In Stargate: SG1, in the pilot episode invading Jaffa are shot multiple times with 5.56x45 NATO rounds from full length M-16s. That puts the 62 grain standard issue bullet to 3200 feet per second, delivering something more than a .44 magnum at point blank range. I've fired this round against steel. Goes through about 3/8 inch of it.
SG-1 switches up to the P90, which got heavily popularized by the series with plinkers and mall ninjas. Its a neat firearm for something that's meant to be cheap to build and disposable like all military firearms. The thing is, that firearm is based on a reshaped case on a shortened version of the 5.56 NATO, shooting at lower velocity using VERY light bullets so they'll still reach full velocity in the very short barrel of the P90 and the MUCH CHEAPER and simpler blowback action instead of the M-16's gas action. FN did make a model that's similar to the M-16 and uses standard NATO rounds, called the FN-2000 but its unpopular largely because if it jams, you have to tear it all apart to pull the case out. And its 4x more expensive than an M4 Hbar with grip pod etc. The stuff being actually used in the Gulf War and Afghanistan.
I really find it hilarious that the guys in the show are using 9mm pistols for sidearms when the FN-57 pistol shoots the same ammo as their P90's and would probably work against Jaffa armor. Alternatively, they ought to be carrying 45's with silencers for dealing with sentries until they've got enough of those Zats to go around. Note that the 57 pistols are the standard sidearm in Ghost in the Shell TV. Its got a clever rotating barrel-bolt lock up required due to the extra recoil of the high velocity bullet. Please note that a similar cartridge design was tried and discarded by the Russians in the 1890's in the Tokarev 7.62x25mm. The improved CZ-52 used to sell for $100 after the Iron Curtain fell and the armories were sold off to collectors. I'm told shooting the 3 inch barrel sounded like a rifle going off but the sight radius left something to be desired. So that idea has been tried and discarded.
The producers of the show fixed their boo-boo with the 5.56 much later in the series when the Gulf War 2 heated up and led to shortages of ammo for their P90's (the Saudi Security forces use them for counter-terror work, and the blanks are used for training) by first having SG1 in Season 9 or 10 using the HK MP7, a 4.7mm bullet designed to penetrate kevlar at 100 feet to replace the P90's until ammo could be found. They also got a deal to show off G36 rifles, which are actually just the HK version of the M-16, shooting standard NATO ammo again. It looks like a space gun, but so did the M-16 when it was new. The end result is the same. I felt way more appreciative when I saw them toting around SAW's with big box magazines full of belt ammo. That's a proper way to deal with the Jaffa. That and M-203's.
It is hard to be educated about firearms without actually owning them and reading their histories. My favorite discovery is that military guns are junk, military ammo is often utter crap, and hunting firearms are far better. They don't tell you that in these shows. When SG-1 gets kidnapped/captured nearly every episode so they can talk to the monologuing villain with the glowing eyes or wonder-technology, I often find myself laughing but sympathetic towards just how many of their P90's get "lost" on missions. From my count, they only keep some of their gear about 25% of the time. And that's funny too. The real firearm is around $3K apiece. And a PDW should be cheap because its meant as a panic weapon, like any machine-pistol. Its likely to get part of one magazine through it in anger, then the victor cleans the blood off and sells it on to the next fool. Only dropped once. It does make for good TV though.
Stargate is a fun and funny series and as long as you don't mind the compulsive adherence to bad science (string theory was disproved in 1981) that belongs in comic books, its good entertainment.
SG-1 switches up to the P90, which got heavily popularized by the series with plinkers and mall ninjas. Its a neat firearm for something that's meant to be cheap to build and disposable like all military firearms. The thing is, that firearm is based on a reshaped case on a shortened version of the 5.56 NATO, shooting at lower velocity using VERY light bullets so they'll still reach full velocity in the very short barrel of the P90 and the MUCH CHEAPER and simpler blowback action instead of the M-16's gas action. FN did make a model that's similar to the M-16 and uses standard NATO rounds, called the FN-2000 but its unpopular largely because if it jams, you have to tear it all apart to pull the case out. And its 4x more expensive than an M4 Hbar with grip pod etc. The stuff being actually used in the Gulf War and Afghanistan.
I really find it hilarious that the guys in the show are using 9mm pistols for sidearms when the FN-57 pistol shoots the same ammo as their P90's and would probably work against Jaffa armor. Alternatively, they ought to be carrying 45's with silencers for dealing with sentries until they've got enough of those Zats to go around. Note that the 57 pistols are the standard sidearm in Ghost in the Shell TV. Its got a clever rotating barrel-bolt lock up required due to the extra recoil of the high velocity bullet. Please note that a similar cartridge design was tried and discarded by the Russians in the 1890's in the Tokarev 7.62x25mm. The improved CZ-52 used to sell for $100 after the Iron Curtain fell and the armories were sold off to collectors. I'm told shooting the 3 inch barrel sounded like a rifle going off but the sight radius left something to be desired. So that idea has been tried and discarded.
The producers of the show fixed their boo-boo with the 5.56 much later in the series when the Gulf War 2 heated up and led to shortages of ammo for their P90's (the Saudi Security forces use them for counter-terror work, and the blanks are used for training) by first having SG1 in Season 9 or 10 using the HK MP7, a 4.7mm bullet designed to penetrate kevlar at 100 feet to replace the P90's until ammo could be found. They also got a deal to show off G36 rifles, which are actually just the HK version of the M-16, shooting standard NATO ammo again. It looks like a space gun, but so did the M-16 when it was new. The end result is the same. I felt way more appreciative when I saw them toting around SAW's with big box magazines full of belt ammo. That's a proper way to deal with the Jaffa. That and M-203's.
It is hard to be educated about firearms without actually owning them and reading their histories. My favorite discovery is that military guns are junk, military ammo is often utter crap, and hunting firearms are far better. They don't tell you that in these shows. When SG-1 gets kidnapped/captured nearly every episode so they can talk to the monologuing villain with the glowing eyes or wonder-technology, I often find myself laughing but sympathetic towards just how many of their P90's get "lost" on missions. From my count, they only keep some of their gear about 25% of the time. And that's funny too. The real firearm is around $3K apiece. And a PDW should be cheap because its meant as a panic weapon, like any machine-pistol. Its likely to get part of one magazine through it in anger, then the victor cleans the blood off and sells it on to the next fool. Only dropped once. It does make for good TV though.
Stargate is a fun and funny series and as long as you don't mind the compulsive adherence to bad science (string theory was disproved in 1981) that belongs in comic books, its good entertainment.
