Weapons Timelines for the Twilight War

[HorseSoldier]

The CAW seems like a really cool solution in search of a problem. Outside of RPGs and video games, the full auto shotgun just hasn't really caught on. It's not surgical and precise enough to appeal to many SOF types, it's not range effective enough to be a general service weapon, and really it's not much more effective (when you consider recoil) even at shotgun ranges than an assault rifle on auto.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by HorseSoldier

The CAW seems like a really cool solution in search of a problem. Outside of RPGs and video games, the full auto shotgun just hasn't really caught on. It's not surgical and precise enough to appeal to many SOF types, it's not range effective enough to be a general service weapon, and really it's not much more effective (when you consider recoil) even at shotgun ranges than an assault rifle on auto.

CAW-type weapons are very effective in one type of combat -- CQB. And that's assuming that you won't have to worry about possible civilian casualties or people you are trying to rescue that are in the same room. It's a weapon that has a very narrow range of applications, however -- it presents the problem that you will probably have to carry more than one type of longarm, and that CAW-type shotgun is a heavy weapon with heavy, low-capacity magazines and heavy ammunition. In addition, you have the weird ammo problem again -- most such weapons can't reliably feed conventional shotgun ammunition and require metal-cased shotgun rounds. (The Pancor Jackhammer is an example of a way around the ammo problem -- but it's also a rather bulky weapon with very bulky ammunition cassettes.)