I think we can all safely blame the ’90s – and associated individuals – for making ‘he shoots bullets out of a gun’ as a viable super-power in today’s comics. I’m with Stan Lee on this one – there are so many more interesting things to shoot, why be limited to something as mundane and earthy as bullets for crying out loud? But hand-in-hand with the general blah-ness of bullets comes the fact that an undeniably large number of readers get massive boners for cool-looking guns. So, love it, loathe it, or leave it – bullets are right up there with firing lightning and punches.
The most practical of solutions is often the wussiest.
But that doesn’t mean at least some bullets can be cool, right? So I’m going to troll around the internet and find some cool, comic-book science bullets. I mean, if commonly used bullets can come in plastic, rubber, and wax varieties, god knows what some mad scientist has cooked up. But first, please note that I am not a gun nut. If it comes out of a metal pole you point at bad people to make them go away, it’s bullet enough for me.
Electric bullets have always been a favourite of mine. Hell, they even sound awesome. Electric bullets? Who comes up with this shit? Most of them work according to the piezoelectric effect, which basically boils down to if you squeeze something hard and fast enough, it generates a high voltage charge, which is basically how these bullets work – smack the right kind of stuff into you hard and fast, stunning you without killing you. It’s a non-lethal round (as non-lethal as shooting someone with electric bullets sounds like it could be, anyway) although I’m sure you would comic-science it up a few thousand amps and make it definitively more lethal. Even comes in shotgun form for your convenience.
Stop, or I'll shoot tiny fluorescent satellites!
On the subject of non-lethal ammunition – or ‘less lethal’ as they are called now, as they finally clued to the fact that hey shooting anything at a person really fast could do some damage you think? – there exists all sorts of interesting applications. Everything from stink rounds to sticky foam could potentially be deployed on a personal level. Blister agents could be delivered in much the same method. Sonic and light weapons, although treading water into laser territory, are also possible in the not-to-distant future. And, at the end of the day, you could always just microwave the bastards.
Now, I’m sure we’ve all heard of Dragon’s Breath at some point of our lives. It’s pretty much the be-all and end-all for people who say to themselves “You know what? I wish my shotgun were more like a flamethrower. I really want to set the guys in front of me on fire… those jerks.” Of course, the technology used to create them isn’t that complicated – basically it’s a shell made of burning stuff. So why not apply the principle to other firearms? Whilst the prospect of a flame-throwing sniper rifle may fall flat to with some, miniaturising the technology to work in a handgun or similar could lead to one very surprising – and one very literal – up-close fire fight.
Speaking of shotgun rounds, there’s all sorts of interesting prospects, due to the short-range but high-volume nature of the shells. From SCMITR ammo – basically flechette or fragmentation rounds, alibet they shoot tiny metal arrows – to the limb-lopping nature of Bolo shells. May I suggest shooting someone with FLAVOUR? You never know when that one will come in handy.
Some fine upstanding shellheads.
Glass bullets are an interesting one. There are reports of the Germans using them in WW1, but these days not-so much. Most people tend to agree that glass lacks the strength and mass needed to stay together long enough to reach most targets, and even then, are likely to shatter on impact without doing much damage. But what if that’s what you want? If you start to look at a bullet like it was a delivery mechanism, and not the only means of injuring a target, then perhaps the possibilities of using glass bullets opens up a bit. Look at it as essentially firing test-tubes at the target – sure, the glass won’t do much, but just imagine what you could put on the inside of the tube.
Don’t forget that bullets can come in caseless and silent variations (including ones that just make the target silent, so long as they don’t snore) As well as wooden, but the effectiveness of those are rather limited, as is understandable by effectively being nothing more fancy than throwing twigs at the other guy really fast. Silver bullets are staples of many supernatural-themed stories, and it wouldn’t be an article about strange ammunition without mentioning magic and ice bullets. Hell, you aren’t even limited to cylindrical bullets these days, having the tround at your disposal.
Gyrojets are an interesting aside to ‘normal’ ammunition as they straddle the fine line between personal firearm and personal rocket-launcher. Because that’s essentially what they are – gyrojets fire rockets rather than bullets, with all that implies.
Like your bullets bigger and electronic? Try these anti-radio artillery rounds. Starshel, as they are known, are used by the Bulgarian military, and are basically signal-jamming antenna delivered by cannon. You fire them, they land, and BAM – said antenna pops out of it and gives you about an hours worth of disrupted communications within a 700m radius. The case for miniaturising these is small (do ho ho ho) but it’s an interesting technology to consider.
For those that remember them, the Adeptus Arbites from Warhammer 40k – aka the Judges from 2000AD – had the gimmick of ‘intelligent’ shotgun shells that, once fired, would correct their course and steer into the optimal position to hit their targets. Sounds far-fetched? Well, the technology is already here. Cue screams and Skynet, people. The weapons are alive.
Sure, bullets may not be the most interesting things at first glance – remember we’re talking about a world where arrows, pieces of thrown bone and punch particles from your eyes are a effective crime-fighting solution – but if you dig just below the surface, you can find all sorts of exotic tools to place at your vigilante’s fingers.
