Hoi!
So: I have this character idea and I really want to give him two (probably light) pistols for style. However - please excuse my crazy - the rather limited range is a turn-off. One of my former chars used to use pistols, too, and I remember his opponents to be out of range most of the time, requiring movement while more heavily equipped party members were happily shooting.
I realize it is much to ask from such a tiny apparatus, but, surely, in the world of Shadowrun, were anything can be augmented, there ought to be a way, like some kind of high-pressure firing chamber or heavy/specially shaped ammo? I would gladly accept penalties in accuracy or damage. I was however unsuccessfull in my search in books and on the internet.
Do you know any tricks? Thank you for your time.
jerryme
Foreign language disclaimer: Sorry for any mistakes .
Ok....
To put this simply, guns are just directional bombs, designed to exploded a particluar way.... Regardless of how they look, there is actually a LOT of science into a firearm and a bullet...
But if we ignore all the fun science, cause this isn't a science blog, I'll leave you with my $1200 mistake:
A few years ago I purchase a .357 magnium revolver, a stainless steel King Cobra. I was eager to get out shooting but didn't have any .357 brass. But I DID have loads of .38 brass laying about, so I started hand loading a few dozen rounds for the next day following my manual for .38 loads.
<For those that don't know, a .38 special and a .357 mag are the exact same size, only the .357 brass is 3mm longer. So you can safely fire .38 rounds from a .357 mag gun>
So the next day I at the range, I sight in on the target and squeeze the trigger.... BOOM!!!
The explodes into a fireball in my hands!! The cylinder is pealed open into a 'U' shape, the barrel completely comes off, the top of the gun is blown into a thousand pieces, and I have to get the rear sight removed from my collar bone surgically...
Turns out I mixed up my powders, and used the amount of powder required for a .44 magnium round! In the confines of the small .38 brass, I effectively made a bomb that exploded outward instead of directionally like a regular firearm!
Now changing out barrels of a longer one will improve your range, but this is rather nominal.... the change is accuracy.... the longer the barrel, the more spin, the less 'wiggle' to the bullet....
But to get the range increase I think you're talking about, you'd have to leave pistols behind and move to longarms.... cause it gets hard to hold a 20" barrel up straight from just the back end