You know, I really might be nitpicking and overthinking this entire situtation, but I have been watching a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica (the new series) recently, and reached an odd conclusion.
Namely, their personnel armaments changed considerably as the show progressed. Initially, their sidearms were predominantly odd, rather large pistols, with no real analogue to modern day firearms. Basically, it was a prop, through and through, and did not appear to be based on anything made in these days, except in basic form only. As if to make matters more fun, it possessed a standard pistol barrel on top, and then a single-shot mini-rocket launcher slung beneath the barrel. Of course, the prop guy seemed to occasionally get the barrels mixed up, and you would see gun blasts coming out of either… Details. When it came to long guns, the troopers generally used silenced FN P90s. That much was patently obvious, due to the forearm-friendly bullpup-ish (how would you qualify that, anywise?) design, unique grips, and almost complete absence of any exposed barrel on the unsilenced models.
Moving on, however, things changed. The sidearm suddenly appeared to be based off the Five-seveN pistol. Ok, sure, I can live with that (even with the continuing thread of the rocket launcher underneath the barrel), considering it is made by the same company that produces the P90, and also uses the same ammunition. It would make sense that one’s sidearm and rifle use the same ammunition wherever possible, assuming you are not looking for some massive, armor-piercing, tank-dropping round (generally a bad thing when you live in a tin can floating in space). Except the P90s are, predominantly, gone. Instead, in their place are a plethora of Beretta CX4 Carbines. Now, I will be the first to say that those are definitely futuristic-looking firearms, but they got nothin’ on the P90s, and use completely different ammunition to boot (once again, pistol-friendly, but only in 9mm, .40, and .45 ACP caliber flavors – not the 5.7mm the P90/Five-seveN use).
Yeah, I admit it, I am splitting hairs… I am not going to argue with any of the choices from a realistic firearm standpoint… I like all of the firearms in question aesthetically, I love the idea of rifles and pistols sharing ammuntion, and I doubly love the 20-round capacity of the non-Kalifornistan Five-seveN. But I have to wonder why they went from a rifle that uses one type of round, to a pistol that uses the same type of round… while simultaneously dumping the rifle. Yes, I know this is a science fiction TV series, and the calibers of the firearms portrayed could be completely different. But regardless, the question remains, and one has to wonder why the changed props mid-stream… it is not probable that the fleet has a firearm factory with them, and you may as well use what you have. That, and no matter how you look at it, the, the P90′s magazine design will yield it a much larger capacity than the CX4, no matter what caliber you use. And, finally, why change the props at all? I mean, only firearm-interested types like me would eventually notice, but still.
Ok, it was a slow day. Sue me. As an aside, does anyone know if the controversy over the 5.7mm round was ever resolved? I seem to recall something about it having tumbling problems…
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