round capacities standard, and the calibers generally differ from gun to gun although most are in a caliber that can very capably put a man down. A few good examples as above are of course the M1911, the Beretta M9 and GLOCK 17
Revolvers-
Revolvers were really the first repeating semi-automatics, starting with the Colt Single Action Army. Revolvers have a reputation for being immune to jamming, as if there is a fail to fire, you simply pull the trigger again, and their actions are not mechanically powered, and therefore they can take much stronger calibers such as .357 magnum and .44 Magnum without much issue.
Revolvers come in two types, single action. Which requires a manual cocking of the hammer after every shot is fired, and double action, which can fire as many times as the trigger is pressed, most double actions can also be easily operated as single actions as well.
Only recently has there been a surge of revolvers with capacities more than 6, such as the Smith and Wesson R8 Revolver. Other examples are the Smith and Wesson M29 and Colt Python.
Machine Pistols-
As the name implies, Machine Pistols are fully automatic pistol sized defensive weapons generally for close combat operations in a very compact package. The rate of fire and muzzle climb on these guns can be absolutely ludicrous, but incredibly dangerous for close quarters. More popular and notable machine pistols include the GLOCK 18, the Stechkin APS and the three round burst Beretta 93R. Most Machine Pistols have 20 to 30 round magazines or more.
--
Shotguns
Shotguns probably have the distinction of being the most inaccurately displayed firearms in most media, there seems to be this understanding that shotguns are wildly inaccurate at anything past four feet and they have a spray that can paint a wall. This is simply not true for most shotguns, otherwise they would not see as many uses as they do. Here are some common facts that need to be understood about shotguns.
1. Most shotguns have an effective (that is to say, lethal) range of about 50 yards, but the spread of the pellets increases the farther the range is. The shotgun can be a beginner weapon, but aiming is still very much required to stay on target at ANY range. Shotgun spread is not instantaneous, at close range you can see maybe a few centimeters of spread. Ideally you probably want to be under 50 yards when using standard buckshot. Using slugs and a rifled barrel, you can go about 150 yards.
2. Shotguns are NOT armor piercing. They rely on the principal of multiple wound areas for impact, I'm not saying you can't put a man down if you have the right ammo for the job but there is very low velocity per pellet in buckshot, which is why it requires a full hit to truly do some damage. It is still very possible (as I have no combat experience to confirm this, I am merely assuming) that you can still very reliably disable a target with a shotgun wearing a vest.
3. Shotguns are commonly not fed by a magazine like most weapons, most shotguns in particular are fed with a tubular magazine underneath the barrel. This reduces capacity to at most, 9 rounds. But it allows the shooter to 'top off' the magazine by being able to feed a fresh shell at any time, a common strategy is often to fire one and reload one when it is safe to do so to ensure the shooter has enough ammo at all times in a defense situation. However, there are a number of magazine fed shotguns in both pump and semi-automatic.
Now, with that aside...I shall explain some of the various types of shotguns.
Pump-Action shotguns-
The most common, reliable and often used in many applications. A pump action requires that the shooter work the forend of the weapon commonly back, then forward to chamber the next round after every shot, the long lasting popularity of the Pump action design is due to simple reliability and the cost associated with a decent pump action, it is often far cheaper to get a decent shotgun than a decent pistol. Most less-than lethal rounds/specialist do not have enough power to cycle a semi-automatic action. The most common Pump actions are Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 shotguns.
Semi-Automatic-
These Shotguns are, as the name implies. Semi-automatic, there is no manual operation for a steady stream of fire. Most semi-autos are designed for military application, but there also a wide assortment of hunting shotguns for the same purpose. There is a handful of semi-automatic shotguns that can be switched to pump action for less than lethal loads.
Break-open-
Generally a single or double barreled shotgun that operates on a lever that opens the barrels for shell extraction/insertion. Most commonly used for hunting or commercial applications, and probably never seen in modern military applications anymore. These shotguns usually have long barrels for hunting, and there is the possibility of using them for self defense with a very good range.
Lever Action-
Back in the old days, before there was lots of pump action designs. The lever action shotgun was fairly popular in the 19th century. Of course, back in the day, shotshells were made of paper and not of the durable plastic that is so common now. The loading mechanism for most lever action shotguns (and even pump actions at that time) could run the risk of crushing the shotshell before it properly loaded, ruining the ammunition and damaging the gun. The lever action shotgun has no such worries with plastic hulled shotshells. The most common (and probably only real known successful lever action) is the Winchester Model 1887 and 1901.
Submachine Guns
Much of the 1920's through the 50's were dominated by the submachine gun, in an era where semi-automatic rifles and bolt actions ruled the standard infantry sidearm. Pistol caliber automatic weapons were a very popular close-medium range weapon, valued for their lightweight, automatic fire and close quarters power.
The submachine gun is more controllable in automatic fire than assault rifles, but they do not have the same range nor effective power. And when the advent of modern body armor, SMGs have taken a more specialized role in CQB in the place of carbines and compact assault rifles, although there is still no true replacement for the capability that the SMG offers. The notable SMGs run the gamut from every war in history, to the famous MP5, the Uzi, the MAC-10, MP40 and the Thompson.
The only category within the SMGs are known as PDWs, which stand for Personal Defense Weapons, the only notable examples are the P90 and the MP7. PDW's fire small caliber, high armor piercing rounds designed to penetrate most modern forms of body armor..however, it's terminal effectiveness is quite low against unarmored opponents, but ammo capacity is high without making the weapon unwieldy or bulky to use.
Assault Rifles, Carbines and Compact Assault Rifles
Roughly in the 50s and 60s, the Assault Rifle began to take it's place as the front-line infantry firearm for the modern age. Although there were a smattering of automatic rifles that could be considered Assault Rifles as far back as 1918! But history lesson aside (For the moment,) The modern assault rifle relies on an intermediate power cartridge that is more powerful and has a longer range than a pistol cartridge, but not as long ranged and powerful as a traditional rifle round.
While most assault rifles are infamous for their ability to be fired automatically, this is not usually a common practice.
Standard assault rifles have ranges around 300 meters, but in the case of Carbines and Compacts, the range can differ and go smaller.
The standard Assault Rifle generally has a fixed stock, and roughly a 20 inch barrel. The M16A4 is a very fine example of a basic assault rifle, although unlike most. The M16 has not been automatic since the M16A1, due to reports that there was a severe increase in ammo consumption and a lack of accuracy from US troops. It instead uses a three round burst and semi-auto selector.
The carbine variant of any assault rifle is generally the same gun, with a shorter barrel for increased mobility and usage in CQB, along with stock that can generally be shrunk down to increase mobility even more. However, you lose a bit in range and terminal ballistics in having a shorter barrel, but generally it is seen as a fair trade.
Now, for the even smaller assault rifles, you have the compacts. Furthering the M16 series above, the US Armed Forces has something called a CQBR, which is a close quarters battle receiver., this shrinks down an M4 carbine's barrel to 11 inches. Compacts generally fill a niche of extreme close quarters power with a rifle cartridge but have about the same size as an SMG, these make compacts good for VIP protection and CQB.
Battle Rifles
From the beginning of the bolt action rifle, in the 1900's or so, the story of the Battle Rifle began. Battle Rifles are long barreled, high powered weapons that can be used to hit targets at a distance, from anywhere to 400 to 600 meters.
Generally speaking, Battle Rifles go not commonly function well in full-auto, due to the very high powered round involved. However, some designs such as the FN FAL and the G3 were and still are made with automatic options, the advances in technology allowing it to be more controllable than ever before; however, this is hardly a preferred method of firing a high powered rifle round.
Battle Rifles are still valued by militaries for their longer effective range compared to Assault Rifles and more effective penetration against body armor, many militaries today often utilize battle rifles as Designated Marksman Rifles on a squad level, allowing squads effective range past an assault rifle and not as far as a dedicated sniper rifle.
Sniper Rifles
Sniper rifles at the start of their career were little more than the most accurate rifles often standard in military at the time that were given a scope. Examples of this are most commonly seen in this are the Mosin-Nagant rifles with the bent down bolts so a scope could be properly mounted. While these weapons were not specifically made for sniping, the rifle rounds that they fired provided them with a very, very capable platform for doing so.
There are generally two classifications of sniper rifles. Anti-Personnel and Anti-Material..now, the confusion for these classifications can be a little weird, as the ever popular Barret M82 can easily be considered both due to it's .50 BMG round, however. It could be safer to assume highly accurate rifles in calibers such as 5.56mm and .308 would be Anti-Personnel, as they aren't really powerful enough to be used for anti-armor purposes.
As every single video game and popular media show, sniper rifles are built for precision shooting over long distances, taking out key targets and destabilization morale with a single bullet. However, sniper rifles are often bolt-action design, and long and heavy. Not to mention that MANY, MANY rifles in this day and age never mount any sort of iron sights and only a scope. This usually means a secondary weapon such as a pistol or a PDW or something is required for close up work.
Rockets, Grenades and Explosives
Other Information, tactics, etc
Ideally, this thread is going to be based on the realistic perceptions of a weapon, but that hardly means you have to follow it.
*Disclaimer: This is in no way a complied list of 100% accurate facts from me, this is based on the knowledge that I have recalled through years of obsessive weapons knowledge. I encourage people to confirm or add to this thread with their own opinions/facts, whatever and I'll hopefully add it all to the first post. Anything is subject to change.*
So then! Your character has found himself in quite the pickle of a situation, but what does he draw to protect himself and to unleash a most healthy can of asskicking? That depends on a few factors.
1.What's the technology level like? Is this fantasy, medieval, what? A firearm has many flavors, and melee weapons as well. Do not entirely rule out a melee weapon in a highly technological setting, say..lightsabers from Star Wars, or Chainswords from Warhammer 40K. Your weapon generally would fit the advancements of technology at the time, as in most settings a firearm is a very large technological advancement in warfare, to others it might just be a supplement to a longbow. Just some things to think about, weapons are always integral to a setting.
2. Personality is important, you might not think it but the weapon itself might show more about your character than you imagine. The answer isn't always so simple, either. Just because someone doesn't favor fighting doesn't mean they can't, or have the ability to do so, people make assumptions on weapons, use it to your advantage one way or the other.
3. What do you like? What do you see your character using out of that pool? There is nothing wrong with picking a weapon out of favoritism, but make it fit. If you have a princess armed with a sword, it's easy enough to say that the head of the castle guard taught her how to use it, or even she taught herself watching them train. The weapon doesn't always have to require a background change, but not every weapon is just something that can be picked up and used willy nilly, melee weapons require far more time and training to be experienced with in comparison to firearms.
4. Guns are LOUD, I doubt this needed to be explained. But in the world of action movies and video games, they hardly are. The sound makes your ears ring, especially now when many, many rifles and guns don't have the required length barrel to let the powder burn completely from the round. Indoors? They can be deafening, it is simply a fact of the modern combat world, wear hearing protection when you can help it. That's all you can do.
5. Suppressors/Silencers do not make a gun completely silent, a suppressor's main function is to reduce the super-sonic speed of bullets to subsonic levels, removing the 'crack' associated with most supersonic bullets. This generally requires subsonic ammunition to properly use a suppressor.
However, there are benefits at the onset of weaker shot power, namely that there is more room for the gasses to escape, which removes muzzle flash and increases accuracy and lowers recoil.
Some rounds, such as the .45 ACP are already subsonic..making them very good for suppressing.
--
So, you got all that out of the way. You know your character, know what you want. Know it fits the setting, super. Now comes the fun or easy part. You can make the weapon as detailed or as simple as you like, it could simply be a pistol. Or it could be a M1911A1, there is no rule saying you need detail on something your character might not have a heavy focus on, but more detail fleshes the character out and gives you a visual picture in your head.
As of right now, I'm going to discuss firearms. Later, I'll probably tackle melee weapons. But, before we get into the meat of things, there are a few more things you need to know about boomsticks before you can start becoming a tactical operator of your setting.
--
1. Shot Placement. This is the number 1, numero uno rule of firing any weapon in a defensive/offensive situation, shot placement. Center of Mass Shoot them in the goddamned chest before you start attempting to blow away brains, smaller targets in tense situations are bad things to put yourself in.
2. Automatic is not the end all solution, most weapons have a selector switch that lets them operate in semi-automatic. Controlling an automatic weapon is not difficult, but it expends ammo amazingly fast and ideally should be used in close quarter situations, if anything fire in bursts, two or three accurate shots to the chest is generally better than wasting half a magazine on auto. It's not about damage, it's about accuracy and efficiency.
3. Learn the disadvantages of your firearm, the range, the capacity, the power, everything. Do not rule out a weaker firearm over a stronger one, what do you need the gun for? Are your enemies going to be wearing body armor? Do you need something that has a high capacity and capable in close quarters? Or do you need something more balanced like an assault rifle?
4. Understand the atmosphere of the setting and plan your weapons accordingly, if it's some crazy action based RP. Having a pair of Desert Eagles is incredibly tacky, but fine. If it's something more serious and military based, pick something that isn't retarded, please. There are plenty of weapons chambered in high power calibers that aren't a giant waste of money.
--
So, now that we got that allll out of the way...we're going to come to the meat of it. Unless people request me listing our specific models, I'm going to generalize the idea here, I'll give you guys some good resources to look further into it if you're at all interested.
Handguns
Handguns are the ever popular firearm for the modern action hero, taking down scores of enemies with high powered hand cannons and duel wielding frenzies, it's stylish, it's sexy..you probably don't hit jack shit if you tried it for real.
On a more realistic aspect, Pistols are very capable self defense weapons at around 50 yards in a number of calibers, capacities and sizes. Most pistols (regardless of them being what they are,) come in three sizes, 'full sized', subcompact and compact.
Full sized are basically what it says, a fully sized pistol. The 1911A1 is a perfect example of a full sized pistol, and so is the Beretta M9. They generally are not meant to be easily concealed, and are common for open carry for police officers and military, and often for civilians.
Subcompact are smaller, built generally for people with smaller hands or just for users wanting a more compact firearm without sacrificing much in the way of ergonomics and range. The GLOCK 19 is a perfect example.
Subcompact are also known as 'mouse guns' generally these pistols are as small and compact as you can get for deep concealed carry, there are a few that are chambered for bigger pistol rounds, but most are as small as possible to give it the most concealed and lightweight construction possible. A few examples are the GLOCK 26, the Kel-Tec PF9 and the Seecamp LWS .32. These pistols are generally for very close range contact, and last resort self defense.
The pistol types:
Semi-automatics-
Generally these are the handguns you see everywhere, semi-automatics are generally of 7-20 round capacities standard, and the calibers generally differ from gun to gun although most are in a caliber that can very capably put a man down. A few good examples as above are of course the M1911, the Beretta M9 and GLOCK 17
Revolvers-
Revolvers were really the first repeating semi-automatics, starting with the Colt Single Action Army. Revolvers have a reputation for being immune to jamming, as if there is a fail to fire, you simply pull the trigger again, and their actions are not mechanically powered, and therefore they can take much stronger calibers such as .357 magnum and .44 Magnum without much issue.
Revolvers come in two types, single action. Which requires a manual cocking of the hammer after every shot is fired, and double action, which can fire as many times as the trigger is pressed, most double actions can also be easily operated as single actions as well.
Only recently has there been a surge of revolvers with capacities more than 6, such as the Smith and Wesson R8 Revolver. Other examples are the Smith and Wesson M29 and Colt Python.
Machine Pistols-
As the name implies, Machine Pistols are fully automatic pistol sized defensive weapons generally for close combat operations in a very compact package. The rate of fire and muzzle climb on these guns can be absolutely ludicrous, but incredibly dangerous for close quarters. More popular and notable machine pistols include the GLOCK 18, the Stechkin APS and the three round burst Beretta 93R. Most Machine Pistols have 20 to 30 round magazines or more.
--
Shotguns
Shotguns probably have the distinction of being the most inaccurately displayed firearms in most media, there seems to be this understanding that shotguns are wildly inaccurate at anything past four feet and they have a spray that can paint a wall. This is simply not true for most shotguns, otherwise they would not see as many uses as they do. Here are some common facts that need to be understood about shotguns.
1. Most shotguns have an effective (that is to say, lethal) range of about 50 yards, but the spread of the pellets increases the farther the range is. The shotgun can be a beginner weapon, but aiming is still very much required to stay on target at ANY range. Shotgun spread is not instantaneous, at close range you can see maybe a few centimeters of spread. Ideally you probably want to be under 50 yards when using standard buckshot. Using slugs and a rifled barrel, you can go about 150 yards.
2. Shotguns are NOT armor piercing. They rely on the principal of multiple wound areas for impact, I'm not saying you can't put a man down if you have the right ammo for the job but there is very low velocity per pellet in buckshot, which is why it requires a full hit to truly do some damage. It is still very possible (as I have no combat experience to confirm this, I am merely assuming) that you can still very reliably disable a target with a shotgun wearing a vest.
3. Shotguns are commonly not fed by a magazine like most weapons, most shotguns in particular are fed with a tubular magazine underneath the barrel. This reduces capacity to at most, 9 rounds. But it allows the shooter to 'top off' the magazine by being able to feed a fresh shell at any time, a common strategy is often to fire one and reload one when it is safe to do so to ensure the shooter has enough ammo at all times in a defense situation. However, there are a number of magazine fed shotguns in both pump and semi-automatic.
Now, with that aside...I shall explain some of the various types of shotguns.
Pump-Action shotguns-
The most common, reliable and often used in many applications. A pump action requires that the shooter work the forend of the weapon commonly back, then forward to chamber the next round after every shot, the long lasting popularity of the Pump action design is due to simple reliability and the cost associated with a decent pump action, it is often far cheaper to get a decent shotgun than a decent pistol. Most less-than lethal rounds/specialist do not have enough power to cycle a semi-automatic action. The most common Pump actions are Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 shotguns.
Semi-Automatic-
These Shotguns are, as the name implies. Semi-automatic, there is no manual operation for a steady stream of fire. Most semi-autos are designed for military application, but there also a wide assortment of hunting shotguns for the same purpose. There is a handful of semi-automatic shotguns that can be switched to pump action for less than lethal loads.
Break-open-
Generally a single or double barreled shotgun that operates on a lever that opens the barrels for shell extraction/insertion. Most commonly used for hunting or commercial applications, and probably never seen in modern military applications anymore. These shotguns usually have long barrels for hunting, and there is the possibility of using them for self defense with a very good range.
Lever Action-
Back in the old days, before there was lots of pump action designs. The lever action shotgun was fairly popular in the 19th century. Of course, back in the day, shotshells were made of paper and not of the durable plastic that is so common now. The loading mechanism for most lever action shotguns (and even pump actions at that time) could run the risk of crushing the shotshell before it properly loaded, ruining the ammunition and damaging the gun. The lever action shotgun has no such worries with plastic hulled shotshells. The most common (and probably only real known successful lever action) is the Winchester Model 1887 and 1901.
Submachine Guns
Much of the 1920's through the 50's were dominated by the submachine gun, in an era where semi-automatic rifles and bolt actions ruled the standard infantry sidearm. Pistol caliber automatic weapons were a very popular close-medium range weapon, valued for their lightweight, automatic fire and close quarters power.
The submachine gun is more controllable in automatic fire than assault rifles, but they do not have the same range nor effective power. And when the advent of modern body armor, SMGs have taken a more specialized role in CQB in the place of carbines and compact assault rifles, although there is still no true replacement for the capability that the SMG offers. The notable SMGs run the gamut from every war in history, to the famous MP5, the Uzi, the MAC-10, MP40 and the Thompson.
The only category within the SMGs are known as PDWs, which stand for Personal Defense Weapons, the only notable examples are the P90 and the MP7. PDW's fire small caliber, high armor piercing rounds designed to penetrate most modern forms of body armor..however, it's terminal effectiveness is quite low against unarmored opponents, but ammo capacity is high without making the weapon unwieldy or bulky to use.
Assault Rifles, Carbines and Compact Assault Rifles
Roughly in the 50s and 60s, the Assault Rifle began to take it's place as the front-line infantry firearm for the modern age. Although there were a smattering of automatic rifles that could be considered Assault Rifles as far back as 1918! But history lesson aside (For the moment,) The modern assault rifle relies on an intermediate power cartridge that is more powerful and has a longer range than a pistol cartridge, but not as long ranged and powerful as a traditional rifle round.
While most assault rifles are infamous for their ability to be fired automatically, this is not usually a common practice.
Standard assault rifles have ranges around 300 meters, but in the case of Carbines and Compacts, the range can differ and go smaller.
The standard Assault Rifle generally has a fixed stock, and roughly a 20 inch barrel. The M16A4 is a very fine example of a basic assault rifle, although unlike most. The M16 has not been automatic since the M16A1, due to reports that there was a severe increase in ammo consumption and a lack of accuracy from US troops. It instead uses a three round burst and semi-auto selector.
The carbine variant of any assault rifle is generally the same gun, with a shorter barrel for increased mobility and usage in CQB, along with stock that can generally be shrunk down to increase mobility even more. However, you lose a bit in range and terminal ballistics in having a shorter barrel, but generally it is seen as a fair trade.
Now, for the even smaller assault rifles, you have the compacts. Furthering the M16 series above, the US Armed Forces has something called a CQBR, which is a close quarters battle receiver., this shrinks down an M4 carbine's barrel to 11 inches. Compacts generally fill a niche of extreme close quarters power with a rifle cartridge but have about the same size as an SMG, these make compacts good for VIP protection and CQB.
Battle Rifles
From the beginning of the bolt action rifle, in the 1900's or so, the story of the Battle Rifle began. Battle Rifles are long barreled, high powered weapons that can be used to hit targets at a distance, from anywhere to 400 to 600 meters.
Generally speaking, Battle Rifles go not commonly function well in full-auto, due to the very high powered round involved. However, some designs such as the FN FAL and the G3 were and still are made with automatic options, the advances in technology allowing it to be more controllable than ever before; however, this is hardly a preferred method of firing a high powered rifle round.
Battle Rifles are still valued by militaries for their longer effective range compared to Assault Rifles and more effective penetration against body armor, many militaries today often utilize battle rifles as Designated Marksman Rifles on a squad level, allowing squads effective range past an assault rifle and not as far as a dedicated sniper rifle.
Sniper Rifles
Sniper rifles at the start of their career were little more than the most accurate rifles often standard in military at the time that were given a scope. Examples of this are most commonly seen in this are the Mosin-Nagant rifles with the bent down bolts so a scope could be properly mounted. While these weapons were not specifically made for sniping, the rifle rounds that they fired provided them with a very, very capable platform for doing so.
There are generally two classifications of sniper rifles. Anti-Personnel and Anti-Material..now, the confusion for these classifications can be a little weird, as the ever popular Barret M82 can easily be considered both due to it's .50 BMG round, however. It could be safer to assume highly accurate rifles in calibers such as 5.56mm and .308 would be Anti-Personnel, as they aren't really powerful enough to be used for anti-armor purposes.
As every single video game and popular media show, sniper rifles are built for precision shooting over long distances, taking out key targets and destabilization morale with a single bullet. However, sniper rifles are often bolt-action design, and long and heavy. Not to mention that MANY, MANY rifles in this day and age never mount any sort of iron sights and only a scope. This usually means a secondary weapon such as a pistol or a PDW or something is required for close up work.
Rockets, Grenades and Explosives
Other Information, tactics, etc
