Hello!

Since I'm not really familiar with guns & the guns in the W40K universe I always thought that guns which have the Stub preffix were reffered with the slang "stub" 'cause of the ammo they fired (bullets= stubs ); now a friend of mine insists it's beacuse they look "stubby" compared to the other monstrosities in the W40K guniverse...

Which is right?

(I also ask because I have to translate the terms into another Language & it would make a world of difference in translations! )

Thanks!

L

A stub weapon is a short barrel projectile weapon.

Can't give you an offical answer but I would agree with you LETE, it would seem to be a slang term that became the norm in the Imperium and is used to desctibe the ammunition type. I mean heavy stubbers are hardly "stubby".

Kaihlik

In the Imperium, stub is a term for a solid metal projectile (as opposed to explosive cannon rounds).

As far as the weapons book from 2nd ed. 40k said, "stub" referred to the type of ammunition fired by the gun. A stub gun fired hard, cased ammunition, as opposed to an autogun, which fired caseless hard rounds. Whether that distinction has remained since then I do not know.

Little Dave

There are several illustrations of autocouns ejecting casings, so I have to disagree there. I still contend that "stub" refers to a solid projectile rather than shot (as from a shotgun) or explosive rounds (as from several forms of cannon ammunition).

"Stub" a slang term for bullets in 40K and it goes all the way back to first edition 40K: Rogue Trader days. Thus you have stub revolvers, stub guns, etcetera.

Cynical Cat said:

Goes further back than that... Term was borrowed from Judge Dredd!

stub refers to the blunt stubby ammunition most weapons with the stub prefix.

I've always assumed the autocannon is called that due to the fact it is an automatic weapon though that does leave the question of the heavy stubber....

I do remember a bit of fluff about the autocannons saying they used to have more advanced ammunition then now but that the ability to make it has been lost.... however if they can still make autogun ammo then why couldn't they make caseless autocannon ammo

Erretnorb said:

Autocannon refers to autoloading cannons, a weapon that today we consider a different category of weapons than machine guns or small arms. Its not a stub weapon because it shoots explosive shells, not bullets.

The background material about autocannons formerly using more advanced ammo is dubious because it is contradicted by other background material (such as the flak autocannons on the ubiquetous IG Hydra) and should be taken with a grain of salt.

aramis said:

DING! DING! DING!

We have a WINNER!

The term was stolen...err.. borrowed ...from Judge Dredd, of which GW had the rights to publish the JD RPG for a while back in the late '80's at the same time the original Rogue Trader came out.

"Stub" guns, in general, are solid-slug bullet firing weapons and in general are distinguished from AutoGuns in the fact that they are not Automatic. With the exception of the "Heavy Stubber", go figure.

For example, a Stub Pistol is generally a revolver or semi-automatic pistol. Whereas a AutoPistol is semi/fully automatic...a "machine pistol" basically. Thus, a fully automatic Stub Gun is actually an AutoGun, which is a rifle actually.

A Bolt Pistol, regardless of firing mode, doesn't fire bullets, it fires gyrojet rockets...hence there is a lot of debate as to the amount of recoil a Bolt Pistol has because theoretically it should have little or none.

You really need to read the original RT to get the full picture. These guys were trying to stand out in a market saturated by Gamma World, MegaTraveller and Twilight 2000 so they tried to be as different as possible down to not calling their Assault Rifles "Assault Rifles". "Stumm Gas" was another Judge Dredd ripoff.

To illustrate my point, the pictures in the original RT showed a Stub Pistol as being obviously a Colt .45 whereas the AutoPistol was a custom drawing that looked more like a modern-day Laspistol with a foregrip mounted box magazine.

I remember having this debate back in '89... I was of the opinion that Stubbers used "Stubby" bullets and hence the difference was akin to modern Submachineguns using pistol ammo vs. Assault Rifles using Rifle ammo... I lost the debate though as my opponents pointed out that the ranges were the same and the reflection in STR differences was due to the AutoGun pumping out more bullets in the same amount of time.

Why aren't there any SubMachineguns in this game?

The autopistol covers anything in the SMG range.

In the DH forums there is a long thread about the apparent lack of smgs in that game. Read it for a bunch of houserules (several of them good).

Hey you rivetheads:

THANKS!!!!!!

L

HappyDaze said:

Talkie Toaster said:

That's actually acknowledged by the background - there's a propellant charge used to push the bolter shell beyond the muzzle of the bolter before the rocket ignites, increasing muzzle velocity and reducing the pressure stresses inflicted upon the weapon.

aramis said:

IIRC it dates back to Laserburn which may have borrowed it from Dredd along with Judges.

Though IIRC isn't the Judge Dredd Stubgun a beam weapon?

Dahak said:

Most of the terminology I see in 40k tends to borrow heavily from Dune too.

Maxim C. Gatling said:

Surely you mean Stubmachine guns?