Making up Guns.

[x434343]

Pistols: Named after coding on Nintendo products.
NTR-001, CGB-AZ7E - Nitrox 1, Carnigeb Araznet 7 energy (7th energy tier, a bit weak)

Machine Pistols: Developers and graphics cards numbers from PC game boxes.
Bohemia X2/4400, Pandemic X2600 - Bohemia's Double 4400 (uses 2 barrels to fire twice as many rounds), Pandemic's X2600

Shotguns: Swords. Like Mass Effect
Katana 56, Claymore 73, Sciavona 91

Submachine Guns: Submarines and a vessel number.
USS Bowfin, USS Bremerton - Bowfin 287, Bremerton 698

Assault Rifles: Termed after words for destruction/associated with destruvtion
Eviscerator 256, Carnage 742, Oppenheimer 45

Light Machine Guns: Named after weight/mass measurements
Newton 67, Tonne 021, Grammilla 234

Sniper Rifles: Names after sections of the brain
Medulla 2, Tentorium 1000

Hope that helps.

 

[Gigaguy64]

I am trying to write a sci-fi story but I have had trouble thinking up Gun names, since all guns relect its version and stuff and somtimes the bullets I believe. So since its the future and they are not using today's guns, I have been trying to think of gun names but I don't know how to start.

Can anyone help? (and if you need more info on such guns, ask me.)

Id like to help.
Do you have a gun already thought up?
If so what does it fire and whats unique about it?

Well the gun I first mentioned I called the Mr22 Assualt Rifle, now the Mr22 is just the name. The Guns themselves are a bit realistic, they shot normal bullets not lasers. I was just thinking that if the story Sci-Fi but with some reality, then the guns must also have names like that.

Or is it competely fine just to name guns something that sounds cool?

I get it.
Its totally fine to name guns something that just sounds cool.
Im pretty sure that's how the B.F.G came into existence.

 

[Paksenarrion]

>_

Can't go wrong with code names like the "Z-23" or the "TI-46"

Umm.... those sound like graphing calculators.

>_< Ok I just remembered TI=Texas Instruments. It was supposed to stand for Total Incenerator. In fact just go with functions or what it fires. Pulse Rifle is a copyrighted but good example. "Superheated plasma coater" "Air activated heat laser" etc.

Who knows? Texas Instruments may have expanded their product line in the future.

TI-1000: It can calculate the wavelength needed to destabilize a target's atomic structure *and* you can play emulators on it!

 

[hittite]

>_

Can't go wrong with code names like the "Z-23" or the "TI-46"

Umm.... those sound like graphing calculators.

>_< Ok I just remembered TI=Texas Instruments. It was supposed to stand for Total Incenerator. In fact just go with functions or what it fires. Pulse Rifle is a copyrighted but good example. "Superheated plasma coater" "Air activated heat laser" etc.

Who knows? Texas Instruments may have expanded their product line in the future.

TI-1000: It can calculate the wavelength needed to destabilize a target's atomic structure *and* you can play emulators on it!

Set phasers to graph!

That thought just made my day.

 

[Timzilla]

Pistols: Named after coding on Nintendo products.
NTR-001, CGB-AZ7E - Nitrox 1, Carnigeb Araznet 7 energy (7th energy tier, a bit weak)

Machine Pistols: Developers and graphics cards numbers from PC game boxes.
Bohemia X2/4400, Pandemic X2600 - Bohemia's Double 4400 (uses 2 barrels to fire twice as many rounds), Pandemic's X2600

Shotguns: Swords. Like Mass Effect
Katana 56, Claymore 73, Sciavona 91

Submachine Guns: Submarines and a vessel number.
USS Bowfin, USS Bremerton - Bowfin 287, Bremerton 698

Assault Rifles: Termed after words for destruction/associated with destruvtion
Eviscerator 256, Carnage 742, Oppenheimer 45

Light Machine Guns: Named after weight/mass measurements
Newton 67, Tonne 021, Grammilla 234

Sniper Rifles: Names after sections of the brain
Medulla 2, Tentorium 1000

Hope that helps.

You,sir,are a genius.

 

[hittite]

How bout GS Fire Slash (flamethrower/sword). Cock Fight (a small gun hidden in your pants).
The Sycthe six-shooter (a bazooka the can shoot up to six homing missles at a time).

Just..sit down before you hurt yourself, please?

(and don't even get me started on the gunblade.)

 

[GenericAmerican]

I say you go with what you had. Mr22 and similar. I'm not a fan of borderlands style names like weaksauce firestarter. I mean...this is a gun, a weapon; not some toy, I don't think there is any real firearm named anything like B.F.G. Sure sometimes they acquire nicknames, like the 'Mother of all Bombs' or MOAB, is actually 'Massive Ordinance Air Burst'

But no weapon manufacturer is going to go around naming their products something stupid. If anything that would put people off from buying it; do I want this XM-105 Assault rifle, or the lolbbq-big gun...(actually I want to see the latter now.)

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Well the gun I first mentioned I called the Mr22 Assualt Rifle, now the Mr22 is just the name. The Guns themselves are a bit realistic, they shot normal bullets not lasers. I was just thinking that if the story Sci-Fi but with some reality, then the guns must also have names like that.

Or is it competely fine just to name guns something that sounds cool?

If you want the weapons to sound like they have a military origin/designation here's a few handy hints

M series firearms(such as the M16, the M4, etc) denotes American military use
L series firearms(such as the L85, etc) denotes British military use
G series longarms(such as the G3 and G35) denotes German military use
F series firearms(such as the F1A1 and F88) denotes Australian military use

AK series (AK 47, AK74, AKM, AKSU, etc) denote an AK pattern weapon, usually of Russian origin
Both Chinese and Japanese weapons use the Type-(number) designation

Also, if you follow those guides, don't forget to Google to make sure you haven't armed your people with 1940s era weapons.

 

[Hashime]

It would sound cool if you used serial numbers:
He brandished his #1407 triple spread demolisher, making his point.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Here's an idea! DON'T DROP NAMES WHEN TALKING ABOUT GUNS. Saying gun names repeatedly is one of the worst things you can do when writing a book. Matthew Rielly does this a lot and it almost ruins his books. Maybe say it once, then just refer to it as the class of gun from then on like "pistol" or "assault rifle". But for the love of god, don't say the model of gun over and over.

 

[Naheal]

How bout GS Fire Slash (flamethrower/sword). Cock Fight (a small gun hidden in your pants).
The Sycthe six-shooter (a bazooka the can shoot up to six homing missles at a time).

Just..sit down before you hurt yourself, please?

(and don't even get me started on the gunblade.)

Farscape did the gunblade right.

 

[Korten12]

Here's an idea! DON'T DROP NAMES WHEN TALKING ABOUT GUNS. Saying gun names repeatedly is one of the worst things you can do when writing a book. Matthew Rielly does this a lot and it almost ruins his books. Maybe say it once, then just refer to it as the class of gun from then on like "pistol" or "assault rifle". But for the love of god, don't say the model of gun over and over.

thanks and noted.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Here's an idea! DON'T DROP NAMES WHEN TALKING ABOUT GUNS. Saying gun names repeatedly is one of the worst things you can do when writing a book. Matthew Rielly does this a lot and it almost ruins his books. Maybe say it once, then just refer to it as the class of gun from then on like "pistol" or "assault rifle". But for the love of god, don't say the model of gun over and over.

thanks and noted.

No problem, one more cluttered novel prevented!

 

[StompinPaul]

From what I've seen gun names tend to be pretty straight forward, often just a sort of detached description of the gun.
The formula I use often goes something like this:

And looks something like this when in use:
Raptor P315 Precision Rifle

can be pretty much anything, it represents a company name. It could be just a last name or two (Browning, Smith & Wesson for a couple real world examples) it could be an acronym for full company name (Mars Defense Industries, MDI) or it could even just be a random word that sounds vaguely intimidating or impressive when associated with a gun.

can usually just be a random string of numbers though I wouldn't make it too long. They tend to either be the year the model was designed/first produced or part of some internal company filing system (it's the 315th design they've had or whatever). I personally like to attach a meaningful letter or two, in the above example the P refers to that version being marketed to paramilitary organizations while an M could mean marketed to national militaries for example.

Finally the is where most of the description comes in. Basically, at least for the official gun name, this is the most clinical description you can manage for the type of weapon. 'Carbine', 'Precision Rifle', 'Rocket Propelled Grenade' are some examples, although you can also use intended purpose such as 'Personal Defense Weapon' for a light smg or pistol or 'Squad Support Weapon' could be a machine gun or a grenade launcher. In a sci-fi setting you could use some more futuristic sounding things: 'Electromagnetic Carbine' or 'Electromagnetic Rifle' could refer to varieties of infantry carried rail guns, and a 'Plasma Emission Weapon' could be some sort of futuristic flamethrower type thing. The specifics of those would depend on what's available in your setting.

Now if you want to add a nick name to a specific weapon I do it like so:
Raptor P315 "Decapitator" Precision Rifle

Finally, yes many weapons note their caliber in their name (9mm handgun, 50 caliber machine gun). This is a reference to the diameter of the ammo used, which affects the stopping power. You might want to change it to something else (someone above talked about 'energy tiers' or somesuch) in a sci-fi setting. I'd put it as either part of a weapon's description or work it into the model number (with different numbers or letters referring to versions of the same gun that have different ammunition/power output/etc.

Hopefully you can either use this or take away some ideas and come up with your own system. This is just how I do it, so I realize it may not work in your setting.

 

[The Journey]

I am trying to write a sci-fi story but I have had trouble thinking up Gun names, since all guns relect its version and stuff and somtimes the bullets I believe. So since its the future and they are not using today's guns, I have been trying to think of gun names but I don't know how to start.

Can anyone help? (and if you need more info on such guns, ask me.)

Why don't you do a bit of research into the traditions and conventions used in the creation of modern day and historical firearms before you jump into the future with very little knowledge about the subject?

Research goes a long way, and helps you refine the questions you ask of people in your topics.

And honestly, all the information you could possibly need for a brief description has already been given by other posters.

 

[AKmontalvo]

I wouldn't, u want to keep continuety in every aspect of your world to that it bleeds that world's specific flavor, example if your weapons are produced exclusively by the military they with have names that describle (usually in abreviated form) their fuction, place of invention, something [i.e. a warmongering U.S. creates the Advandced Lincoln Repeater Rifle in 2038, now known as the ALR-38]
while a future where different companies manufacture weapons commercially give their weapons sleek names marketing approved names [i.e. Slade rifle, Stinger, Eclipse Cannon, Razor, whatever]
a rebel faction has no marketing department and has more pressing matters to attend to (like not getting captured, tortured, killed) to sitt around naming their weapons so they tend to start out with military-ish fuctionality based names [i.e. the Repeater Projecter Rifle created in 2040 two years after the U.S. becomes despotic, the weapon is then serialed the RPR-40] HOWEVR, a rebel unit, though militant in nature is less organized and less diaplined, the guerrila soldiers soon forgo its serial name and begin referring to the RPR-40 as the "Ripper" due to its high firing rate as well as a homage to the serial number.
maybe an alien race introduced the new technology to make these weapons possible so the names are those of their gods or legends, could go on forever like this the point is that evrything in your story should be contextually sound and add to the validity of your world

 

[SquadronAce]

How bout GS Fire Slash (flamethrower/sword). Cock Fight (a small gun hidden in your pants).
The Sycthe six-shooter (a bazooka the can shoot up to six homing missles at a time).

Just..sit down before you hurt yourself, please?

(and don't even get me started on the gunblade.)

Dont see you making up any amazing gun names

 

[hittite]

Farscape did the gunblade right.

I warned you.

Spoilered for your convenience.

Spoiler

Since the invention of the gun, there has been one massive, glaring flaw in its design: by and large it is mediocre to downright lousy at close range. This is especially a problem when the highest rate of fire possible is 3 rounds per minute. So, there have been many ideas to make it a close range weapon as well.

I'm not opposed to this. When the ammunition runs out, you'd better have those bayonets handy. What I am opposed to is the frankly ridiculous depiction in media (FF VII I'm looking at you). Yes, history is full of knives with guns attached. Mostly, though, they are just that: knives. I have yet to find one instance of a 5 foot broadsword with a pistol grip. Mostly because the torque would snap your wrist if you tried to swing it, and the weight would make it impossible to aim if you fire it. In short, the gun/sword combo is somewhat ridiculous.

That being said, I like the idea behind them. As a certain comic book reviewer once said: "our lot loves the lavishly ludicrous." Big swords are cool. Big guns are cool. But this time, it wasn't chocolate and peanut butter. All in all, it makes more sense to concentrate on keeping the enemy at a distance and keep melee combat as a final contingency.

TL;DR - I'll take an assault rifle with a bayonet over a sword with a pistol strapped on.

 

[MrGalactus]

All sci-fi everything need something called the Arbiter.
(exept for Halo, Halo didn't earn the right to use that word)