I love science fiction, especially gritty science fiction. Science fiction where the guns still fire bullets and not lasers. I also love weird guns, innovative guns, and odd guns. Somehow, those two loves combine well. As a science fiction fan, more than once I’ve purchased a gun for its science fiction appeal.
When Real Life Looks Like Science Fiction
Most guns are kind of boring, and that’s simply due to the fact that some platforms just work and work well. Glocks (and other striker-fired polymer frame pistols) and ARs are the orthodox right now because they are so effective, efficient, and well-suited for those tasks. But they bore me.
With that in mind, let’s look at five guns that could be in an episode of The Expanse and look right at home.
Calico Light Weapon Systems
The Calico Light Weapon Systems represent a variety of rifles, submachine guns, and pistols that were available in both .22LR and 9mm. Their claim to fame was the massive top-mounted helical magazine. These magazines held either 50 or 100 rounds in a double-stack helical configuration.
The magazine also famously housed the gun’s rear sight, which was certainly a choice, but it seems to work okay. The 9mm variants were roller-delayed guns, and the .22LR were simple, straight blowback designs. Notably, they used polymer construction for the frames before it was cool. Reliability varied a fair bit; my early Bakersfield model of the M950 pistol works exceptionally well.
These science fiction subguns were featured in classics like Spaceballs and The Running Man, as well as the not-so-classic RoboCop 3. The oddball look makes it perfect as the blaster of choice to capture a gritty or hilarious sci-fi feel.
KelTec CP33
The KelTec CP33 is one of the newer guns out there that looks like it’d fit in perfectly in Stargate, Star Wars, or any other science fiction or fantasy film. This giant pistol is not all that complicated for the most part. It’s a straight blowback .22LR gun. What makes it interesting is the overall layout and magazine design.
The 33 in CP33 stands for 33 rounds in the magazine. Yep, it holds a pile of ammo in a quad-stack magazine that sits flush in the pistol grip. The magazine design is impressive and makes for a unique .22LR pistol. The CP33 doesn’t use a traditional slide and provides you with a huge, stationary optic rail.
Like most of KelTec’s guns, it’s affordable. Reliability depends most on the .22LR ammo you use, but overall, it’s pretty dang reliable. Sadly, the CP33 hasn’t become a sci-fi icon in movies and TV. It’s only appeared in one futuristic video game called Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2.
SRM 1216
The SRM 1216 is a semi-automatic, roller-delayed, 12-gauge shotgun that feeds from a tubular magazine. Roller-delayed is neat, but the real draw is the magazine. It’s removable and made up of four different tubular magazines that rotate. Once you run dry in tube one, rotate tube two, and you have another four rounds on tap. In total, the 1216 can hold 16 rounds of 12-gauge.
There are short-barrel variants that hold less ammo due to length restrictions. The 1212 and the 1208 are both notable short-barreled variants that get quite small overall. The platform comes with a long optics rail and the ability to swap controls to the left side. Select-fire prototypes also exist for military and law enforcement sales.
The SRM 1216 made its most famous appearance in the futuristic sections of Black Ops 2, where it’s super handy for knocking drones out of the sky. The SRM 1216 also popped up in one of my favorite games, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Personally, if I had to go fight the bugs on some distant planet, I’d want a 1216.
The Ounce
The Ounce may have been announced three years ago, but it’s only now arriving on the market. This gun is truly out of this world and would be perfect in Firefly. The Ounce is a .22LR semi-automatic pistol that uses a locked breech, which is so rare for .22LRs that I think it might be the first to do so.
The pistol uses long recoil operation to cycle the firearm and is a bullpup design. The magazine is fixed and loaded from the top of the gun. That’s not where the weirdness ends; it also folds in half. When folded, the trigger is secure and the gun doesn’t need a holster to be safely carried. The Ounce is brilliantly disguised and effortless to conceal.
As you’d imagine, it has yet to make its way into a movie. The Ounce is brand new, but primed to be the pocket pistol of the next big science fiction series. However, Third Bay will need to up production to get enough of these guns in movie armories anytime soon.
Chiappa Rhino
Sometimes the best science fiction guns combine old with new, and that’s the case with the Chiappa Rhino. Revolvers fall into a world of old-school design that’s always charming. The Chiappa Rhino takes a traditional revolver design and revamps it into a science fiction-friendly platform.
Chiappa moves the barrel down and aligns it with the bottom cylinder. This lowers the bore axis and directs recoil directly into the wrist and minimizes muzzle rise. This makes it a comfortable shooting gun in magnum-powered cartridges like .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum. The Chiappa Rhino uses an angular design to give the gun a futuristic appeal, but then mixes a wood grip to keep it a little old school.
The Rhino has been around long enough to be a sci-fi staple. It’s been featured in the Total Recall remake, Terminator: Dark Fate, Captain America: Brave New World, and the live-action Ghost in the Shell film.
Going Science Fiction
I love guns that look like they are ripped right out of a science fiction film. In reality, guns will probably continue to remain a bit boring as they get better and more efficient. That tends to be the theme with weapon design. Still, we can celebrate the guns that try to be a little different.
