Re: [HoE] Re: ammo sizes

[DarrinBrig@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/20/98 11:28:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
bloopy40@hotmail.com writes:

> Yes, but in HoE, there's no distinction made between the round used in 
>  the NA Assault Rifle and the NA Commando submachinegun, which means hero 
>  X can just empty out his commando's clip, reload it into his Assault 
>  Rifle, and raise the die type of his ammo a whole step. See what I mean? 
>  I'm not doubting the validity, but some claification betweem ammo types 
>  would help.

I tried to address this a bit when I put together the Lead Poisoning pages.
The difference between ammo sizes is most obvious with the Russian 7.62
rounds.  The standard 7.62 rifle round is based loosely on a Mauser round (8
shot repeating rifle that was very popular during the Spanish-American war),
this round packs quite a wallop.  Then Mauser came out with the "Broomhandle"
pistol that uses a 7.63.  The russians use a 7.62mm Type P (for Pistol) for
the Tokarev TT-33.  The same round is also used in most of their SMGs.  The
AK-47 uses another 7.62mm Type S (for "short round", also called 7.62 M1943),
which is halfway between a rifle-sized round and the pistol-sized round.
Assault Rifles don't have very long barrels so the extra powder for the rifle
rounds is pretty much wasted, and you can fit more bullets in the clip if the
bullets are smaller.

For American weapons, the standard pistol ammo for the Colt 1911 was .45 ACP
(stands for Automatic Colt Pistol, I think).  This was also the standard ammo
for the M1 Thompson SMG and M3 "Grease Gun".  During WWII, the standard rifle
round was .30-06.  Later, 7.62mm NATO rounds become popular for rifles (these
are NOT compatable with russian rounds, though I've heard some russian weapons
can use NATO rounds).

9mm Parabellum (also called 9mm Luger) also catches on in Germany, and just
about all modern handguns and SMGs nowadays offer versions chambered for 9mm
Parabellum.  This is, of course, a pistol-sized round.  I don't know of any
9mm rifle rounds, 7.62 NATO and 5.56 NATO seem to be the rule of thumb
nowadays for rifles and assault weapons.  Unlike the russian rounds, NATO
rounds don't offer different sizes for different weapons, one size fits all it
seems.

So, anyway, to get back to HOE, assume that pistols and SMGs use and can
exchange the same ammo, if the caliber matches.  For rifles, assault weapons,
and MGs, I'd say they probably use the same type of ammo, but these would NOT
be compatable with pistols or SMGs.