SFPM-23 Flechette Pistol

Dawyn · May 25, 2015

The SFPM-23.

Affiliation: Internal use by the Bogan, large scale external sale to approved parties* and small scale external sale to all.

*Those Ben or Boli claim it is okay to sell in bulk to.

Produced By: K-Labs
Design Technician : Lorn
Sold By: Strati Defense Systems

Intent : To be a hard-hitting flechette pistol for those who want the power of a shotgun in a more portable package.

Model: Strati Flechette Pistol M of 1,023, AKA SFPM-23 or SFPM.

Type:Slugthrower Flechette Pistol.

Size:

Length: 210 mm.
Height: 133 mm.
Weight: 1.2 kg

Composition: Durasteel, plasteel.

Range and Armor Penetration:

Optimum range: 50 meters.
Maximum range: 100 meters.

Penetration: Capable of penetrating medium and light armor at optimum range. At maximum range, capable of penetrating light armor and clothing.

Ammunition Capacity : 8 flechette pellets per clip plus one in the chamber for a total of 9 maximum pellets.

Description:

The Strati Flechette Pistol Model of 1,203, commonly known as the SFPM-23 or simply the SFPM, is the latest in a series of small arms designed by up-and-coming weapons engineer Lorn Eth’Alt’Mer. Designed for those who want the power of a shotgun with the portability and concealability of a pistol, it is the perfect personal defense weapon. Its ammunition is comprised of smart-fuzed, gas propelled shrapnel pellets which, upon reaching four meters from a target, explode, releasing eight 3 mm long micro-flechettes in a shotgun style spread. These flechettes are propelled forward with into a meter-wide radius with enough force to penetrate medium and light armor and still prove lethal up to fifty meters away. For those wishing a less-than-lethal approach, special hardened rubber-coated projectiles designed to stun and inflict pain rather than wound or kill are available.

It should be noted that there are three drawbacks to the pistol. First, while capable of downing most opponents in medium or light armor, it does not have the force to penetrate heavy armor or vests, being too small to deliver the kind of firepower necessary to do so. Second, its effective range is limited in comparison to other pistols of its size, being most effective at 50 meters and under. Third, the amount of ammunition per clip is rather limited when compared to blasters, being able to fire a maximum of nine rounds before reloading. When purchasing and using the SFPM-23, one should be thus be very mindful of its limitations.

Despite its drawbacks, however, the SFPM excels at what it was designed to do-kill or disable at a close range. From bounty hunters to law enforcement, from civilians to soldiers, from Force Sensitives to those without, the SFPM is a weapon one can count on to get through the day.

Price :

Pistol Alone: 325 Credits.

Lethal rounds: 5 credits per clip.
Less-than-lethal rounds: 7 credits per clip.

Bulk Discount when purchasing the SFPM or its ammunition :

Bulk purchase of 12: 5% off final sales price.
Bulk purchase of 100: 10% off final sales price.
Bulk purchase of 500: 15% off final sales price.
Bulk purchase of 1,000: 20% off final sales price.
Bulk purchase of 5,000: 25% off final sales price.
Bulk purchase of 10,000+: 30 % off final sales price.

Andrewza · May 26, 2015

100m? Seems a bit far a pistol like really far.

Dawyn · May 26, 2015

SoB said:
100m? Seems a bit far a pistol like really far.

That's really the ultimate maximum range for the pellets to be honest, it's more designed to be used within 50 meters effectively. Should probably only have it shred clothing at 100 m.

Andrewza · May 26, 2015

The pellet may be deadly well beyond 100m. But hitting a target that far out is a different story.

Clayton · May 26, 2015

So, flechettes. Best used in shotguns or rifles. Interestingly they don't see much use, even though they're nasty against soft targets. So kudos to you for thinking of them.

Kiser said:
Its ammunition is comprised of gas-propelled flechette-filled pellets guided by a laser tracking system capable of tagging targets with an electronic homing signature, enabling them to make course corrections in flight. Upon reaching four meters from a target, these pellets explode, releasing thirteen millimeter long micro-flechettes

You may want to explain how a pellet can make course corrections. From what I understand, it's a casing that contains the flechettes, yes? So is it like a sabot? What's the guidance mechanism here? If it's a sabot-style casing, it's going to separate the second it leaves the barrel, you don't want it to stay on because they aren't made to be aerodynamic, they're made to make a seal with the barrel of the gun for smaller ammunition.

Also, and this is rather important, are these thirteen, 1mm flechettes, or an unspecified number of 13mm long flechettes? This is important, because if it's a 1mm long flechette, then it's not going to have enough mass behind the momentum to penetrate anything heavier than a denim jacket. Put another way, they're a quarter of the size of a BB gun pellet. 13mm might be a better size.

Finally, have you considered the XM1020? It's ready-made and seems to be very similar to what you're trying to do here, and you could probably just use some flechette rounds in that and get the same effect here. Minus the whole guidance thing. And guided pistol rounds sounds extremely iffy to me. However, if you really want guided pistol ammunition, I suggest you expand heavily on how that's possible.

Kiro · May 26, 2015

Also, I just have to bring up something SoB and Silverphoenix already brought up.

The range. An effective range of 50 meters, and a 'max' range of 100 meters seems like quite alot for a flechette pistol. Consider how tiny a pistol barrel is, as SP already alluded to, the small ammount of pellets you'll be able to pack into a round that'll fit inside that pistol (even less if you include some kinda guidance system, which will eat up the storage space for your pellets considerably), especially if you go with the 13mm pellets SP mentioned, and then take into account for shotgun scatter.

The pellets will start to scatter and drift apart immediately after leaving the sabot, if that's the method of delivery you use, and it's effective range will start dropping steeply for every meter the pellets have to travel. And with the small and tiny amounts of pellets used in this pistol, the range'd be extremely poor, in my opinion. It'd be a nasty surprise when used in close combat, which is what pistols are designed for at any rate, especially against unarmoured targets (see: Jedi, Sith), but I wouldn't see it being effective against armoured targets (see: Mandos, Stormtroopers, anyone with decent body armour) at all, nevermind the range.

In fact, I'd compare it's range to the Heavy Charric Pistol Corden Vencu and I designed a while back. Charrics notably has alot more punch than regular blasters, but have rather poor range, and this gun would suffer from the same issues. The HCP had a maximum effective range of 24 meters, which I think is right up your alley. This weapon would be far better off used in the 5 - 15 meter range, and anything beyond that would be, pardon the pun, a long shot.

P.S: The Mk.1 Heavy Charric even had three times the range of a canon charric, so consider that for a moment.

Andrewza · May 26, 2015

Guided bullet.
http://defenceweb.co.za/index.php?o...moving-targets90:science-a-defence-technology

Silverface · May 26, 2015

There's no mention of a rocket propellant on the pellet, so how does it maintain guidance? How does it work at all within the size of a pistol? That's a lot of real estate being taken up by what is ostensibly a handgun. Flechette shells are often the same size as shotgun shells, so you've already taken up a lot of space with those. Where does all this guidance tech fit into the shell? Where is the propulsion that allows it to course correct? And the sensor to allow it to explode at 4m before impact?

And 9 shots seems very generous for this weapon if those pellets have guidance tech packed into them alongside flechette spikes. 4 or 5 would be more believable considering the implied technology being packed into each shell. These are very big shells we're talking about that you're trying to cram into a handgun.

There -are- laser guided projectile weapons in Star Wars. But they're all rifle sized and bolt action/semi automatic, usually assassin weapons designed to deal with targets who lurk in ray shielded compounds. You will have to do a lot of explaining to fit that all into a handgun and still be an effective weapons system.

Andrewza · May 26, 2015

It's all so not needed. Typically pistol engagement range is 25m. At 25m if you need a guided shell you doing something wrong. Now fitting a proximity sensor and makeing it air burst. That could work.

Dawyn · May 26, 2015

Thanks for all the input everyone, I'll be taking a look at it and replying when I'm more alert and not just about to fall asleep. To clarify, they are 13 mm long flechettes and not 1 mm, thought it was in the description but maybe not. As for the 100 meter range, I can definitely cut that back, just put that there as a bit of a placeholder before a review since several Wookieepedia articles which I'll find again later when I'm not too tired cited that as their maximum effective range. Guidance system I may drop, I read a fair few articles on the same website about that being possible for SW tech, but they didn't really go into detail on how exactly that worked out other than "micro-repulsors" and a "miniature laser-tracking system" placed on a bullet/pellet. Looking back on that, it seems kind of like the equivalent of SW BS, so I may very well cut that unless you all have some ideas about how that could work.

Silverface · May 26, 2015

The only way I can see the guidance working is if it was in a bigger platform. A carbine at a push, but a rifle is more ideal for that kind of shenanigans. Plus it wouldn't fly in PvP anyway =/

The max/effective range I don't see much of a problem with. It's fairly in line with a shotgun loaded with buckshot. If you drop the guidance and airbust function, the shell count would be fine at 8+1. Although from a practical standpoint, I can't see the weapon having a long firing-life due to the stress on the frame from firing fat flechette shells, but that's really not relevant.

Kiro · May 26, 2015

Also, sturdy Star Wars materials.

The Kyzer · May 26, 2015

SoB said:
-snip-

Silverphoenix said:
-snip-

Kiro said:
-snip-

Silverface said:
-snip-

EU-Canon flechette pistol range:

Optimum: 50 meters
Maximum: 100 meters.

Also the pellets (which are really just sabots/micro-fragmentation-grenades) can self-adjust for targeting via a system of laser-tagging (SW MAGICKZ) and more SW Magicks but only BEFORE they detonate near the target to release the flechettes.

EU-Canon says Kiser is correct.

Leave it be, man.

In fact, the only thing that I see that really makes this require a tech profile at all is the full-description of the size and number of flechettes simply because the EU-canon pistol doesn't.

:31:

Clayton · May 26, 2015

The Kyzer said:
EU-Canon flechette pistol range:

Optimum: 50 meters
Maximum: 100 meters.

Also the pellets (which are really just sabots/micro-fragmentation-grenades) can self-adjust for targeting via a system of laser-tagging (SW MAGICKZ) and more SW Magicks but only BEFORE they detonate near the target to release the flechettes.

EU-Canon says Kiser is correct.

Leave it be, man.

In fact, the only thing that I see that really makes this require a tech profile at all is the full-description of the size and number of flechettes simply because the EU-canon pistol doesn't.

:31:

Oh EU, you magnificent, crazy thing.

Dawyn · May 26, 2015

The Kyzer said:
EU-Canon flechette pistol range:

Optimum: 50 meters
Maximum: 100 meters.

Also the pellets (which are really just sabots/micro-fragmentation-grenades) can self-adjust for targeting via a system of laser-tagging (SW MAGICKZ) and more SW Magicks but only BEFORE they detonate near the target to release the flechettes.

EU-Canon says Kiser is correct.

Leave it be, man.

In fact, the only thing that I see that really makes this require a tech profile at all is the full-description of the size and number of flechettes simply because the EU-canon pistol doesn't.

:31:

Thanks for finding that again for me. That is what I kept in mind when designing this pistol, I was trying to go more off EU canon this time rather than straight real life stuff like I normally do.

Dawyn · May 28, 2015

The Kyzer said:
EU-Canon flechette pistol range:

Optimum: 50 meters
Maximum: 100 meters.

Also the pellets (which are really just sabots/micro-fragmentation-grenades) can self-adjust for targeting via a system of laser-tagging (SW MAGICKZ) and more SW Magicks but only BEFORE they detonate near the target to release the flechettes.

EU-Canon says Kiser is correct.

Leave it be, man.

In fact, the only thing that I see that really makes this require a tech profile at all is the full-description of the size and number of flechettes simply because the EU-canon pistol doesn't.

:31:

Sorry for the double post, but I did mention they were 13 millimeter long flechettes. What do you think would be a good number of them in each pellet given that so that I can finish up this design and wait for Boli?

The Kyzer · May 29, 2015

Kiser said:
Sorry for the double post, but I did mention they were 13 millimeter long flechettes. What do you think would be a good number of them in each pellet given that so that I can finish up this design and wait for Boli?

Well for starters, I'm sincerely hoping that you're meaning 13 millimeter-long flechettes and not thirteen-millimeter-long flechettes. Please oh please.

If it's option #2:

If it's option #1:

You may have to reduce the total number of flechettes but I can't be sure. I'm trying my best to hold up my little ruler here and try and gauge how large of a pellet you're firing to get that many 1-millimeter flechettes.

:31:

Clayton · May 29, 2015

They're 13mm flechettes.

The Kyzer · May 29, 2015

Silverphoenix said:
They're 13mm flechettes.

Good thing I already gave my response to that.

Dawyn · May 29, 2015

The Kyzer said:
Good thing I already gave my response to that.

Kek oh God, I was so out of it when writing the original description, just realized that now. I think it's actually more option #2 but that does seem a bit weird. That EU canon article you mentioned says that was enough to penetrate blast vests and stormtrooper armor at that range, but that seems...off. You think it might also be better to increase the size of the flechettes a little to actually do a bit more damage at the cost of increasing their size? I'm just having a hard time picturing 1 mm flechettes pulling the above off but 13 mm might be a bit too large for a pistol. You think something like 2-3 mm or so might be better but maybe cut the number of flechettes to like...7-8 or so? The 12GA shotgun could fit about 19 flechettes that size into one of its shells as a somewhat RL example.

SFPM-23 Flechette Pistol

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