You are the one who cited such a thing as a .45-70 Colt Peacemaker in post #37. Colt made no such revolver. Lots of companies have made revolvers of the SAA pattern or variants of it. Only one made by Colt is a Colt, though.
Guns have not really changed much in the past 50 years. They are not more powerful or better. And it does not look like guns will change much in the future or get more powerful.
I’d much rather have a modern M-16 than one from 50 years ago.
You’re correct that the basic technology of firearms hasn’t changed much in 50 years. No phased plasma rifles in 40 megawatt range are going to be available any time soon.
Even things like caseless ammo don’t offer much improvement on the basic technology. Chemical explodes here, propels a lead slug there. That’s been the constant for 500 years.
We’ve gotten new propellants that are much better than the black powder they used 500 years ago, we have new ignition systems that are much better, we have cartridges, we have automatic loading. And what more do you want?
The problem with any ginormous gun that either fires giant bullets or a bajillion bullets isn’t technological, it is logistical. A human being can only carry so much weight around. Of course we have weapons much bigger than a human can carry, but those need to be transported by something other than a human being. And we have guns that can fire a bajillion rounds a second, the reason soldiers don’t carry them is they can’t carry bajillion round magazines around with them.
Remember that man-portable minigun Jesse Ventura used in Predator? Those things actually exist. Except they’re no good as a weapon, because it would weigh 65 pounds, not including the truck batteries to spin the barrels, the recoil would spin you around like holding on to a rocket, and you’d need a truck following around behind you to hold the ammo. If your rate of fire is 2000 rounds a minute, you’ll empty even a thousand round wheelbarrow magazine in 30 seconds.
So if you want a ginormous gun that shoots a ginormous number of rounds you need a truck to carry the gun, along with another truck to carry the ammunition. Or you have a crew served weapon like a machine gun, which is luggable by a squad of guys. Or you go down to a very light machine gun, like the M249, which is carried around by one guy and can use regular rifle ammo in an emergency. That’s the closest you’ll get to the sort of weapon you could use 80s action-movie style. But note this is a lot heavier than a regular rifle, and if you actually fired it 80s movie style you’d run out of ammo in literally a few seconds.
As a scfi buff it is a bit disappointing guns have not changed much in over 50 years and no new technology coming out.
I think when people think of future guns they picture it like
http://future-weapon.dealopia.com/images/F2000.jpg
http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17gzjewle9q7vjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg
http://www.kirtland.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/070403-F-3293G-004.jpg
http://earthhopenetwork.net/pain_ray_gun.jpg
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/ny/sar-21-470-0708.jpg
But these guns are impossible to make because of kick.But than on other had people in the US are getting fatter and in 100 years from now, most people may be over 250 pounds so than these big guns may be possible.
I wonder if future technology will allow guns to be strong and lightweight and less of a kick.
Even allowing future guns being more powerful but the size being the same. If guns gets bigger you have problem with kick.
A big gun like this today the kick would be a major problem.
But than in 50 years from now there may be technology to deal with kick problem.
I am still so confused by this thread. Those are completely normal-looking rifles. Have you ever played Doom? 
Doom’s weapons are not measly little things like that. Anybody could carry those weapons.
They’re not even particularly plasticky. Look at the XM8 space marine pewpew gun or the OICW motion-tracking-see-around-corners-and-explode-grenades-above-people rifle for fancy futurustic toys.
Read the heading for this site, particularly the parenthetical. Over time that might cure your confusion.
I believe Isaac Newton would like a word with you.
There is already technology to deal with “the kick problem.” Has been for a while, too. Compensators, buffers, hydyaulic mechanisms, and other solutions have been used singly and in tandem. What hasn’t been got around is that ammunition has bulk and mass. This often comes up in debates about power armor. The guy wearing the power armor may be “strong” enough to fire a howitzer from the shoulder, but howitzer ammo is heavy and takes up a lot of space. How and where does he carry enough of it to make himself really useful on the battlefield? Failing development of radically new propellants and explosives, this isn’t going to change.
You just have to think more small-scale. A soldier who can carry three Javelin missiles on his back is a lot more effective than a soldier who can carry just one.
Yes, but three soldiers who can carry one missile each are more effective than one guy in a multi-million dollar exoskeleton that barely works who can carry three.
And I still don’t understand why the OP insists that guns “like these” are “impossible” and then links to actually existing guns that are actually in use.
Yes, some of these are pictures of guns in video games or cosplay guns. But only some of those are giant hand-cannons, others are just regular style guns with bits of plastic styling glued on.
The question has been asked and answered.
“Why don’t soldiers carry around really huge BFGs?”
Because they’re heavy and awkward, and you only need a small bullet to put a hole in a human soldier, and if you need larger holes you need a larger weapon, which could be vehicle mounted or luggable, but can’t be carried around and fired from the hip by a soldier on foot patrol. Also, ammunition is heavy and a gun that fires lots of ammo or really heavy ammo requires a huge weight of ammo that one person can’t effectively lug around.
Also note that soldiers routinely carry other sorts of weapons other than their rifle, if you need a bigger bang you can use a grenade launcher or RPG, which are totally things that really exist.
That is an excellent point. I remember a similar point coming up back in the '90s when the US was developing a self-propelled howitzer that was supposed to use liquid propellant and heavily computerized fire control. A big selling point for the system was that by controlling propellant amounts and the angle at which the gun was fired, it would be able to loft several rounds in quick succession and have them all land on target simultaneously. Its proponents claimed it replaced an entire artillery battery. Clearer thinkers recognized that if anything happened to the vehicle, you effectively lost the entire artillery battery all at once. Lots of things can happen to complicated tech on a battlefield, not all of it even due to enemy activity.
Power armor is one of those things that just seems so cool that we want to see it fielded basically for the coolth. IMPO, by the time problems like a reliable, compact energy source for the armor are solved, there will be no need to have it as power armor. The tech could be put into play as remotely piloted ground drones just as effectively, if not more so. The whole thing gets a lot smaller and less complex if we don’t have to worry about fitting a meatbag inside it and keeping that meatbag intact.
I think you and naita are getting hugged up on the word big. I don’t know any scfi movie or computer game showing big guns like http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D7xbU-aELjA/UUXadO-WXkI/AAAAAAAAGtE/_t_tZCD7Aig/s1600/51919.jpg or Photo Storage or http://mid4.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/texans_with_big_guns.jpg or http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K_ZYmjjhyiw/TY8UOSlUXwI/AAAAAAAAAtw/qtJPfTLKr5I/s400/big_gun_girl_1.jpg or Photo Storage or http://dimensionalarea.net/myfiles/cons/otakon2004/2004-07-30_010_Otakon_Woman_with_big_gun.jpg or http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs23/f/2007/345/5/f/Big_Gun_by_Al_xSith.jpg
About the biggest I seen is http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs12/i/2006/288/7/c/Big_Gun_____by_DeZomB.jpg or http://www.yourprops.com/movieprops/original/yp4ee39a7bd429d2.47220443/Doom-Chain-gun-Rotary-cannon-1.jpg or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Vulcan1.jpg or http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/123441/3079880-2.jpg or http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_original/lrywiyyuczh4164h8bxf.jpg or http://cache.graphicslib.viator.com/graphicslib/media/59/the-dunc-with-a-big-gun-photo_1085017-770tall.jpg or http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs27/f/2008/178/6/1/Oh_My_What_A_Big_Gun_You_Have_by_kuroi__ookami.jpg
And all these guns even if it where possible in 50 years from now with new breakthrough in technology is about the biggest you want.Even than it is almost too big even if weight and kick is not a problem.
You really don’t want a gun bigger than your arm length or it is too hard to work with even if weight and kick is not a problem.And two or three arm length is just silly .
I would not take any gun bigger than this into http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs27/f/2008/178/6/1/Oh_My_What_A_Big_Gun_You_Have_by_kuroi__ookami.jpg combat or http://photos.oes.org/albums/userpics/10002/normal_MIB_BigGuns.jpg
Other thing I would take into account if I was transported into a Doom like world with evil creatures a big gun with 10 to 15 bullets or smaller gun holding 50 or 100 bullets.You don’t want to run out of bullets so may go with a smaller gun.
I think you and some other members are trying to saying if it is not two or three arm length it is not big.
I also think you and some other members here are trying to say those pictures I posted of guns before are not any bigger than standard guns they had all along, that it is the plasticky giving too a illusion it is big and future gun.
That these guns.
http://www.dtacomlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Truth-About-Guns-Demo.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/OICW_Posted_arm.jpg
Are the same standard guns they had all along, it just plastic and new look that gives to a illusion it is bigger gun.
So really guns have reached a mature technology level and will not really get any more powerful:(:(:(:(:(:( because to do that guns would have to be two or three arm lengths and that just silly and not practical, even if weight and kick is not a problem.
So really there is no other way to make guns more powerful.
I think in the future we think hand guns like this http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Walther_P99_9x19mm.png would be replaced with a future hand guns like http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/custom-steampunk-guns_1.jpg or http://www.writeups.org/img/inset/WLOCK_Imaginarypistol_h.jpg or http://th09.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2011/084/9/1/energy_handgun_by_peterku-d3cfpl5.jpg or http://s3.amazonaws.com/gamervision_production/1242350232Pr0y7k04Nx.jpg but it not any more powerful just a illusion.
Lemur866 I’m sorry I’m not in army or worked with guns so my my knowledge level is shaped by the uneducated public seeing Hollywood movies and video games that guns like these are future and more powerful Imgur: The magic of the Internet or graemehobbs93: Image or http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YmXJ3V5fa8k/UYOLpTb9xBI/AAAAAAAAGLI/p8yXD6eNlxA/s1600/m41a.jpg or http://qph.is.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-1ad8ced6ab86e1a8214db8dcafe93626?convert_to_webp=true or http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2013/12/23/guns-future.jpg?itok=IoB0X6TN or http://www.guns.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/tavor_bullpup_a_good_baseline_for_the_bullpup_rifle.jpg or http://i.ytimg.com/vi/uhron05s1Ng/maxresdefault.jpg or http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17gzjewle9q7vjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg
Is all a illusion it is more powerful it just the plasticky and new look that looks of future but really the gun is not any more powerful than what they had.
Really don’t know what you are saying Sweat209. NONE of those guns that you posted pictures of are bigger than the standard military rifle issued in WWII. The M1 Garand. M1 Garand - Wikipedia
The newer guns are lighter and shoot smaller rounds too (typically).
They are more powerful in that with a smaller round (bullet) the solder can carry more ammo. That’s a big generalization, but that’s sort of what it comes down to.
ETA - I’m talking about the guns in your OP. Some, if not all of the ones in your last post are from Hollywood. But frankly, aren’t too out there. Haven’t looked at them all though.
I’m not going through link by link, but most of those links were to pictures of people clowning around with oversized non-firing display guns or to cosplayers with non-firing replicas of oversized weapons from ultraviolent Japanese porn cartoons. Not sure what they bring to the discussion.
I get what most members here are saying, 95% of the pictures I posted here the guns are not big is the plasticky that make it look big.
I just think it some thing Hollywood and game makers think future guns will look like and be more powerful.
I don’t know any Hollywood movie or game maker that think future guns should be two or three arm lengths.
Most Hollywood movies or game makers think future guns will be more powerful and look more like they are from the future.
But from what I get here from people that understand guns that for guns to be more powerful it would have to be two or three arm lengths!!! That would be hard to hold the gun in combative even if the kick was not the problem.
So the answer is no guns in the future will not be more powerful because to do that the gun would have to be two or three arm lengths!! And that would be hard to hold the gun in combative even if the kick was not the problem.
And all those hollywood movies or game makers are dead wrong:(:(:(
those guns may look like they are from the future but will not be any more powerful than what they have now.