Building A More Accurate Bolter

[@Colonel-Sigma]

I enjoy any thought exercise meant to discover just how the imperiums equipment would look irl. On the point you made about the boltgun not needing to be bulky I think it would make more sense to apply a bit of our own modern logic to it. As an example a floating barrel is much smaller than the weapon appears to be, as far as i know the real reason bolters and other ballistic imperial weapons appear so big is because there are machines surrounding the actual weapons mechanisms which are meant to unjam them.

[@federicor227]

To unjam a bolter there's the need to cock the gun, so only a piston?

[@gerbill13]

Bolt guns gave computer parts “ machine spirits “ basically semi AI so self targeting systems etc

[@matthiuskoenig3378]

I like the idea of the giant heat sink of a Lewisgun for a space gun.

[@matthiuskoenig3378]

An electronically actuated system's downsides sound like. A nice lore friendly way to make boltguns rare and only for special forces like marines.

[@MansMan42069]

@@matthiuskoenig3378 the Heavy Bolter is electronically fired

[@01oo011]

My guess is the guys who thought it up were thinking of 40mm grenade rounds. Personally I would’ve ignored the “75 calibre” description and gone for something based around 25mm grenade rounds like the XM25, seems to be the closest thing to the spirit of a real boltgun.

[@mikoajpietrych6168]

by caliber the closest would probably 12 gauge shotgun, but who would care about shotgun sized round, so better candidate would Denel Neopup 20mm semi auto magazine fed grenede launcher

[@Wasp609]

The standard Astartes bolt caliber is .75 calibre or in mm roughly 19.049 mm. Human scale bolter are .50 cal or 12.7mm. Sao your 25mm grenades would be oversized.

[@diggman88]

I thought it strange that a group of British writers used the caliber system for their guns. I assume it's because most military guys know what a 50. cal is, so making the bolt gun 75. caliber would be easier to understand. No, that can't be it. Any person with a passing interest in military knows what a 20mm is

[@rojack79er]

I keep seeing that 70 cal is around 30mm why do I keep finding this?

[@sneedfeedandseed2410]

or that .950 caliber rifle.

[@sparrow4hawk51]

Really enjoyed the Video! As some one who works with CAD a lot I all ways like seeing other peoples work with it. I just wanted to point out the reason I suspect a lot of GW's stuff is out of scale is because of manufacturing limitations in the early days meant things had to be over scaled so that they would come out of the mould constantly. Artists then made art works based on these modals leading to the current strangeness of the Russ having officially a 120mm diameter barrel despite being shown on art work and on the table top having a barrel many times that size.

[@MrPolicekarim]

I know that the reason why the early Space Marines were squat-legged was for 2 reasons. 1st was to be able to sit on the bikes. 2nd was to come out of the mold.

[@calumdeighton]

The gun you've designed Macca looks very similar to a carbine from Angels Fall First game. I like your video by the way, real interesting. I've never really thought about the Boltgun's designs from a practical point of view. Wonder what a Heavy Bolter is going to look like or an Autocannon. Or the humble Lasgun.

[@primedknight5906]

Agree

[@jamesthelamenter5464]

I'm pretty sure that cleaning and maintenance on a boltgun would be a massive bitch. I think aesthetically the boltgun is based on the FN FAL style rifle given how it is looked and used by description in the lore. (Especially the Primaris version) A Bolt Pistol is on the other hand is probably veiwed in-universe as most gun nuts see the M1911 as given how every Guardman Officer/Commissar,Space Marine Officer/Specialist, SOB Sister Superior/Specialist and Inquisitors (and a few more that i don't remember) usually seen wielding one or some type of Bolt Pistol.

[@blazingknight.]

I believe it is actually in the lore that the boltgun is quite hard in maintenance, it's a whole ritual, especially considering that the weapon is also viewed as a holy relic each. At least it was this way in the old lore, don't quite know how it is now with Primaris stuff. Regarding the bolt-pistols, yeah, I think it's a symbol of status and general "coolness", to wield a pistol that is reminiscent of the weapons of the Emperor's Angels of Death :)

[@gabrielseth5142]

I think part of the functionality you didn't include in the design is that the boltgun itself is a weapon and meant to be one. I don't mean the boltgun itself and the rounds it fires, but it is also used as a club and that is it's intent in close combat, there are a few examples of space marine using polt pistols to swat away humans or smaller xenos, full length bolters as well used for clubbing smaller fighters as well as just the fact that the weapon is intended to receive damage and keep on functioning. I don't know what else the frame could have been made of, but I think maybe a little more stronger materials, maybe a little more blocky, but I am no firearms expert so I leave that to you to think of

[@dark-hh5ho]

Something to note. If you go to make primaris the bolt rifle the barrel/round will lean more on the rifling rather than the gyro jets

[@Iron_potato40k]

Perhaps the extra mass comes from armor plates installed on the gun and perhaps its shooting a rimmed cartridge so the magazines are curved.

[@NunyaBesnas]

Been digging your stuff lately man!

[@mikhielthorsson6033]

I've only recently subbed to your channel, but going into the lore and mechanical workings with the physics of a bolt gun. The closest IRL ammunition is the 40mm grenade and the various different grenade launchers. Here in America, the Mark 19 Fully Automatic Grenade Launcher would either be a pintle mounted and a Heavy Boltgun for a Space Marine. I served 27 years in the US Army, having disassembled/stripped various types of weapons in that time. The way the 40mm round works is almost exactly how the Bolt round works, minus the penetrator tip for going through cerimite armor.

[@TheOuterCircle]

A bolter is a lot smaller than the MK 19, a weapon I have pulled apart and rebuilt several times, including the mighty 5kg block bolt!

[@EvelynNdenial]

for the size of the projectile and the damage being done by explosives the bolt round wouldnt need to be very high velocity so the bolt you modeled would probably be half the size. look at the inkunzi PAW and strike rounds, they have projectiles 3x the size of yours with the rest of the cartridge adding on a third of that. also combined with the gyrojet feature the barrel of the boltgun wouldn't have to be near as heavy. with rounds that size and half the propulsion of the bullet being from a rocket motor you're right the recoil would be quite manageable. i headcanon that this version of the bolt round is what sisters and commissars use and the astartes version is the proper 1500+ grain light armor busting grenade. which as evidence by the PAW is still manageable by a normal person if the recoil system is good but its still too much to get any reasonable rate of fire.

[@robertb7293]

IIRC one of the reasons for describing the boltgun as a smooth bore caseless weapon was to do with vacuum contact welding. Non lubricated metals have a nasty habit of bonding when there is no air present, so the logic was that rifled barrels and cased ammo would weld as they entered the barrel. This doesn't explain how the bolt itself avoids fusing open, but an attempt was made before rule of cool defeated it. As far as I can see; designing a fire control to be properly void proofed would require making it either a magnetic mass driver or using electro-thermal ignition instead of a physical hammer.

[@semi-useful5178]

My Group's headcanon on the Recoil of Bolters is that it was a rumor started by Astartes to keep the Mortals from jacking their shit.

[@DefenderofFaith97]

I'd like to see the 30 to 40mm boltgun

[@danielschwarze781]

I did enjoy that and appreciate your effort. Now I don't think a Blowback design is stupid, there is just more you can do. Look at post WW2 designs like Walther MPL, H&K MP5, UZI/MAC 10 and others and you will find a plethora of options how to deal with bolt travel and delay.

[@TheOuterCircle]

Mechanical complexity adds a lot of drawbacks. For example, roller delay mechanisms rely on the rollers not sticking, which is a problem when you have such crazy operating environments.

[@danielschwarze781]

@@TheOuterCircle less than you might think, sealing against anything getting inside working parts is paramount anyway, look at the Owen SMG. The Walther MPL places the return spring and a connector rod ab

[@danielschwarze781]

*mishap above the barrel in a separate housing and the UZI uses a mass delayed mechanism. There are a lot of ways to solve this. Nothing I say is meant to disparage your work.

[@eiric6958]

Yes magos this guy right here, he is committing tech heresy 😂.

[@Orlunu]

More than ten minutes in, and the only on-point issue you've brought up with the existing boltgun is the Heroic Scale TM issue with the muzzle device being bigger than it really should be. The rundown on early 21st century firearms design is fairly accurate, but it doesn't really seem much like the contents address the title in a particularly dedicated way.

[@MansMan42069]

Same here. Ironic that the guy is being a pretentious tool yet saying a whole lotta nothing.

[@Tehstampede]

I remember reading somewhere that the Boltgun uses magnetic coil relays inside the weapon to increase accuracy without needing a longer barrel, due to the close quarters that Space Marines typically fight in where every inch they can shave of the barrel counts. Not sure how "cannon" that is because of how long ago I read that, but it does make sense.

[@acole5975]

It reminds of the stemple take down gun.

[@EVER_PRINCE]

I’d love a 3D printed model of this so I can put it on my models

[@maciejkrol2255]

Forgotten Weapons of the Far Future. Gun Jesus approves!

[@mikoajpietrych6168]

I'm curious about dimensions, like what length of the cartridge in this version, what length of the entire weapon, barrel and that's probably it

[@JoshPlatt90]

Great breakdown mate!

[@r.j2033]

How are some bolters belt fed Macca? Are we doing the open bolt bolter next?

[@drewfox7528]

Mate great video. I've always agreed the size should have been 20-25mm. Can you up scale the modles to reflect the changes with us? That would be great 😁

[@leadmustang1337]

would it be possible to get STL files for this I would love to 3d print it since I have already printed a to scale bolter with magazine and bolt rounds in 75 cal.

[@mikoajpietrych6168]

Boltguns never supposed to be caseless, though (at least to my knowledge). In the lore they supposed to use a small kick charge to eject it from the barrel and operate action, with bolt being then propelled with rocket engine.

[@DouglasParkinson]

You beat me to a lot of nitpicking. A purely powder based firing solution erases the rocket propulsion component and would require a much longer barrel, but enough propellent to escape the barrel and then allow the rocket to activate works better for me. I expect the versions used by unaugmented humans would be closer to .50 caliber, I know they are smaller in the lore to avoid obliterating the user. Thank you for this video :)

[@DouglasParkinson]

My guess on the size and bulk of the original, is just a compounded problem from the early model parts scaled up with no refinement.

[@mikoajpietrych6168]

I think boltgun round should be more like 20mm x 42mm grenade it's cross section looks actually remarkably like a bolt supposed to, front is solid, then explosive, except at the back you have fuse(?) instead of rocket engine, but reduceing fuse in size seems to me like something you could actually overcome with sci-fi bullshitery, also I have an idea for that over sized muzzle break, because the rounds supposed to be explosive and Astartes don't have to concern them selves with shrapnel the bolt might be always armed if that would be the case, then problem rise when the boltgun is shot at point-blank as it could potentially explode while still in the barrel, so this "muzzle break" could potentially serve as solution giveing round space to explode into

[@ThePanzerKamph]

That was fun.

[@Eli-Green]

I'd like to see a Nemesis pattern based on your platform 👀

[@hadesdogs4366]

Sorry mate but you’re going to have to look at this by a case by case scenario 😂😂😂

[@eastonsprague2253]

3d print when?

[@wesguemmer4181]

How many rounds in each magazine. Would

[@ΓιάννηςΝικολάου-η5ω]

If I'd go for full redesign/retcon in 40K I'd replace the Bolters with Volkite wepaons. They make much more logistics sense (no ammo, perhaps recharge their power packs through the power supply of the Power Armor), they are completely fictional so they work as they are described and they avoid comparisons with real weapons and they have a similar (if not more extreme) effect to Bolters against targets. Bolt weapons can become more unique, firing larger "smart" rounds of verious types so we could give them to specific specialists, vehicles etc.

[@willsham45]

What program are you using and how could I watch you model? You made out you were streaming in the previous video.

[@TheOuterCircle]

I use Fusion 360, I have some b-roll footage of me working on this which I'll upload at some point for curious people.

[@RussellWilliams736]

This is my safety sir *hooks finger in the air*

[@clonetf141]

i think i will headcannon the astartes as using 40mm bolter weapons, while the non astartes have the .75 bolters

[@SkirnirW]

.. um.. without the magazine 'lips' to hold the rounds in the magazine, as soon as the bolt-carrier group is brought out of battery, the rounds are just going to leap out of the magazine and spill out of the ejection port, with the "BCG" slamming down on a round in a stove-pipe failure. Just thought you should know.

[@momqabt]

While this is a much more function accurate representation of the bolt gun than the space magic wrath of the emperor, there are a few key problems: -lenght of the barrel compared to the amount of propellant that needs to get burned -no rifling so you just made the ammo the gun is shooting already more inaccurate so the gyrojets need to work more -with this design it's an open bolt direct blowback system, but it's very much non-functional as the bolt is way to small to have enough mass for the weapon to not immediately explode with the force the propellant will produce -the fire mechanism is way to high for a direct blowback system from the trigger, this will increase vertical recoil -charging handle let's dust and debris get into the mechanisms of the weapon -there are too meny not made from one piece parts on the weapon -there are too meny open spaces in the weapon that don't serve any function -to compensate for the recoil I would most likely make the muzzlebrake have ports more angled on the upper side of the device as to better counteract vertical recoil

[@armholeeio]

*cough* missing a stock *cough*

[@MrPolicekarim]

Space marine doesn't need no stock!

[@pecachediaz7717]

I find it shock how dessgin wise the bolter requires litte changs to make it look realistic

[@hadesdogs4366]

Tech priests head pops up Did someone say oil?

[@punec]

Honestly the design looks pretty good - i mean beautiful to look at. I've always found 40k firearms too chunky and unrealistic

[@eiric6958]

Heavy bolter. Please

[@teezzmegee972]

I bet someone might look at this and try making it irl as we speak....

[@johnroberts8793]

Bullets explode! Who needs accuracy?

[@dominionzephyron]

Macca, would you consider Shaq as a space marine in M3?

[@TheOuterCircle]

No, just large humans have long gangly hands and feet which make a good analogue.

[@dominionzephyron]

Nah I get what you meant. I worded the question wrong I more meant him as an example specifically of what you meant. I see forwards/centers in basketball, some of the bigger powerlifters and NFL linemen as the closest real life size comparisons, that’s more what I meant.

[@bruvamichal7437]

What a blast from the past. What next angry video game nerd video? :-P

[@oskarimioek8544]

Macica Doesn't use components in fusion 360 XD

[@TheOuterCircle]

I do, I just couldn't be stuffed this time out lol

[@thra-x1855]

ironically, the autoguns look more like what a boltgun should look like. not what the supersimps want to accept it but there you have it. Careful tho, dont get into how practical an 8-foot 1-ton solider actually might be, it'll break their hearts.

[@theangrycanuck8331]

Up to 11 minutes. Pretty damn good stuff, though imo, I'd dump the "rocket propelled" bs of GW writers. While it's true you said the bullet would spin due to gyrojet, and I looked up the firearms you refered to, I don't think you'd get good results from this. The .51 caliber was only double .45 ACP energy, while super slow for a rifle, only 1250 fps. It was also very inaccurate and inconsistent. For the most part, I think just upping the material used for cases, to hold more pressure, and increasing bullet caliber and weight would be more functional. Pretty good vid though, and thank you for fixing that annoying extraction port location. Add a rifle stock too please.

[@jakub_paints6775]

This is some prime tech-heresy! What we learned is that stripped down bolter is basically a tec-9. Nice vid!

[@mariuscatalin5982]

so a gun done as cheap as possible

[@itsallpointless6501]

As an engineer who always wanted to be a gunsmith, I loved this Macca, thanks!

[@medburyminiatures9607]

If you were inclined, come up with your own little pocket off the heresy, your own forgeworld and lore, and macca-pattern gear, were you fix some off the design issues, add your own spin but is still 30k adjacent, would make foe a very cool unique force

[@TheOuterCircle]

I'm kind of getting there with that tank I drew and others I'm planning in the background.

[@alexwilbrecht6962]

The name “Forgeworld Macca” does actually sound pretty good Maybe it’s got a large ring space station around it called “The Outer Circle”

[@hydradominatus3661]

@@alexwilbrecht6962 what would his skitarii be called tho

[@benfoskett7795]

@@hydradominatus3661 Aussies

[@fredtheemu9561]

@@hydradominatus3661 the pdf could be the desert rats

[@OzymandiasRex]

Interesting that in the Astartes video they have a much smaller (calibre accurate) barrel as well.

[@blazingknight.]

Great video, Macca! I always thought GW just went with a random number for the bolter's caliber, something that sounded cool without much consideration. Perhaps, people in the 41st millennium have different classifications of calibers haha. Also it kinda feels like if one was to combine your design with the GW's original boltgun, you would get something very close to how the weapon is portrayed in the Astartes fan animation, even though its design has some minor issues as well, like ejection port being kinda too high in relation to the barrel. And regarding bolter being a caseless weapon -- I believe it's a statement that was born during the 2nd Edition (maybe even RT-era, but early boltgun design actually had something like an ejection port), when boltguns were just bricks with a mag, a handle and a barrel attached to it, no ejection ports or anything. And later the cases were introduced in some of the artwork due to them flying was a cooler look, so the weapon was re-defined as a hybrid action thing we know it today.

[@liammackenzie9283]

Even your Canon bolter on the bottom looks better than most- the ejection port lines up with the goddamn barrel!

[@gl4487]

one of the things you should note: yes muskets were roughly 50cal and up but their pressure curve was much lower because of the combustion rate of black powder. that lower pressure curve reduced the felt recoil by spreading the total force imparted over a greater duration. This isn't a gotcha since you could just use a cleaner and slower burning powder than modern cordite but it is something to keep in mind.

[@loltwest9423]

Always appreciate these kinds of videos, especially as someone building his own Sci-Fi universe. Always fascinating seeing how physics translates over to weapon design, especially with modern tech and seeing what can be done.

[@sagacity1071]

I actually really like your boltgun. I think for a more tactical legion like the XX these would look fantastic for recon marines.

[@frazergreen6786]

The XIX as well

[@ratpudding]

would look nice for the reasonable marines

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

Shortly after Magos Macca of Forgeworld Salt made this message he was executed by the high lords of Gamesworkshop for making practical sense.

[@IamOutOfNames]

This is the kind of video that me and few others have been asking Ian over at Forgotten Weapons to do for ages. Instead we got Chinese Type 93 Assault Rifle from Fallout series. And when I had lost all hope Macca comes and delivers. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about either. I'm just saying that machine spirits work in mysterious ways.

[@demonstructie]

Yeah yeah you are very cool for knowing how a gun works. But if you look on page 60 of the 3rd edition rulebook, there's a cutaway drawing of a storm bolter and ammo which shows you everything you need to know. Would it work irl? Of course not but it's a ridiculous _science fiction_ setting, bolters are hardly the only break with reality OR the worst offender for that matter.

[@RussellWilliams736]

Just curious you gonna make this available as an STL to print and replace GWs bolter?

[@TeutonicKnight92]

Even with a delayed blowback system I’d be worried about an out of battery. I haven’t done the math, but with a .70 round plus the gyro jet there is going to be a tremendous amount of pressure pushing back on the bolt for system to deal with. In order to compensate the weight of the bolt is probably gonna have to be significant which might put it out of the range of feasibly for unaugmented humans

[@Jarms48]

Typically bolters are .75 cal not .70

[@TheOuterCircle]

Well, I have two references in writing from within the last couple of years with both 60 and 70 calibre rounds. Either way, it's not a big difference, but that's why I chose that calibre.

[@Jarms48]

@@TheOuterCircle during the GC there were definitely .75 cal, .70 cal, .60 cal, and even .50 cal models of bolters. However, during the HH many of these started fading away and by the end of the HH the .75 calibre bolter was the standard and remains as such into 40k. They needed the additional stopping power of the .75 calibre to put down marines. Those smaller bolters still exist, but they're linked to specific patterns and variants. While there may not seem to be much of a difference between a .70 cal and .75 cal projectile. You have to remember a .70 cal bolt would be 17.78mm and a .75 cal bolt is 19.05mm. Which is a difference of 1.27mm, that's like saying there's no difference between 5.56mm and 7.62mm cartridge because there's only a difference of 2.06mm. Which obviously isn't the case. Not having a go at you mate, love your videos. Just pointing out the lack of .75 cal bolters and the difference.

[@timomatic6226]

I love this style of videos. 👌 Thanks for explaining your design process.

[@SirAroace]

There is something fucky about caliber sizes standards, as I have gotten for .75 cal a conversion of both 0.1mm or 19mm from two different sites. So I thing the later is what they meant. (.998 is also a common bolter cal which is ~25mm.) Edit: I think its a in" vs cal confusion cause by how .50" is often mislabeled as .50 cal.

[@abhorrentweeaboo4104]

Hey macca what modeling program do you use?

[@TheOuterCircle]

Fusion, I have some B-roll of the sculpting process when I did the barrel which I'll chuck up at some point.

[@timomatic6226]

@@TheOuterCircle oh yes. Please do 🙏

[@abhorrentweeaboo4104]

Thanks for the answer, you should make more of these it's very interesting to see 40k weapons revisioned and redesigned to be more realistic also have you thought of using your model designs as 3d printer STL's?

[@therealwildboar1007]

Hey Macca, as you stated and as is quite apparent the lore doesn't always conflate with reality nor depiction. Both relevant examples are seen with the ammunition being called 'caseless' despite certainly having cases, while a realistic Bolter at .70 cal wouldn't actually be unmanageable. Given this, I'd propose an idea to make a realistic Boltgun in keeping with the common 40mm analog, perhaps by scaling it with the muzzle break or something slightly smaller. How realistic would it be to make a 'small' arm at that caliber and how different would the resultant weapon be from what is already depicted.

[@PhthaloGreenskin]

Ive always imagined bolters being similar to 20mm autocannons. Space marines sre basically running around with handheld anti aircraft guns.

[@fluffywolfo3663]

The muzzle brake has always been funny to me because like... i _get_ that it helps convey the idea that Bolters shoot really, really, _really_ big "bullets," but it leaves people with the idea that bolters fire a round the size of a soda can. Also, personally, if I absolutely, positively had to give a "realistic" bolter with that big, chunky M41A1 (oh goddammit lol) silhouette, I'd just put a grenade launcher on the underside, or one of the various combi-weapons additions. I'd also give it a sabot cup, partly for laughs and partly cause it was the only idea I had for engaging with the rifling of one of the Primaris bolt rifles.

[@dd11111]

The idea of "Bolt rifles" has always been weird to me. I thought the point of bolt guns was to use the spin provided by it's rockets to provide that accuracy while avoiding the increased friction caused by rifling.

[@fluffywolfo3663]

@@dd11111 oh it’s SUPER weird.

[@lawrencedoodleheimer4735]

I agree with the people defending the blocky aesthetic. The main reason light weight is valued in real life is that people are desperately weak. Space Marines are very strong and can carry much more weight for much longer. It makes sense that rugged strength would be valued over light weight. The Space Marines primary tactic is supposed to be shock assault. They don’t carry enormous patrol packs of equipment and ammunition. They want a gun that can withstand being deployed in a drop pod, used as a club and be able to operate in all atmospheres and gravities. Another thing is that the design philosophy in 40K is fundamentally different. Current design is reductionist, its sole consideration is efficiency. Space Marine equipment is artisan made and constructionist, the artist doesn’t ask, does my gun need elaborate golden scroll work? He puts the scroll work there because he wants to. That said props to you for making your own pattern of bolter good work.

[@louieluigi3914]

They probably designed the boltgun how they did because it was easy to sculpt and its bulk made a good mold for the pewter smelting they did at the time.

[@simonbarnes7620]

Still way over complicated and too much superfluous material.

[@bradtrooper5978]

You call it ugly but I like the way it looks a bit I really like how much thought you put into it.

[@yesterdayschunda1760]

Warhammer has this same problem with tanks guns vs turret sizes there is no way the gun fits inside the turret of any warhammer tank.

[@monkeyinapanzer]

The Russ is the best example of both over and under gunned. In lore it features a 122mm gun for the standard cannon, but is large enough for a man to crawl into. While the cramped turret looks like it could barely fit a 75mm.

[@liammorgan1413]

To be fair, models in 40k are this weird amalgamation of "chibi" proportions (especially vehicles in relation to their operators) and "big barrel means does big damage" design philosophy, of which the Leman Russ most definitely exemplifies as ​ @monkeyinapanzer2021 pointed out.

[@liammorgan1413]

@@monkeyinapanzer Are you sure they didn't just pull an Oddball and slide a piece of pipe over the barrel to make the enemy think it's a higher caliber? LOL

[@monkeyinapanzer]

@@liammorgan1413 I think some lore somewhere explained away it’s a barrel shroud and that the actual gun rest inside it. Granted actually digging into the lore also says the thing uses an actual WWII era German tank engine off a Tiger. Double checked and the engine is stated to be a “HL230 V12” which is a WWII era engine that was under powered for Germany’s ~46 ton Panther.

[@TheSimpleMan454]

Highest listed calibre is .998 Godwyn Ultima. Standard is a .75. Heresy is a .71 and I've never heard/seen a .60 Bolter described. Right out the gate I'm a little confused, but still intrigued.

[@TheOuterCircle]

Page 19 Horus Heresy book one has multiple bolters and calibres for them listed, nothing is over 70 cal, and the bolt pistol is just 50 cal.

[@simonbarnes7620]

Bolter „“designed by people who don’t understand guns“ said by someone who has a very basic understanding, again what is a 70 calibre? Your gun more than likely to kill the user rather than any potential enemy!

[@tfan2222]

“…kill the user…” buddy the user is a fucking 7-8ft tall almost 1 ton monster of superhuman muscle, bone, and *powered* armor. It ain’t gonna do shit to the actual intended user. In contrast, lore has it that in fact regular people can’t shoot one without serious injury.

[@Sommeill]

Again, what software are you using Macca? Also props on making what is basically a closed bolt gyrojet luty! And yeah, 20mm grenades would be a more "accurate" size for how much damage they're supposed to do.

[@darbodrake89]

Fusion360

[@Krullio]

Nice exercise. I do suppose that when you share these guns among the guard, you adapt it more. A rifle butt (hope that is the proper translation), perhaps a different sight, grip, and fair point you made about the mag. So the human version should hold the magazines. The marines could easily hold a drum mag with more ammo, due to their strength. As to the bolt round itself. (Now the small size chemistry, hand gun rounds are not my thing), but it would be cool to expand a little on the types of rounds and give real life interpretations. Like, a shaped charge head for extra penetration, AP sabot for even more, but less range (again have no idea how the small size relates to Kinetic impact and penetration, i.e. how scalable these effects are) a hesh version, the regular slug version, a sniper version with bigger round for more range (and so a different bolt gun). There are different type of bolt gun rounds to explore. If you wish of course. But I’ll leave the thought here. As an example, there is an old artwork/picture on the AP shot from a vanquisher leman russ. And guess what… after all those years: APCR. 😝

[@RiftShredemption]

The internal frame you had mounted the foregrip and sight block to looked similar to a keymod foregrip, just missing the oversized holes to one end for the cap bolts to slide into.

[@tomshepard9050]

I absolutely love this take - this is what I wish for 40k - a massive aesthetic overhauls to make everything look like they could work in our reality without the Warp's interference 😂.

[@killakhan7863]

I feel like the aesthetic design definitely invokes the G11 for the boltguns looks as in a wierd space age weapon that doesn't fire conventional rounds. My headcannon was that boltguns be a GMG like weapon considering the size and strength of an astartes and also the numerical inferiority they would have so a weapon that could kill or injure several people would be better than hitting one person.

[@enocescalona]

dude! i love your Bolter redesign! Could you commision someone to make drawings/concept art of it and such? this looks freaking amazing. I want to see how'd it look in color variations like the classic red, green black and gray (among others). Also, would it be possible to add a picatinny rail for the bottom, maybe for a front grip? Could it also house a buttstock? What you done, to me, looks beautiful. Doesn't seem weak or ugly.

[@cole8834]

Artwork takes precedence over written lore. With that in mind I just assume the ammo an Astartes bolter takes is MUCH larger than .7 cal Or some administratum member fudged the measurement or something. It's a millenia old gun anyways.

[@earltheartist3697]

will watch this I like videos like this ❤

[@midshipman8654]

tbf, idk if comparing a 70 caliber musket to a 70 caliber more modern gun is fair. between the 12 + pounds of most muskets, their relatively low velocity and pressure, and the fact that they are single shot weapons.

[@sneedfeedandseed2410]

I'm gonna be spanked for tech heresy for saying this but I prefer your version of the bolt gun. I've always disliked the bolter design, the roided up tec-9 looks better.

[@connorburns8447]

I'm honestly impressed how much detail you went into and how much you know about firearms (being youre in Australia). I build ar15s and reload so I am well versed

[@frazergreen6786]

Fantastic video Macca. It's not just me that noticed when it's all stripped back it reminds me of the American Grease Gun from WW2.

[@nagasimp1855]

The issue with the boltgun is that noone treats it like what it is: a grenade launcher made portable enough to be used anywhere a space marine can get to

[@hadesdogs4366]

I actually quite like you’re version of the bolter however a few changes would be to make the upper front receiver and foregrip as one solid piece connected to the weapon itself as well as to remove the red dot sight due to space marines utilizing a heads up display

[@drfishynooooo881]

You aren't pronouncing it right. It's 'shoota'. And the game is Gorkamorka.

[@jamespaguip5913]

Those who don’t know their is a real life Boltgun it’s called the gyrojet pistol and rifle it was a canceled weapon do to not being accurate.

[@richardtreat7955]

I would like to see a gunsmith take the Beowulf round and build a bolt gun around it.

[@J3igGuy]

You should do more of these type of videos, man. Really cool and interesting.

[@Dallychoice]

Now you should make a weapon that is truly worthy of being used by a space marine

[@13akful]

>sensible design >imperium of man I think you might missed the point