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Like the title says. Do they automatically reload, does the Marine pull a gun hammer, or what?

I'd say you take out the clip and put in a new one. Like todays guns, you probably won't need to pull a hammer.

In the Warhammer 40K: Space Marine game, Captain Titus (and all other marines) reload their guns like we would expect. Taking out the old clip and putting in a fresh one.

Are you thinking about them being too bulky, to move their arms to the point of being unable to reload?

Also: How do they even fit that many 0.998 inch bullets in there?!

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
Like the title says. Do they automatically reload, does the Marine pull a gun hammer, or what?

Do you mean reload or charge?

Reloading involves changing the magazine for a full one.

Charging involves preparing the gun to fire the shell at the top of the magazine. With bolters, the first bolt in each magazine looks to need charging manually by pulling back the bolt then pushing it home, but the action of the weapon itself charges the next shot after that. Because holding the trigger down causes them to keep firing, this makes them automatic weapons - if a separate trigger squeeze was needed to fire each bolt, it would be semi-automatic.

I was thinking that in the time it could take you to reload, you could be shot.

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I was thinking that in the time it could take you to reload, you could be shot.

That's what power armour and cover are for. As soon as your magazine is empty, duck behind something solid, or just trust that your power armour is strong enough to protect you against incoming fire.

You know, just like in a video game.

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I was thinking that in the time it could take you to reload, you could be shot.

You don't shoot a Space Marine. They shoot you.

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I was thinking that in the time it could take you to reload, you could be shot.

True of any weapon anywhere.

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I was thinking that in the time it could take you to reload, you could be shot.

This is why it's standard practice in modern military forces for everyone NOT to reload at the same time (unless you are ALL in cover and out of sight). Your brothers cover your arse while you reload and you do the same when they have to.

This is why you get behnd something solid when you want to reload. And make sure the guys next to you don't have to reload at the same time as you.

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I was thinking that in the time it could take you to reload, you could be shot.

As others have said, this is a concern in the real-world, and one trains with one's fellow soldiers/police/whatever to minimize risk/maximize effectiveness in reloading.

Bolters don't have a visible charging handle the way an M16 does, though I am betting a bolter has some sort of mechanism that locks a new magazine in place.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
Bolters don't have a visible charging handle the way an M16 does, though I am betting a bolter has some sort of mechanism that locks a new magazine in place.

Depends on the Bolter. Some have a charging handle directly attached to the bolt, some don't.

And magazines are locked in place in the magazine well, nothing to do with the charging handle.

Back in the days of yore, Bolters were described as semi-automatic. They seemed to have evolved into full automatic these days, because MOAR DAKKA, or something.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
Bolters don't have a visible charging handle the way an M16 does, though I am betting a bolter has some sort of mechanism that locks a new magazine in place.

A magnet seal I'd wager, consider how often mag-clamps are referenced.

 Dust wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
Bolters don't have a visible charging handle the way an M16 does, though I am betting a bolter has some sort of mechanism that locks a new magazine in place.

A magnet seal I'd wager, consider how often mag-clamps are referenced.

Or a simple metal catch, like modern firearms.

If you look at the current bolter model there is actually a magazine release catch on the magazine well and a charging tab on the bolt of the gun.

Could also be an internal mechanism activated by a switch inside the magazine well, triggered when a new magazine locks into place. Or is activated by wireless command from the power armor, or through an induction pad in the grip, paired to a system in the gauntlet of the power armor. Or it's activated by the war-spirit of the bolter. Or, hell, a thumb-button on the side of the weapon.

There's a number of plausible ways this could be accomplished, given the tech-level of the setting.

 Matthew wrote:
I'd say you take out the clip and put in a new one. Like todays guns, you probably won't need to pull a hammer.

You mean detach the magazine and insert a fresh one. Just like any modern firearm. There might be a slide to cock back to feed in the first round, but Bolters probably automatically do that(with the physical slide being a backup)

 Cikkirock wrote:

Also: How do they even fit that many 0.998 inch bullets in there?!

The Imperial pocket dimension tech used for Astartes bolt magazines is jealously guarded.

 Cikkirock wrote:

Also: How do they even fit that many 0.998 inch bullets in there?!

Bolters are not .998 caliber. They are .75 caliber. Heavy Bolters are .998 caliber.

And really, .75cal isn't all that big in relation to the size of the bolter magazine itself. You could easily fit 30 .75cal rounds into a mag that size.

*coughs*

Considering there's no visible charging handle, it's probably automatic.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Cikkirock wrote:

Also: How do they even fit that many 0.998 inch bullets in there?!

Bolters are not .998 caliber. They are .75 caliber. Heavy Bolters are .998 caliber.

And really, .75cal isn't all that big in relation to the size of the bolter magazine itself. You could easily fit 30 .75cal rounds into a mag that size.

The problem, of course, is that the .75 number is very far from ubiquitous (and it seems a bit underpowered, honestly, so I've never really gone with it).

If you've seen what a .50 cal does to a body then you'd not think that. Going up to .75 cal and making the round explosive is practically the definition of overkill. If they weren't explosive the kinetic impact alone would be even higher, because the mass of the bullet increased exponentially.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=.50cal+sniper+kills

Watch some youtube videos(definitely NSFW)

Not really, considering the crazy monsters in 40k that they have to fight.

It's like putting a multilaser as the turret on a Russ. Undergunned. Any schmuck can carry a .75. Give your massive, ridiculously stable (superstrength + armour strength) living fire platforms something heavier.

The problem with going higher in caliber is that the ammunition gets bulkier, the gun has to be larger to survive recoil forces, etc. And a lot of the time that higher-caliber round is going to be even more overkill than a normal bolter shot. So you're trading a significantly lower number of shots before you run out of ammunition for better damage against the high-end stuff (but not the really high-end stuff, which just ignores anything short of a lascannon). It's the same reason why marines carry bolters at all, instead of just giving every member of the squad a heavy weapon.

Also, remember that a real-world .50cal rifle is a bulky and heavy weapon that is meant to be fired from a prone and braced position. Power armor turns that gun into the equivalent of a pistol-caliber SMG. Power armor is indisputably capable of letting the wearer fire heavier weapons, but probably at some reduction in aim speed/accuracy/whatever. Is the extra firepower really worth it if a marine can no longer fire that bolter one-handed while simultaneously killing another enemy with his chainsword? After all, marines are all about shock assaults, not setting up a gunline and pouring efficient firepower into a target.

Against 95% of the enemies a Space Marine is going to face, the bolter is definitely "overkill", a weapon designed with "shock and awe", as well as one-shot lethality, in mind.

Seeing as Bolt weapons fire what amounts to rocket-propelled ammunition, recoil forces really aren't much of a factor.

 Peregrine wrote:

Also, remember that a real-world .50cal rifle is a bulky and heavy weapon that is meant to be fired from a prone and braced position.

.50cal just tells you the diameter f the projectile - it doesn't tell you anything about the mass of the projectile or volume of the case both of which are much more important.

For exmaple:
.50 BMG is designed for heavy machine guns and sometimes used in the heaviest sniper rifles.
.50 Beowulf can be fired from a conventional rifle (modified M16/AR15 or similar).
.50 AE is a pistol round.



Just from looking at the picture you can see that .50 BMG has both a much heavier projectile and a much larger case volume than .50 Beowulf and therefore the performance, capabilities, recoil, etc. will be very different.

From the dimensions of the boltgun magazines we can see the bolt rounds will be much closer to a .50 Beowulf than the ..50BMG.

 Alex C wrote:
Seeing as Bolt weapons fire what amounts to rocket-propelled ammunition, recoil forces really aren't much of a factor.

This

 Alex C wrote:
Seeing as Bolt weapons fire what amounts to rocket-propelled ammunition, recoil forces really aren't much of a factor.

Rocket weapons tend to have a lot of recoil. There have even been many such weapons that cannot be fired in an enclosed space or they'll actually kill/severely injure the user.

And Bolt weapons are really just normal firearms in terms of what happens at the moment the trigger is pulled. Explosive is detonated in a shell projecting the round down the barrel. Only upon exiting the barrel does the rocket ignite and further accelerate the round.

Here is a question. Where are all these "clips" "magazines" being carried? They should be pretty large. Seeing how they have what 10 bullets or less in a magazine how can they reload in a game when they carry no spare clips or magazines.

The first turn of shooting they would be empty within less than 2 seconds of shooting. So does this means Space Marines should only be able to shoot one turn only because of WYSIWYG?