Guide to Creating and Selling a Firearm

[Tippercommon]

"The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious." - Marcus Aurelius

General Firearms Information

What Not/To Do

Formatting

I've been browsing the GE&T forum lately, and I've read the stickied guides in this forum multiple times, and I was just thinking, "Hey, these guides don't deal directly with firearms." Other than a few references, there have been no real guides towards firearms; well, at least successful ones. This guide will be covering both details about firearms, general formatting rules which might be also stated in United Gordonopia's Guide and Mikoyan-Guryevich's Guide, just to promote the importance of these elements of a storefront, as well as required information and maybe some stuff that will just make you look like a boss.

Now, if you are really interested in selling a very legitimate product, you might want to try the NSDraftroom, but, it is quite understandable if you do not want to participate in it or something similar as it requires another account, and you may or may not be replied to, as well as the elitism that might come from it. It you just want to have fun with a product, this guide, versus draft room, might help, although this website is extremely useful as it provides helpful suggestions specific to a product.

Even if you don't want to market a firearm, you should read Section II anyway as it covers formatting and gives some tips that even some of the most experienced GE&T members don't know.

Overall, the criteria of a product from Mikoyan-Guryevich's 'Guide to Creating a Product' still stand with the exception of the first, to an extent.

General criterea a product should meet:

• All products should be well documented and every aspect of the product should be explained. The customer should not have to ask any questions.
• All products should be feasible in terms of the laws of physics, chemistry etc.
• All products should be original (don't copy real life stuff)

Remember, unless you are a Russian sergeant named Mikhail Kalashnikov, you cannot make the perfect weapon. It is almost impossible balance EVERYTHING of a weapon, from weight, to lethality, to accuracy, etc. Thus, the customer will always have questions to ask if your product is truly realistic, but in terms of explaining what you weapon is about and how it works, the customer shouldn't have any questions.

[Tippercommon]

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Note, this is a guide to creating firearms, meaning it is specialized to this category. If you wish to create a storefront under a different category, I recommend you use one of the other stickied guides on GE&T. Also, some of this information is based on real-world statistics such as the section about civilian and military cartridges. You are free to take this information ad utilize to create your dream firearm. Perhaps some Hello Kitty prints?

The first issue which is commonly seen is the misuse of weapons categorizations. Weapons designations are often overlooked or assumed without any research. An assault rifle which fires a .50 simply does not exist. Weapons categorizations are dependent on both the firearm's specialization and its specifications, such as its action, the cartridge it uses and the weight of the weapon, as well as several other factors. Here's a chart of firearms categories with their according cartridge sizes and definitions. The cartridge size is rough, as individual nations may have differing standards, but the functionality of these cartridges for each category is always a huge part how that category is used.

Category	Definition and General Information	Cartridge Example
Assault Rifle	A firearm which chambers an intermediate cartridge, is equipped with fire selection, and use a detachable magazine. Ideally, assault rifles should be relatively lightweight and compact to an extent in order to maintain their use as an 'assault' rifle. Assault Rifles are basically one step below 'Battle Rifles' which chamber more powerful cartridges. Assault Rifles seldom chamber cartridges other than intermediate cartridges, which have similar ballistics to rifle cartridges in comparison to others but with a light weight a smaller figure.	Intermediate Cartridges: 5.56x45mm NATO, 6.5mm Grendel, 5.45x39mm
Battle Rifle	A rifle, not necessarily equipped with fire selection or a detachable magazine, which chambers a full power rifle cartridge. Battle rifles can often be folded into the 'Assault Rifle' category, as they have similarities and in reality, the term 'Battle Rifle' was first conceived to distinguish the M16 (chambering the 5.56mm) and the M14 (chambering the 7.62mm)	Rifle Cartridges: 7.62x51mm NATO, 7.62x54mmR
Designated Marksman Rifle	A firearm which fills the role of a designated marksman. These rifles aren't particularly limited in terms of cartridges but they often use battle rifle cartridges, as they aren't meant to be used at the type of ranges actual sniper rifles are meant to be used at. Battle rifles' maximum ranges are typically between those of a common assault rifle (between 500 and 600 meters) and those of sniper rifles (between 900 and 1,200 meters). This is why you see many more designated marksman rifles in action, especially in urban areas, rather than sniper rifles, as they are not as exclusive in their capabilities as sniper rifles.	Rifle Cartridges: 7.62x51mm NATO, 7.62x54mmR
Sniper Rifle	Sniper Rifles are firearms meant to be lethal at long ranges in comparison to other categories of firearm such as the assault rifle and the submachine gun. These weapons are extremely accurate and often use a heavy rifle cartridge to ensure maximum lethality at the longest possible ranges. At this point, the mobility of the weapon do not matter as much as say an assault rifle or submachine gun. Of course, mobility does take a part in the overall effectiveness in a marksman, but accuracy and lethality, as well as stealth come first. Sniper rifles can reach out to ranches between 900 and 1,200 meters, equipped with high power telescopic optics, longer barrels and sturdier frames.	Rifle/Heavy Rifle Cartridges: 7.62x51mm NATO, .408 Cheytac, .338 Lapua
Submachine Guns	An automatic or selective fire firearm, often small in size in comparison to assault and battle rifles which chambers pistol ammunition. For a submachine gun, compactness and having a relatively light weight is essentially, especially in close quarter combat, which it was designed to fight in. Submachine guns do not fire rifle or intermediate cartridges. Submachine guns can also not fire cartridges typical in revolvers, such as the .357 or .500. This is because revolver cartridges are typically large, making it impractical to be chambered in a pistol or submachine gun as these systems are typically magazine fed, as oppose to revolvers which have large chambers in a cylinder.	Pistol Cartridges: 9x19mm Parabellum, .45 ACP
Anti-Materiél Rifles	A firearm which chambers an anti-materiél cartridge, meant to target and eliminate materiel rather than personnel, such as lightly armored vehicles, supplies, buildings, etc.	Heavy Rifle/Anti-Materiél Cartridges: .460 Steyr, .50 BMG, 14.5x114mm
Pistols	Pistols are handheld firearms, chambering pistols cartridges, meant to travel at slow velocities and relatively short ranges. As side arms, pistols are typically not primary weapons. They have been systematically replaced by assault rifle carbines and submachine guns by specialized service members, but can still be used effectively at close ranges. Pistols can also not fire cartridges typical in revolvers, such as the .357 or .500. This is because revolver cartridges are large, long and rimmed, making it impractical to be chambered in a pistol or submachine gun as these systems are typically magazine fed and chamber rimless, short cartridges.	Pistol Cartridges: 9x19mm Parabellum, .45 ACP
Revolvers	Handheld firearms equipped with a revolving cylinder with five to eight chambers. These weapons are commonly used by the civilian markets, for show, self-defense, law enforcement and hunting. Very, very few if any militaries actually use revolvers in combat due to their weight, unwieldliness, low ammunition capacity, and long reload times. They are trademarked for using high-caliber pistol cartridges, which most pistols and submachine guns can not house due to the shape of the rounds, which is why they are relatively popular in hunting.	Pistol/Revolver Cartridges: .45 ACP, .357 Magnum, .500 S&W Magnum
Light Machine Guns	Heavy, automatic weapons designed to by employed by an individual soldier, rather than a crew of soldiers or a vehicle. Light machine guns are often designated as squad automatic weapons or support weapons, meant to suppress enemies as a squad advances, withdraws or engages an enemy. They are capable of firing intermediate cartridges and rifle cartridges, limited from the more powerful cartridges due to the related increase of weight in order to be able to sustain the pressures of firing these cartridges.	Intermediate/Rifle Cartridges: 5.56x45mm NATO, 7.62x51mm NATO, 7.62x39mm
Heavy Machine Guns	Heavier automatic weapons used mainly to suppress enemy targets, overwhelm enemy targets, intimidate and fill anti-materiél rolls such as anti-vehicular missions. Heavy machine guns may fire a variety of high power rifle cartridges depending on their specific application. Heavy machine guns may be heavy depending on where and how they would be used (mounted on a vehicle, on a tripod, etc.) A heavier machine gun in a mounted state would even be preferred to reduce barrel rise and increase overall accuracy, as well to ensure that a weapon can sustain the pressures of firing a high caliber weapon.	Rifle/Heavy Rifle Cartridges: .50 BMG, 12.7x108
Shotguns	Close range weapons, utilizing cartridges which contain small shot. There are anywhere between 4 and 20 'shot' in each cartridge, allowing for a higher probability of a round on target than that of a weapon firing a single projectile. Due to shots' tendency to spread after firing, this weapon is very efficient in close quarters, although for this same reason, added to the low mass of each pellet and low velocity, range is decrease dramatically in comparison to that of a weapon chambering a single projectile.	Shotgun Shells: 12 Gauge, 20 Gauge
General Purpose Machine Guns	Exactly what it sounds like; "General Purpose." General purpose machine guns are automatic weapons which may be able to be used as squad automatic weapons or a crew served weapon. The difference between these, light machine guns, and heavy machine guns is that they can fill both rolls; an individually carried and fired weapon, or a weapon maintained by a crew of up to four people. These typically fire rifle cartridges, due to their ability to serve both light machine gun and heavy machine gun needs. In a crew served mode, a GPMG are served from a stationary position, either on a bipod or a tripod, while in a SAW mode, they can simply be carried.	Rifle Cartridges: 7.62x51mm NATO, 7.62x54mmR
Personal Defence Weapon	In most case, PDW's are submachine guns or shortened assault rifles (carbines). PDW's are very similar to submachine guns, in their form and compact size, but often fire a cartridge more akin to a sized down intermediate cartridge for added penetration. If you want to make a bit more money rather than selling a submachine gun or machine pistol, go for it, but generally, PDW's are gimmicks. In most cases, a 9mm will suffice. A .45 ACP is always effective.	PDW/Modified Intermediate Cartridges: 4.6x30mm, 5.7x28mm

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There are two basic layouts of the firing mechanism and the chamber of a weapon: bullpup and contemporary. In a bullpup design, the cartridge feed, firing chamber, and firing pin are all located behind the weapon's trigger. In a contemporary design, these components are placed in front of the trigger. Both systems have their pros and cons, and neither is perfect.

Bullpup: Pros and Cons

The primary reason for the use of the bullpup system is to lower the overall length of the weapon without compromising its barrel length, increasing maneuverability in close quarters areas, and decreasing the bulk of the weapon. However, the bullpup configuration has its cons as well. One, it can be a problem for left handed shooters, however this is usually only a problem in weapons like the SA80 where the spent cartridge is thrust into the shooter's cheek. Two, the location of the firing components may cause uncomfortable weight distribution, making it rough to carry a bullpup rifle for extended periods of time.

Contemporary: Pros and Cons

The Contemporary Configuration is undoubtedly the most popular configuration, in use in most firearms in the world. Weapons in this system are generally more accurate than those of the bullpup configuration, as well as generally more comfortable to use than bullpup designs. In comparison to bullpup rifles, those using the contemporary design are often greater in length as the bullpup design has its firing mechanism in its stock, while in the contemporary design it is in front of the trigger. Due to this, effectiveness in close quarters is decreased. The can be remedied by creating a carbine version of the weapon, but in doing so, you are sacrificing accuracy and stopping power. You can also sell a kit which can turn a contemporary weapon into a bullpup weapon, and vice versa.

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Now hopefully, we all know what a stock is. A stock is the piece which the shooter holds up to his shoulder when firing. This section is not meant to define the stock, but the variants of stocks. There are a couple obvious ones: the solid, folding, adjustable, and then there are weapons with no stocks.

One of the most common is a solid stock. A solid stock is most commonly static, but in some models, it can fold. Sometimes, the stock can make and break one factor that makes a firearm what it is: accuracy. The placement and the shape of the stock of a weapon is very important when talking about accuracy, and is often overlooked for the cartridge the weapon fires, a handgrip, and a long barrel. In order to be the most accurate, a stock should be directly behind the firing components, so the recoil of each shot fired goes back into the shooter's shoulder, rather than redirected down. This is the case for the AK-47 as its stock is placed below the firing components. Also, a straight stock aids in this, transferring all the recoil backwards, rather than down. Again, the AK-47 redirects its recoil down due to a curved stock. The M16, however, has its stock placed directly behind the firing components and is straight. Therefore, the recoil is redirected into the shoulder, minimizing the rising of the barrel.

Folding stocks are typically used by airborne and special forces due to its ability to lighten the weight, cost and size of the weapon, very effective in close quarters or on the move fighting. An adjustable stock adjusts to the situation, allowing a shooter to make the stock feel comfortable on his shoulder, and increase accuracy or decrease length depending on the situation. Weapons with no stocks are typically meant for special operations where speed is key or when accuracy is not a huge factor in the mission. These weapons are typically lighter than their stocked counter parts, but suffer in accuracy as the shooter has nothing to rest the weapon on and must use his hands to control recoil. This was demonstrated by U.S. Navy SEALS during Vietnam with M60 light machine guns with chopped bipod, iron sights and stock.

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The Action of a weapon is how the weapon works its bolt, ejecting a spent cartridge and loading a new one into the barrel. Now, which one should you use? It really depends on what you're using a weapon for. Semi-automatic and automatic weapons typically use the gas operation, while high accuracy sniper rifles use the bolt action. The bolt action system is quite simple, which is perfect for rifles that aren't necessarily used for rapid fire. Gas operated weapons can be fired immediately, and can be used for less accurate designated marksman rifles, which are meant to be fired at shorter ranges.

Pistols typically use the blowback action due to its simplicity, while revolvers use the single or double-action, single meaning that the hammer strikes the cartridge, but the shooter must manually pull back to spin the cylinder and reset the hammer, while double-action accomplishes all of this in one swift action. Shotguns usually use a pump action or gas operation, depending on if they are semi-automatic or not. The pump action system is simpler, but typically decreases accuracy of the weapon and the fire rate. High-accuracy, high-caliber marksmen rifles typically use the bolt-action system, due to its reliability and it’s tolerance of high pressure.

Gas Operation: Direct Actuation vs. Piston Actuation

Remember, gas operation is the use of expended gases from the material inside a bullet (the material that explodes) to work the bolt of a weapon, ejecting the spent casing and loading a fresh, new cartridge. There are variations of this system, namely the direct impingement gas actuation and the short stroke piston gas actuation, both widespread in assault rifles. Models like the AR-15 and AR-10 use the direct impingement system while models such as the SA80, AK-47 and H&K 416 use the short and long stroke piston system.

Because in a direct impingement system, the gas tube is simply a tube, this decreases the overall weight, price and size of a weapon in comparison to if it were equipped with a piston-type action. However, in a direct impingement system, the gases from a shot are directly channeled into the receiver of a weapon, working the bolt back, while a spring pushes it back forwards. This system has its flaws as combustible gases are in the receiver with each shot, which condense when cooled. This increases the chance of a malfunction as these gases can potentially jam the operation of a weapon. In the short-stroke/long-stroke piston action, the spent gases work a piston which in turn, works the bolt. This system is much more efficient as there aren't any additional gases in the receiver which could cause a malfunction. The AK-47 uses this system. Remember, "Slav Shit is the best shit."

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Civilian Ammo vs. Military Ammo

The .223 does not equal the 5.56x45mm NATO, and the .308 does not equal the 7.62x51mm NATO. A .223 can be fired from an M16, but a 5.56x45mm cannot be fired in a civilian assault rifle. Even though they are dimensionally identical, the 5.56x45mm hold more powerful, military grade powder, which a rifle chambering the .223 cannot handle. This is because a military-grade round will create a lot more pressure in the chamber than a civilian-grade round will create. Seeing as how rifles are designed around their cartridges, it would be extremely dangerous to chamber a 5.56mm in a .223 rifle. One of the reasons why the .223 is on the Imperial system while the 5.56 is on the metric is because the .223 is primarily an American civilian cartridge while the 5.56mm is a cartridge standard issue to every nation using NATO weaponry. This only applies if you are using real-world cartridges. Now, if your nation uses the Imperial system and you have these cartridges measured in that, it would be a different story. Inch-pattern rifles, such as the Lee-Enfield (designed by the British who use the Imperial System) fires the .303 round, while its metric equivalent would be the 7.7x56mmR.

Recommended Ammunition

For an assault rifle (which fires an intermediate cartridge), I would not recommend the 5.56mm. This cartridge can be under-powered when dealing with cover and body armor. It is effective when a primary goal is to reduce collateral damage, but can leave a bad guy hurt, but not killed. What gives rounds like the 5.56mm and 5.45mm their edge is that on impact with human flesh, they tumble, causing massive internal damage. However, if you can't get through the wall or body armor the enemy is wearing, what good is that? It is for these reasons that I recommend the 6.5 Grendel or 6.8 Remington for weapons such as these, due to their increased stopping power. In general, I would never recommend the 7.62x39mm (the round the AK-47 utilizes), as it is fat, slow, and inaccurate. While it has more stopping power than the 5.56mm, heavier intermediate rounds like the Grendel can even the playing field.

For marksmen rifles, I would suggest you take a look and the more successful real-world sniper rifles. .50 BMG, .338, and .408 are all valid choices. Some rifles, such as the L96A1 and M40A5 also use the 7.62x51mm NATO to great effect.

For pistols, I would recommend the .45 ACP in any case. While the 9mm is more accurate and smaller, thus allowing for greater ammunition capacity in magazines, the .45 ACP has more kinetic energy as it is larger, allowing for a soldier to stop a body armored target which he otherwise could not do with a 9mm pistol. For submachine guns, I would recommend something similar. You cannot fire a revolver cartridge from a submachine gun or pistol due to its shape, so don't even try.

Shotguns nowadays, while most fire the same cartridges, they do have some variety in what they can fire. Sabot shells for damage and range, buckshot for your standard shotgun shell effects, birdshot for hunting small game, grenade rounds for explosive effects. The list goes on. When you're thinking of aught, double-aught, triple-aught, and quadruple-aught buckshot, you're thinking of the size of each of the pellets. Double-aught buck have pellets .33" in diameter and usually have 7-8 pellets in each shell, while quadruple aught buck has about five .38" pellets. More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_shell#Buckshot. It is also worth noting less-than-lethal options, such as bean bags which are basically bags which have buckshot in them. It is worth making sure your shotgun can support these features.

Hollowpoint Rifle Rounds
The following is an excerpt from a telegram I sent in response to a question regarding rifle hollowpoints and their accuracy:

"There are two types of jacketed hollowpoint rounds: rounds designed to expand on impact and rounds designed to be the most accurate over range. There are rounds called open-tip match rounds, which are specifically designed for accuracy at long ranges. OTM rounds essentially move mass away from the tip (the axis of rotation), eliminating mid-air wobble. They are less likely to fragment than regular rounds or hollowpoint rounds, but they can. OTM rounds can tumble and fragment, but they are not designed to. They are effective on soft-skin targets.
Performance hollowpoint rounds are designed to create a hydrostatic reaction to an animal/human's body tissue, creating a cavitation and leaving a more grotesque wound. This minimizes the chances of clotting and maximizes trauma to the nervous system and blood loss.

The primary difference between the two is that OTM rounds have a hollowpoint because of the manufacturing process, while hollowpoints have a deliberate hollowpoint. It's kind of semantics. At the end of the day, based on my research, hollow point rounds are more accurate than soft-point rounds due to the way their mass is distributed. If you're looking for penetration, go with full metal jacket rounds.

Summary is, open-tip match rounds are hollowpoints designed for accuracy and made for match shooting, while performance hollowpoints are designed for expansion and cavitation and are made for hunting and typically used by law enforcement."

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Remember, cartridges are made up of combustible material, such as cordite or powder, a casing to hold said combustible material and a projectile. When fired, a cartridge releases a very large amount of energy. Now remember Newton's Third Law: every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This doesn't mean that if you fire a bullet with a muzzle velocity of 800 m/s and your weapon will travel 800 m/s in the opposite direction. A weapon has significantly more mass than a bullet. The force that takes to move a bullet is less than that of a six to twenty pound weapon. Nevertheless, a weapon must have a mass which can handle the round it chambers. A weapon the size of an MP5 CANNOT chamber a cartridge like the .50 BMG. Besides from the immense pressure from a fired .50 and the fact that a MP5 would probably break under the pressure of a .50, the recoil would be absolutely huge as the ratio of weapon weight to bullet weight would be less. Weapons with a larger mass are typically more accurate because it is harder to move a heavier weapon.

Also, when you have the type of your weapon, keep in mind the weight. Unless you make the thing completely out of carbon-fiber, it is impossible to make your assault rifle weigh as much as a pistol. Your standard assault rifle weighs about 8-10 pounds, while a pistol weighs about 2-3, while an AT4 weighs about 15 pounds. Unless you are FT (this guide is hampered towards MT and PMT) and have access to new age materials, you can't. Also, as mentioned before, a lighter assault rifle would increase the kick dramatically unless the weapon has a recoil tolerance system such as the Vector submachine gun or AA-12.

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The Scope of a Weapon Does Not Increase It's Range

It's a common misconception that adding a scope on a rifle somehow increases its range. This is false. It increases its effectiveness by making up for lack of extreme magnification in the human eye. It fixes a human problem, not a weapon problem. The weapon's range before it had a scope and after it had a scope would be identical, but the accuracy of the shot placed would be quite different. For all intents and purposes, a scope, in terms of increasing range, is not the most important factor of a rifle. One of the most important things a weapon must have is a relatively long barrel. This both increases accuracy and the overall muzzle velocity (the speed at which the projectile is travelling at once it leaves the barrel, which affects the range). This inevitably afflicts mobility and maneuverability, but taking into account a sniper rifle is a long range weapon, this can be overlooked.

Remember, you CANNOT balance everything. Aiding one point of a weapon will almost always detract another. Increasing barrel length (increase range but decrease mobility and maneuverability), increasing mass (increasing accuracy but decreasing mobility), decreasing mass (increasing mobility but decreasing accuracy), etc.

For close range optics, HOLOtechs and the ACOG are legitimate choices as the increase the soldier's capabilities at medium range. Most military nowadays have advanced optics mounted standard rather than ironsights. An ACOG can have zoom levels ranging from 1.5x to 6x, so make sure to specify.

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Magazines are the feed system by which a cartridge is fed into the receiver of a weapon. These are distinguished (they are different) from clips, as clips are meant to either load an external magazine before firing or reload an internal magazine after the firing process. Some weapons, such as the SKS or the M1903 Springfield have an internal magazine by which ammunition is fed in by a clip.

When picking a magazine, remember that the Beta C-Mag is not the all use magazine. This magazine should probably only be used for light machine guns, assault rifles (not under normal combat conditions) and for civilian use. A Beta C-Mag when fully loaded weighs a bit of 2.1 kilograms as it is larger and accommodates 100 rounds of ammunition rather than your run-of-the-mill 30. That's pretty heavy for a magazine, which is why they should only be used on squad automatic weapons and the like. Also, the Beta C-Mag's system by which it empties its ammunition stockpiles is quite complicated in comparison to regular box-style magazines, which can induce jamming. Also, it is impossible to use the Beta C-Mag or most drum magazines in bullpup configurations unless you want to fire it over your shoulder. I do not care what Modern Warfare 2 told you, you just can't.

Like I said earlier, think about the weight of your magazine. You cannot have an assault rifle chambering the .50 BMG that has a 71 round magazine. One, the rifle would be torn apart by the .50 BMG. Two, a 71 round magazine of .50 BMG? That would be heavy as hell, and not to mention HUGE. Maybe for an anti-materiél machine gun on a tank or an aircraft (wouldn't work anyway because of the confined spaces of a tank or an aircraft; use a chain-belt kids), but not in an individual firearm.

Also, keep in mind the reliability of your magazines. Earlier versions of the MP5 used a straight box magazine, while newer models use a curved magazine. This change, while slightly more expensive, is meant to increase the reliability of the magazine with certain types of ammunition, such as hollowpoint 9mm. Drum magazines and Beta C-Mags are extremely unreliable in comparison to box or STANAG magazines because of the complicated mechanism by which they load ammunition into the receiver. If dust gets into the magazine, they become very prone to jamming.

Tubular magazines are most common in shotguns and old-fashioned repeaters. While shotguns nowadays sometimes have a magazine (such as the USAS-12 or AA-12), tubular magazines are definitely still a valid magazine type. Some shotguns, such as the Neostead, have two tubular magazines, allowing for greater ammunition count.

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You must have: weapon designation, weapon category, weight, cartridge, action, length, feed system, a picture or two and several paragraphs of info. Be VERY descriptive. Muzzle velocity is nice to have as well, but if you are 100% for sure that you are using a system which can achieve said muzzle velocity, such as through a ballistics calculator or a chart on Winchester's site. This piece of information is typically not 100% required, but is a big factor in performance for high accuracy rifles. Also, make sure that your weapon fits with the weapon designations that have been explained above. No one wants to browse your catalog and pick out an assault rifle thinking they're getting an M16A4 and then receive an MP5 with a longer barrel.

One of the most important pieces of information when you’re putting a weapon design up is what cartridge it fires (5.56mm, 7.62mm, etc.) This one piece of information determines the weapon type, accuracy, range, damage, applications, what it looks like, the size, and who will use it. So, be careful and make sure that the type of ammunition you use for your design fits the design itself. A gun is nothing without ammunition, and the man behind it.

Affected by the type is how big the weapon will be. An assault rifle will probably be in the 800mm range, while a pistol might be more around 200mm. It all depends on what you’re making. You can take a look at Wikipedia and use weapon statistics from real life to judge how big your weapon will be.

[Tippercommon]

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Read more: Guide to Storefront Formatting & Design

Formatting, or how the page for you product is set up, is almost as important as the product itself. No one credible is going to buy from your storefront if it looks like a Word Document. Colored and bolded headings are grab the reader's attention, and help them mentally divide off sections of importance. Making headers in a program such as GIMP, Inkscape or Photoshop is a good way to make your storefront look very appealing as you can chose from thousands of fonts and get away from the Trebuchet MS font which NS uses. Remember, these headers should always be TRANSPARENT. In GIMP, the text and the background will always be a different layer. To make it transparent, simply delete the white background layer.

Now the logo is one of the most important parts of your storefront. It's the first thing your buyer sees and it reflects greatly on you. Something like this is decent. It was taken from a real-world company logo and altered seamlessly to fit my needs. Now, making your own is ideal, but make it look professional. Don't use Microsoft Paint. Just don't. Use Inkscape, Photoshop or GIMP. One more tip, never use a white background on NS. It looks terrible. Use a transparent background. It looks much better. To get a transparent background in GIMP, you right click, go to the 'Colors' tab and then in the sub-sub-menu, click 'Colors to Alpha.' By default, this will make any white color transparent, but you can change it to any color which is very useful. By the way, GIMP and Inkscape are free. You could find Photoshop on uTorrent. Also, just get an external hard drive for fonts. Surf DaFonts and download any that look cool to you. Aside from the design qualities, you can use them for other things like... making your report on Swiss socioeconomic policies for AP Economics look a lot more appealing.

I know, not all of us have artistic talent, me included. We all want to design the dream gun, but we can't always get the exact image of the weapon we want. By image, I mean quite literally, an image. Graphics. If you don't want to use real-life examples and you don't have any real talent with an image editing software, using Pimp My Gun is almost unavoidable. But, it's better than nothing. I've seen far to many people selling ACR's and M4A1's with pictures straight off of wikipedia. At least if you are going to use a gun from a movie or a video game, make it a relatively unknown movie or video game. I know this is little better, but it makes your weapon look somewhat unique. Remember, always, ALWAYS, link where you got the images from somewhere in your storefront and give the proper credits. Now, anyway. If you are not familiar with Pimp My Gun, it takes individual components from firearms like barrels, upper and lower receivers and what not and gives you free reign over where to put them, right down to the kind of gas block you want. This gives you massive customization from a multitude of real world parts. I do not support or condone this, but I can tell you how to make it better. First, once you saved the image, load it up in GIMP and color white over the "Pimp My Gun" tag and make the color white transparent (explained in the previous paragraph). This makes the graphic look extremely cleaner, making it look like you put more effort into the graphic than simply writing one up on Pimp My Gun.

A cluttered storefront is a bad storefront, even if the product is amazing. Remember, keep organized. Section off areas of importance, such as ergonomics and bullet ballistics, with headers. A very nice features that many storefronts do not apply is the use of a Directory, or a Table of Contents, which links to individual posts. This aids a potential buyer in finding a section or product which he is specifically looking for. You can also use boxes to separate different information. The code for a box is the following:

Code: Select all

[box]I’m a mo-freakin’ box. I’m fancy as hell[/box]

The use of spoilers is recommended, with the code:

Code: Select all

[spoiler=Weapon Name][/spoiler]

Now, do not overuse spoilers. One spoiler per product, or if your storefront is one product, per section, is adequate. To many spoilers makes your storefront look like a heap of grey bars. Although it is somewhat more organized, it isn't appealing to the eyes.

The use of horizontal lines to section off certain areas and provide emphasis for headers is also recommend, but like the spoiler, don't overuse them! To many of these:

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Look like crap.

The code for these is:

Code: Select all

[hr][/hr]

Several paragraphs of additional data is in order in addition to the basic details which are listed under the "Must Have Information" section under the first chapter. Make sure to cover all your bases, and answer any questions which you think you are feasible, and answer any questions people may ask along the way.

Also, remember to GRAMMAR CHECK. This is probably the most important aspect of your storefront other than the product itself. If you have poor grammar and spelling, you will not get many legitimate customers.

If you want to reserve posts for future expansion, post 'Reserved' in an empty post, which you can use later to add additional information or products. If you want to get real shnazzy, make a header in GIMP or Photoshop reading 'Reserved.' Make sure they are transparent though.

To get images to show up on the forums, you need to get a Dropbox, Photobucket, Imageshack, or another image hosting sight. When you upload them and you have an account, find the direct link where it only shows the image. If there's other stuff like the host's website banner and comment sections, it will not show up. Another alternative is Dropbox where you just save images to your public folder in the Dropbox folder. The main advantage of this, especially for graphic designers, is that when you edit the file, the URL automatically updates, so you do not have to reupload it after you make some tweaks. The download is here: https://www.dropbox.com/downloading

[Tippercommon]

---

1. Do not act like you have the best weapon in the world, because chances are, it likely isn't. No weapon is perfect and no weapon can balance everything, so don't try to sell it as the perfect firearm.

2. Understand the principles stated in Section I. General Firearm Information. A very small weapon cannot fire the .50 BMG because it would break, and never make your weapon carry huge amounts of ammo, especially very large ammo. This will add to the bulk of your weapon and make it almost impossible to carry. A prime example is here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=105648

3. Don't make your weapon have an outrageous price, but don't under sell it. Generally, assault rifles, depending on how advance they are, can be sold between $600 (for the cheapest and most common assault rifles, like Kalashnikovs) and $20,000 and beyond (for the most advanced, space age-y assault rifles. Unless you are two villagers and are trading sheep for AK-47's, no rifle costs $10. Even if your rifle is very advanced, not many people with bite for a $1,000,000 assault rifle. Trust me.

4. Never have one liner storefronts. Always give excessive amounts of information and give pictures, but do not picspam. Picspamming it up isn't any better than one lining it up.

5. Never yell at your customers. Take the suggestions you get with a positive attitude and take the hate with a grain of salt. Being aggressive only worsens your image among the GE&T community.

6. Always read the threads in the Help Desk. Period.

7. Listen to the more active and experienced members of the GE&T community.

8. Be official. One liner responses are valid for a conversation between characters in an RP, but in an official business letter, it should be a paragraph or two.

---

[Samozaryadnyastan]

I approve of this thread.
Good, strong info, nicely laid out, and pretty damned comprehensive.

Next time Jenrak's on, let's try persuade him to put this into some form of sticky'd list.

[Tippercommon]

I approve of this thread.
Good, strong info, nicely laid out, and pretty damned comprehensive.

Next time Jenrak's on, let's try persuade him to put this into some form of sticky'd list.

I appreciate the support!

[The Western Reaches]

*Sniff* Do I smell, another sticky?! From a four-poster!!!

I can see hundreds of GE&T newbies being referred here in the future, good job.

[Tippercommon]

*Sniff* Do I smell, another sticky?! From a four-poster!!!

I can see hundreds of GE&T newbies being referred here in the future, good job.

Why thank you, kind sir.

[Yohannes]

---

Nice guide, i got to say i love how neat your format is. Overall, i like this awesome stuff. *wink* *wink*

However, there is one aspect of the guide which i must question, and it is regarding:

All products should be well documented and every aspect of the product should be explained. The customer should not have to ask any questions.

Although i understand what you are trying to get there, however i do believe that in fact, the more you know about a product/service that you are offering to those who trust upon you to know that the product/service offered by you is a legit one, then it is the better.

Of course, this does not mean that everyone must list this that this that down to the mm inches, however still there is nothing wrong with detailing as much as you can in terms of what you are offering.

This means that, in fact, the more a product offered by you is well documented and qualitatively presented to the prospective customers, the better it would be. This means that you know what you are talking about in the first place, which can be seen through the in-depthness of the well-documented product.

This is though, i must stress again, not a must. The most important factor in here is to have fun. Period. But, hey, there should be nothing wrong with attempting to strive to create the best product as you can..? Isn't it.

So i guess i will have to disagree with you on that certain aspect within this guide.

But again, overall this is a good guide, and i like it. Cheers mate.

---

[Samozaryadnyastan]

*Sniff* Do I smell, another sticky?! From a four-poster!!!

I can see hundreds of GE&T newbies being referred here in the future, good job.

I actually figured he was a puppet account, given the comprehensiveness of the guide.
Are you? Or are you just a lurker who knows his guns

[Tippercommon]

---

Nice guide, i got to say i love how neat your format is. Overall, i like this awesome stuff. *wink* *wink*

However, there is one aspect of the guide which i must question, and it is regarding:

All products should be well documented and every aspect of the product should be explained. The customer should not have to ask any questions.

Although i understand what you are trying to get there, however i do believe that in fact, the more you know about a product/service that you are offering to those who trust upon you to know that the product/service offered by you is a legit one, then it is the better.

Of course, this does not mean that everyone must list this that this that down to the mm inches, however still there is nothing wrong with detailing as much as you can in terms of what you are offering.

This means that, in fact, the more a product offered by you is well documented and qualitatively presented to the prospective customers, the better it would be. This means that you know what you are talking about in the first place, which can be seen through the in-depthness of the well-documented product.

This is though, i must stress again, not a must. The most important factor in here is to have fun. Period. But, hey, there should be nothing wrong with attempting to strive to create the best product as you can..? Isn't it.

So i guess i will have to disagree with you on that certain aspect within this guide.

But again, overall this is a good guide, and i like it. Cheers mate.

---

Cheers. I was thinking I put that in a bit odd as well. I'll change it tomorrow.

[Perigueux]

*Sniff* Do I smell, another sticky?! From a four-poster!!!

I can see hundreds of GE&T newbies being referred here in the future, good job.

I actually figured he was a puppet account, given the comprehensiveness of the guide.
Are you? Or are you just a lurker who knows his guns

Little bit of both I reckon.

[Vitaphone Racing]

Instead of having a fourth sticky, why don't we make a GE&T helpdesk, II style, and link them all to that one?

Oh, I also approve of and endorse this guide

[Yohannes]

I would also like to further add that the current official global economies & trade irc channel can be found here : http://05.chat.mibbit.com/?channel=%23G ... .esper.net

Furthermore, i agree with Vitaphone Racing as well, in that perhaps we will need just one stickied (albeit huge) Ge&T help desk, where all the current useful guides can be combined together as one article of awesomeness.

[Machina Haruspex]

Very good guide.

[Licana]

Very good, but in a quick read through this jumped out at me:

Gas Operation: Direct Actuation vs. Piston Actuation

In a direct impingement system, the gases from a shot are directly channeled into the receiver of a weapon, working the bolt back, while a spring pushes it back forwards. This system has its flaws as combustible gases are in the receiver with each shot. This increases the jamming rate of a weapon..

Not necessarily true. While some DI systems have had mechanical problems, such as the AR-15, this is primarily due to the small round it fires. DI doesn't like small, low powered rounds like the 5.56 NATO, and doesn't work well with them. However, with larger, more powerful rounds these reliability problems become less and less, as shown by the AR-10 and MAS-49 (the latter was unbelievable reliable in combat, from what I'm told)

[Crookfur]

Very nice but there are a few issues:

On the mechanisms your forgot long stroke, which is of course the mechanism of choice for the entire AK series

The requirement for a muzzle velcoity stat. Really unless you have access to a decent internal ballsitics simulator or a nice page of data for the performance of a certain round from certain barrel lengths and accompany the MV stat with details of the load used the stat is entirely meaningless and saddly the one people get most hillariously wrong.

Semi automatic psitols don't use common high end revolver cartridges mainly due to those cartridges being rimmed and quite long, issues which would make the grip required to hold them very large and uncofmrotable. There are several semi autoamtic psitol cartridges that recreate or exceed the perfromance of high end revolver roudns. A good semi autoamtic action should be able to handle higher pressure rounds than a revolver ever will and a SMG, essecpailly when you get to the point where a SMG starts to cross over into being an automatic carbine, will handle even more. Nope the reasons you don't see big revolver rounds in semi automatic pistols are entirely related to ergonomics and feeding issues.

You might wan tto include soemthign about General Purpose Machine Guns i.e. a machien gun that cna be used as a light machine gun by an indivdiual or as a proper sustained fire weapon by a larger crew.

Clear those issues up and it should be about perfect.

[Tippercommon]

Very good, but in a quick read through this jumped out at me:

Gas Operation: Direct Actuation vs. Piston Actuation

In a direct impingement system, the gases from a shot are directly channeled into the receiver of a weapon, working the bolt back, while a spring pushes it back forwards. This system has its flaws as combustible gases are in the receiver with each shot. This increases the jamming rate of a weapon..

Not necessarily true. While some DI systems have had mechanical problems, such as the AR-15, this is primarily due to the small round it fires. DI doesn't like small, low powered rounds like the 5.56 NATO, and doesn't work well with them. However, with larger, more powerful rounds these reliability problems become less and less, as shown by the AR-10 and MAS-49 (the latter was unbelievable reliable in combat, from what I'm told)

I believe the reason why the MAS-49 was so successful was because the cartridges it gave off some material that cleaned the chamber from combustible gases. Anyway, altered accordingly.

[Tippercommon]

Very nice but there are a few issues:

On the mechanisms your forgot long stroke, which is of course the mechanism of choice for the entire AK series

The requirement for a muzzle velcoity stat. Really unless you have access to a decent internal ballsitics simulator or a nice page of data for the performance of a certain round from certain barrel lengths and accompany the MV stat with details of the load used the stat is entirely meaningless and saddly the one people get most hillariously wrong.

Semi automatic psitols don't use common high end revolver cartridges mainly due to those cartridges being rimmed and quite long, issues which would make the grip required to hold them very large and uncofmrotable. There are several semi autoamtic psitol cartridges that recreate or exceed the perfromance of high end revolver roudns. A good semi autoamtic action should be able to handle higher pressure rounds than a revolver ever will and a SMG, essecpailly when you get to the point where a SMG starts to cross over into being an automatic carbine, will handle even more. Nope the reasons you don't see big revolver rounds in semi automatic pistols are entirely related to ergonomics and feeding issues.

You might wan tto include soemthign about General Purpose Machine Guns i.e. a machien gun that cna be used as a light machine gun by an indivdiual or as a proper sustained fire weapon by a larger crew.

Clear those issues up and it should be about perfect.

Muzzle velocity is still a nice thing to have, especially with an rifle meant for distance/accuracy. Anyway, altered accordingly.

[Tippercommon]

I fixed the flaws and added a section on Magazines on Section I, and added some more details to formatting guides on Section II.

[Vortiaganica]

This is a great guide.

I have to recommend putting in some example storefronts though. There are some very successful ones that you can link to as examples, the first ones springing to mind being the Lyran Arms main storefront and Vault 10's old store (It is still up, albeit not maintained, and is still a wonderful example of a less 'realistic' or modern weapon, according to NSDraftrooms anyway).

Also, I don't think all that many people on NS sell rifles for 20 grand. It's unfeasible with the huge pop numbers everyone has here. You may want to note that due to suspension of disbelief, on NS, rifles tend to be charged at around 1 grand minimum to, say, 10 grand. (Vault 10's, however, is around 35 grand, and is well-deserving of the insane price tag, although he has multiple times said it is not meant to be a standard-issue weapon and should be reserved for special forces or at least controlled).

[Tippercommon]

This is a great guide.

I have to recommend putting in some example storefronts though. There are some very successful ones that you can link to as examples, the first ones springing to mind being the Lyran Arms main storefront and Vault 10's old store (It is still up, albeit not maintained, and is still a wonderful example of a less 'realistic' or modern weapon, according to NSDraftrooms anyway).

Also, I don't think all that many people on NS sell rifles for 20 grand. It's unfeasible with the huge pop numbers everyone has here. You may want to note that due to suspension of disbelief, on NS, rifles tend to be charged at around 1 grand minimum to, say, 10 grand. (Vault 10's, however, is around 35 grand, and is well-deserving of the insane price tag, although he has multiple times said it is not meant to be a standard-issue weapon and should be reserved for special forces or at least controlled).

I was actually going to refer to Vault 10's thread when you mentioned the price issue. Indeed, not that many people sell assault rifles of that price, but the assault rifle is a broad weapon category which can span from the AK-47 to the R2. In any case, in the coming days I will look over the better storefronts and make sure they fit the criteria. Remember, just because something is popular doesn't mean its right. Lyran Arms and LG Defence probably have some good designs.

[The UEG-Space Command]

I might use this to open a UNSC weapons program and make a few custom ones and add it to the list, the formatting will be like this.

[Tippercommon]

I might use this to open a UNSC weapons program and make a few custom ones and add it to the list, the formatting will be like this.

Great! Stay tuned; tomorrow I am going to add some additional information to the Formating section.

[Samozaryadnyastan]

Just for completeness, can you put a note in the magazines section that magazines are different from clips?
I don't think I've seen anyone mistakenly refer to mags as clips on NS, but just to be safe.