Help! Question about guns!

[shoju]

I'm currently developing a pen-and-paper gaming system and, since I've never owned a gun before in my life, have some questions about guns I could not find anywhere else, and I thought, what better place to come then the Lounge?

1) Gun Laws: is it legal to include the actual, non-fictional name of guns in a book or game, such as Beretta m93r 9mm, as opposed to Handgun?

You can include some information. I'm not sure about manufacturer names (Beretta, Sig, Smith & Wesson, etc...) but you can definitely include calibers (9mm, .45 cal, 40, .357, etc...) without it being a problem.

I know my favorite PnP game includes some names to things, but it is set in the West, so I'm sure there are some differences there.

2) I'm having a LOT of difficulty understanding the damage guns inflict. I got that they are rated either by caliber in America or millimeter everywhere else, and that the greater that number, the more damage is generally inflicted, however from what I've read so far, bullet speed is also a factor, sometimes trumping caliber. I'm trying to make a rating system on damage effectiveness with categories of Small, Medium, and Large with a possible X-Large for guns that don't fit (such as an Elephant Gun).

I was really shocked that Assault rifles generally use 9mm but cause so much damage; I assumed (incorrectly) that they used a bigger bullet. Anyways, so far I have the listing broken into mm (I had to convert all caliber to mm), and I can't remember the specifics because I'm not at home to look at my doc, but I think it was .1 to .29 cal or lower is small, .2 to .39 cal is medium, and .4 to .5-.59 cal is large, regardless of the type of gun used. This makes some handguns as powerful as some beast looking machine guns. Taking out the automatic firing, is this true, or am I so far off base, I might as well hang myself now? (note: I'm only using cal here becuase I can't remember what MM I changed the cal to; also, this assumes that a cal of .5 to .59 at LARGE is one of the most damaging there is for domestic use guns and damage inflicted in regards to lethality).

Well, I guess it's all in what you are looking for. Yes, a lot of tactical weapons use 9mm ammunition. It is a pretty awesome ammunition.

Your chart seems reasonable, but there are other things to consider.

Getting shot in the head, with a .22 caliber rifle, is probably still going to kill you, just as much as taking an AR15 Machine Gun round to the head. It's just about the viciousness of the wound at that point.

Getting shot in the arm however, both will leave your arm rather(fairly) useless, but an AR15 will have a greater chance of separating arm from torso

The more I read about guns, the more fascinating they become. I never knew there were so many purpose guns, all with different functions. The range, power, caliber (mm), length of the tube all play an important factor, as does the weight, recoil, and reload. It's not as easy to make this chart as I assumed it would be, that's for sure... I thank everyone for their responses ahead of time.

I love guns. Not because I'm some cowboy American, but to me, they are a beautiful piece of science, and a fascinating study in physics, all coiled up in this beautifullly destructive package. I have a WWII .32 caliber Officer's Sidearm that I inherited, and it is by far the nicest handgun I've ever fired. I've owned several handguns, but nothing "does it" for me, the way this one does.

I also own several shotguns, but they are more of just a "hunting" thing. I'm not really interested in taking those to the range and wasting time. (might also be that the .32 ammo is so cheap)

If I were going to make a chart for a PnP game, I think you are on the right track, but you may want to consider some sort of "called shot" and or "range" mechanics, and that would give you some fun things to do with muzzle velocity, projectile speed, scatter patterns. You could do it all with relative ease as well.