Firearms in the Southern Sphere

Firearms in the Southern Sphere have evolved greatly since the time of Old Ordis. Modern firearms in the Southern Sphere are typically pulse-operated, and are largely divided into coil-assisted and non-coil-assisted weapons. Firearms in general incorporate more electronic components and micro-computers in the modern era than ever before in human history, and are capable of assisting the firer in all parts of the firing process, from target acquisition to dynamic recoil absorption.

Modern firearm projectiles also fall under two broad categories, metallic and non-metallic. Even in coil-assisted projectiles, a small amount of explosive propellant is used to propel the rounds into the electromagnetic barrel. The vast majority of metallic projectiles are self-contained multipurpose metallic flechettes, typically capable of limited self-guidance with micro-fins, with variants capable of armour-piercing, high-explosive, airburst, and other functions. Non-metallic projectiles typically refer to Hendama Rounds, which are projectiles partially made out of electroactive polymers capable of changing shape to enable firers to modify their projectiles as required "on the fly".

Conventional
Conventional firearms are firearms that use the explosive power of a propellant to propel a projectile, representing the most basic form of firearm used in the modern day and by far the most common. Conventional guns are typically encountered in the hands of civilians and militias that cannot legally access or afford military-grade COMA or CORA weapons for whatever reason. Most types of modern body armour is capable of stopping the bullets of conventional firearms with ease, though this of course does not make them any less lethal to unarmoured targets or weak spots.

Most modern conventional guns are pulse operated, using an electrical pulse from an internal battery to ignite the propellant. Some variants still use firing pins and cased cartridges, though these are very rare and are often antiques or collector's items.

Ferromagnetic
Ferromagnetic firearms, often referred to as FerroMag, are firearms that entirely use magnetic coils to propel a projectile. FerroMag is a trademark of the Matanza-Armatek company, but the term has undergone generification and has come to refer to all coilgun weapons.

Most Ferromagnetic weapons are capable of strong armour penetration, and are typically used as specialised weapons such as sniper rifles or the Krukov PK-82 "man-stopper" handguns used by some frontier law enforcement in the Union. While the lack of propellant reduces the weight and size of the rounds and weapons, such weapons are energy-intensive and overheat rapidly, limiting their rate of fire. Due to the strong magnetic forces involved in the firing process, ferromagnetic weapons cannot usually fire rounds that feature built-in electronics, such as smart ammunition. Ferromagnetic weapons typically fire simple tungsten-carbide spikes that damage targets through sheer kinetic force.

Micro-Shard
Micro-Shard firearms are a relatively new development, first created only about 58 years ago in the Federation. A micro-shard weapon is essentially a type of ferromagnetic weapon in operation, differing in the ammunition used, which consists of microscopic shards of metal shaved from a small internal block. With each block capable of generating thousands of shards, soldiers rarely have to reload and only need to be aware of the weapon's heat tolerances and power supply. Each sliver hits its target with kinetic force somewhat equivalent to the force of a standard 4.2x50mm round.

Micro-shard weapons have not achieved widespread use across the Human Sphere as they are still considered somewhat experimental technology and expensive. Some Federation soldiers practice "hot swapping" during combat, where they switch heat sinks when one is saturated in order to allow greater fire rates. This is considered highly dangerous due to the heat collected in the heat sinks making them burn and fire hazards.

COMA
Conventional Operation, Magnetic Acceleration (COMA) firearms are a class of firearms that first fire the projectile using conventional explosives, typically by electrical pulse, and then accelerate the projectiles in the barrel using magnetic coils. COMA is sometimes seen as "the sensible man's ferromag", since pure-electromagnetic weapons typically consume more power than COMA firearms, and are also useless without a power source while COMA weapons can still operate as conventional arms in such a state.

Due to their reliability and capabilities, COMA weapons are widely used by military forces in the modern day, with popular examples including the Interstellar Union's FdA-25 and FdA-32M3, the Empire's Type-81, the Federation's APEX-14 and IWS 80 rifles and IWS 15 machine gun, and many others.

CORA
Conventional Operation, Rocket Acceleration (CORA) firearms are firearms that first fire the projectile out of the weapon's barrel, then uses internal rockets within the rounds to further accelerate the projectiles to increase their lethality and penetration, or in some cases to allow the projectiles to self-direct into pre-designated targets.

Energy weapons
Energy weapons are weapons that use directed-energy properties to damage or destroy the target, eschewing projectiles entirely. While laser weapons are common on a large scale among the human states, with current human technology it has proven difficult to miniaturise laser weaponry to an infantry-portable level without major drawbacks. The most common weakness of energy weapons is their high energy consumption, requiring generators or frequent battery changes to work, making infantry-sized "laser rifles" inefficient in terms of ammunition use compared to more traditional firearms. Energy weapons are nonetheless considered powerful battlefield weapons, and are typically deployed as specialised anti-armour weapons reliant on portable generators or large battery packs.

Conventional ammunition
Caseless rounds, some of which are capable of doing some pretty wonky stuff.

Cased ammunition
Antiques, but some still prefer them due to higher durability especially in very adverse conditions, like the humid jungles of Takisawa.

Smart ammunition
Smart ammunition are class of CORA ammunition that utilise gyrojet technology to not only propel the projectiles outside of the barrel, but also to guide the projectiles to pre-designated targets. Essentially, each smart round is a miniature micro-missile that is capable of correcting its flightpath to strike at targeted enemies. On-board targeting systems ensure that the rounds strike vulnerable locations on enemy combatants, or if there is no time to calculate such a vector the rounds will home in on the detected centre of mass. Some smart ammunition types can even act in a 'fire and forget' manner, automatically hunting down enemy IFF signals within an area after being fired from the weapon.

While some conventional fin-stabilised ammunition can carry out minor course correction, smart ammunition projectiles are far more accurate and versatile. Guided by their micro-jets, smart rounds are capable of curving around obstacles to strike their targets with maximum precision, with the firer not having to have direct line of sight with the target to hit it. However, using smart ammunition to its greatest potential typically requires the firer to have some cybernetics modules installed to facilitate the data link with the weapon targeting systems.

Smart ammunition exists from as low as the ubiquitous 5.7 mm pistol rounds all the way up to 140 mm shells such as those used by the Tpe-37 Se Orochi frontline tanks.

FerroMag
APFDS except without the DS. Rods from God in your Hand boi

Hendama
Henju are a classification of handgun designed to work with Hendama Rounds. Within the class of weapon, Henju can be automatic, semi-automatic, and revolvers, though semi-automatic Henju remain the most widely used for their functionality. Henju are generally non-coil-assisted and feature internal computers and systems capable of reprogramming and reshaping Hendama Rounds while they are still in the magazine. In the present day, almost all handguns in the Southern Sphere are Henju, and only very basic consumer handguns still lack Hendama functionality. The word Henju comes from the Yashiman Hensuu-Ju, or Variable Gun, which was what the original Henju weapons were termed. Due to their ubiquity, handguns in the Southern Sphere are often simply referred to as Henju.

With Hendama Rounds, Henju give the firer the ability to react to multiple types of targets and situations without the need to carry multiple types of specialised weapons and ammunition. Hendama Rounds can be transformed into antipersonnel, armour-piercing, high-explosive squash-head, and other types of tactical capabilities for military and law enforcement personnel. "Tactical Hendama" are also available with the capability to transform between electrical stun, incendiary, smoke, and other functions. Henju typically have a maximum effective range up to 200 metres, though certain Hendama modes allow for accuracy of up to 1,000 metres. Henju typically do not carry as much electronics as larger weapons, such as ballistic computers and recoil compensators, simply due to the limitations of the weapon' small size.

Henju and Hendama Rounds marketed to civilians typically feature software locks and limitations in design to prevent users from programming the rounds into the more dangerous variants, though underground hackers often attempt to bypass these limitations.

ComRifles
A ComRifle is a pulse-action, selective-fire, coil-assisted rifle that fires metallic rounds and uses a detachable magazine. The term "ComRifle" comes from "Combination Rifle", as early ComRifle designs featured the then-unprecedented combination of infantry rifle, grenade launcher, and advanced electronics into a single weapon. The immediate predecessors of ComRifles were first put into mass production and accepted into widespread service during the Second Extrasolar War. ComRifles have since become the standard weapon in most of the Southern Sphere's armies, comparable in role to the evolved assault rifles used in the Northern Sphere, though surpassing the northern designs in numerous ways.

In the present day, ComRifles are widespread in the Southern Sphere and feature standard electronic features such as dynamic recoil compensation, aim optimisation, automatic target detection and tracking, round terminal guidance and control, optical implant links, and round airburst control capabilities. ComRifles are typically manufactured out of high-impact polymers and lightweight metals. The average ComRifle has an effective range of roughly 800 metres, which is the average distance at which combat in open areas has been conducted in the modern day. ComRifles also typically feature tactical rails for attachments ranging from optical sights, battlefield computers, underbarrel weapons such as launchers and flamethrowers, and others.

One of the most popular and famous comrifles is the FdA-25, a sturdy, cheap model that originated in the Interstellar Union and has been extremely widely proliferated across the Human Sphere. Examples of modern ComRifles in use today include the Federation's APEX-14 and IWS 80, the Imperial Type-81, and the Interstellar Union's FdA-32M3, amongst others. In some jurisdictions, certain types of ComRifles can even be purchased by civilians. Informally, ComRifles are often simply called "rifles".