Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Thank you everyone for your insight into the workings of a lasrifle, for now I will assume that mud/dirt/something was stuck on the battery connection and prevented the lasrifle from firing. Also I don't know where it said it in the books I recently finished Armor of Contempt (the 11th book I think?) so I can't remember where, but I think it happened to Caffran in the 2nd or 3rd novel.

Hi Jimsolo

That isn't lazy. Quite the opposite. It may be superfluous, probably tedious to the modern reader, but not lazy.

There is no need for a longwinded exegesis, just correct terminology.
Calling a Lasgun a lasrifle smacks of a lack of concentration on the part of the author, and jamming is used because he simply couldn't be bottomed to think of an alternative.
No excuses, there are these books called theosauruses. Jolly clever fellows have synonyms in 'em

Not a problem Tolkein would have.
ps divulge is to reveal, to make known. I think you meant digress.
No wonder they think they can get away with lasrifles jammin'
I feel a Bob Marley moment coming on

There's nothing wrong with "lasrifle". They have Lascarbines too. Language can evolve. In modern navies everyone's called a sailor but none of the ships have sails ok.

Maybe they jam just because it adds some drama to the action?

Why did Neo choose that pill? Because then there wouldn't be movie.

I apologise for even daring critique the awesomeness that is the Black Library.

Lasers don't use rifling afaik. Ships however still sail. Hence the term sailor is still in use.

Otherwise they may be called mariners.
or matelots
or tars
or seadogs
or salts
or seafarers
how about waveriders, boatjockeys or sharkfodder.
(I just thought up the last three. Not brilliant but what do you want at short notice? Any way you get the giste)

The great thing about the English language is that there is an abundence of words to choose from. With a bit of imagination new terms can be conjoured up.

To describe a gun with a longbarrel the author has chosen rifle cos rifles are long, pistols are short. Lazy.

That's a little different. Let's just say because yelling "Jam!" is more effective to communicate to your squadmates you're combat ineffective than "i think my gun is broken, wait, yes, no it looks like some mud in the focusing lens."

Jammed seems acceptable somehow despite the lack of moving parts. Something has stopped the gun from working.
No point missing the editor's deadline just to find a suitable alternative I guess.

But then the soldier maybe descended from a stereotypical British Officer type, stiff upper lip and always cool under pressure.

"I say, Fotheringay, old bean, my lasgun appears to have got a bit of damp in the curcuitry and shorted out, don't you know!"

"Jolly hard cheese Smitherington-Blythe! Bally shame, what, what!"

Erasoketa wrote:Maybe they jam just because it adds some drama to the action?

Why did Neo choose that pill? Because then there wouldn't be movie.

Why did he take ether pill? Implied grape

Any way end of the day these weapons are made by people that have zero education and are following procedures past down from person to person. Power cells that once should have been held in by magnets are now held in place by a clip, clasp or simply friction. Triggers that once worked on a complex pressure sensor now have a simple make break switch attached to the trigger. Some times the recoil dampening module gets stuck and you don't feel like getting a broken shoulder. Catch all term is the gun jams ... the gun doesn't work.

I always thought that if you stick your finger in the barrel of a las-rifle it wont fire.

No that happens to anyone over the age of about 11 except for some marketing wonks.

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Hi Jimsolo

That isn't lazy. Quite the opposite. It may be superfluous, probably tedious to the modern reader, but not lazy.

There is no need for a longwinded exegesis, just correct terminology.
Calling a Lasgun a lasrifle smacks of a lack of concentration on the part of the author, and jamming is used because he simply couldn't be bottomed to think of an alternative.
No excuses, there are these books called theosauruses. Jolly clever fellows have synonyms in 'em

You are correct, I did in fact mean digress rather than divulge. Just as I am sure you meant 'bothered' rather than 'bottomed' and 'thesauruses' rather than 'theosauruses'. Chibi, I apologize if you felt that I was attacking you. Internet forums are no place for that sort of thing. I am not going to convince you of the quality of Dan Abnett's work, nor are you going to convince me that his writing is lazy. You think I am wrong, I think you are wrong. End of story. If you wish to discuss it like a mature, rational human being, feel free to PM me and I will happily have an intelligent discourse on the difference between tight writing and lazy writing.

And, for my initial post in this thread, I apologize to the original poster. Your question wasn't about the quality of Dan Abnett's work, it was 'How does a lasrifle jam?' I got off-topic, and I am sorry.

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Jammed seems acceptable somehow despite the lack of moving parts. Something has stopped the gun from working.
No point missing the editor's deadline just to find a suitable alternative I guess.

But then the soldier maybe descended from a stereotypical British Officer type, stiff upper lip and always cool under pressure.

"I say, Fotheringay, old bean, my lasgun appears to have got a bit of damp in the curcuitry and shorted out, don't you know!"

"Jolly hard cheese Smitherington-Blythe! Bally shame, what, what!"

LOL, I swear that is exactly how Praetorian Guard talk. In my mind they're all like the Red Coats in that Monty Python skit. Zulus, tigers, Orks, Carnifexes doesn't matter: maintain that stiff upper lip.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:I apologise for even daring critique the awesomeness that is the Black Library.

Lasers don't use rifling afaik. Ships however still sail. Hence the term sailor is still in use.

Otherwise they may be called mariners.
or matelots
or tars
or seadogs
or salts
or seafarers
how about waveriders, boatjockeys or sharkfodder.
(I just thought up the last three. Not brilliant but what do you want at short notice? Any way you get the giste)

The great thing about the English language is that there is an abundence of words to choose from. With a bit of imagination new terms can be conjoured up.

To describe a gun with a longbarrel the author has chosen rifle cos rifles are long, pistols are short. Lazy.

Yes ships still sail despite not having sails because thats the word for it. It's based on something antiquated. Way to not refute my point but feel like you have.

Well they can rust, get broken, melt, and get filled with dirt.

lol
blast you saw through it too easily Kamikaze

No Jim. I said bottomed as I thought arsed too rude
And I meant Theosaurus, as for some inexplicable reason god lizards popped into me head when thinking of Roget's compendium.

No worries by the way. It just seems odd to me that those terms were used, but I'm not a writer under pressure of deadlines. Dan Abnett would probably be the first to admit he ain't expecting to win the Nobel Literature Prize.

Now I am wondering what the BL books would be like if written by Beckett or Joyce. I reckon the latter would approve of dakkadakka.

In Helsreach, the conscripts using lasrifles had jams when changing out the ammo pack, which I assumed was a power pack of some sort.

So, when I hear of any other Lasrifle jam, that's what I'll picture. If the author says something stupid like "a bullet or round jammed", then I shall find their BLOG and post relentlessly how they are "KILLING MY FLUFFS!!!!!!OMG!!!!"

I just figured out how lasguns jam.

Guardsman fires at target.

Target is unimpressed yet angered by the impudence.

Target then takes lasgun- and JAMS it into the guardsmans posterior.

Jammed. Happens more often than the Uplifting Primer might lead you to believe

Mistress of minis wrote:I just figured out how lasguns jam.

Guardsman fires at target.

Target is unimpressed yet angered by the impudence.

Target then takes lasgun- and JAMS it into the guardsmans posterior.

Jammed. Happens more often than the Uplifting Primer might lead you to believe

A simpler explanation of a jammed lasgun

1 lasgun goes " click "
2 no faint blinky light
3 hapless guardsmen expires in randomly messy fashion and becomes large red stain ( hence JAM )
4 end

One instance I remember is in "Only in Death". Mertt's lasrifle jams as the ghosts are ambushed while retrieving water from a lander.


Though that incident in particular could be explained by the frequent dust ups in Jago and the fact that Mertt's lasgun was "recaptured captured" weapon from Gereon that had most likely been used by Chaos for a while.

darkangels_rule wrote:
A simpler explanation of a jammed lasgun

1 lasgun goes " click "
2 no faint blinky light
3 hapless guardsmen expires in randomly messy fashion and becomes large red stain ( hence JAM )
4 end

I think you just won the thread

Thats great and all killkrazy, until the admech comes and servitors your for messing with holy tech ... doesnt matter if the end result is better, still tech heresy.

I refer you to the thread about how human technology works.