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I disagree, firearms are way cooler than bows or swords. Sure, swords are cool but there's only so many ways you can make a pointy sharp metal stick, or put a string on a piece of wood. But firearms in the early 1900s where absolutely wild when it comes to internal mechanics. Same thing goes for siege weapons and artillery, a trebuchet, catapult or ballista are cool at a medieval exhibit, but they ain't a Schwerer Gustav railway canon.
But this is a statement on its own. Now every gas operated gun is either a AR-15 or AK. Every "new" gun is a "Tactitech Eaglefire XK-34-1050-Superbadger Ultradog", and at the end its just another AR-15 with some sharp bits added to it.
Older firearms where way cooler an they don't make them like that anymore.
When you break it down, yeeting a small piece of metal, accurately, up to a mile, through the use of handheld controlled explosions, is way cooler than just yeeting a pointy stick with another stick and a string. So, I am inclined to agree with you.
From an engineering standpoint, firearms are so much more fascinating.
Still amazes me that at the end of the day, most of them are fired by what is essentially a mouse trap. I'm curious when electronically activated cartridges become acceptable. Imagine how much space/bulk you can relocate from a pistol without the need for a mechanical hammer/striker. Think about getting a crisp and responsive trigger on a bullpup style setup. How much more accurate could you be with a long range rifle if you eliminate the trigger pull from moving the weapon (have it disconnected from the firearm, like a remote camera trigger).
Surprisingly, 3D printing is where most of the firearm innovation is happening now. Some use off the shelf parts from common guns like the AR-15, others are completely printed. It's a weird rabbit hole to fall into, but definitely interesting.
The "should this be legal/illegal" debate is its own rabbit hole as well.
It always struck me as weird that serial numbers and therefore the weapons tie to the owner are printed on the receiver. A receiver can be milled with a simple CNC mill or as recent development shown using 3D printers. We should rather serialize and register barrels, the one thing that needs highly specialized equipment to manufacture and what defines the guns caliber, potential muzzle velocity and has unique thread profile.
While yeah, AR and AK patterns are everywhere, there're still neat things to find. The Kriss Vector has their innovative approach to recoil control, the Boberg pistol reverses the usual way rounds are stripped drom the mag.
The magic is still out there, but it never was nor will it ever be common.
Yeah, the most intricate gun in my eyes is the AN-94, canted magazine, recoiling barrel, specialized muzzle device, pulley system, 2 shot hyperburst. What were they smoking when developing this thing?