cthia wrote:I would imagine that that configuration would be subject to the same problems that made Honor's installation only possible in the tip of her finger. A gun cannot shoot around corners or bends in the barrel or finger.
I would imagine that a weapon installed in the forearm could theoretically fire out of the bottom of the palm, if the hand is flexed back before firing.
Originally I wondered how accurate Honor's finger could be without a barrel of some length to help stabilize the bullet. I used to think the entire finger should house the barrel, until I realized the bends (joints) of the fingers would be dangerous to Honor, by possibly exploding.
It's not actually in just the tip of her finger. It fires
through the tip of her index finger, yes, but the 30 round magazine is back in her forearm and putting her artificial arm into what I guess you'd call 'pulser mode' locks things into position to align everything for firing.
Admittedly when
War of Honor describes it it only talks about locking the left index finger (as the barrel), and the hand's other fingers as if grasping an invisible pulser; but logically it would also have to align things so the darts can come from the magazine, through the wrist, and into the finger. I suppose that could be a slow feed system with the barrel being entirely contained within the left index finger. But given that the whole arm is artificial I don't see any reason to accept such a short barrel and long feed system. It should be easy enough to align things well enough for the barrel to snap together all the way back through the wrist to the magazine. (And there'd be more room for the grav drivers in the relatively more roomy forearm and palm of the hand; so it might actually be easier to install a longer barreled version with the barrel extension into the finger being unpowered -- but that's just speculation)
After all the barrel doesn't need to hold the pressure of a powder charge. The only gas pressure would be from displaced atmosphere and shock waves as the dart's being accelerated down the barrel by the pulser's miniature grav drivers. That would make a multi-part barrel snapping into alignment as you prepare to fire much more feasible.
(Hmm, I wonder if you could use clever grav generators to hold a pulser's barrel at near vacuum so you didn't get a shock wave or significant pressure build-up within the barrel itself)