Mauser update. Heresy or hot?
Zhu Xijuan wants one! For the
Emperor Party! Death to
Heretics Landlords! <=== W1.949K!
Our people produced a Broomhandle clone in .45 after all, the Shanxi Type 17. Nostalgia in China for a weapon that featured so prominently in the Civil War and our national liberation struggle against Japan, might explain why the top image-search hits I got for this were all Chinese web sites (or Google is filtering my results for obvious reasons).
As for rocket-guns there was Gyrojet:
They had a rather fascinatingly elegant mechanism. The internal hammer struck the rocket projectile on the nose, driving it
back against a fixed firing-pin, which ignited the solid propellant. Then, as the rocket fired, it pushed the hammer down and forward to reengage with the sear. The barrel is smooth-bore; the rocket was spun by its angled exhaust jets, hence "gyro-jet". Did I read this up in connection with combat in low gravity? Maaaybe...
On trigger-mechanisms, here's one from the Han Dynasy (206BC–220AD). Note the clever use of leverage to ensure a light, clean release for a powerful bow.
Edit: I should point out, since it is important, but not obvious from the drawings above, that the trigger and the tumbler (the hook that actually holds the bow-string) share the same pivot pin, but move independently. The elevation scale protruding above the stock is part of the tumbler, not the trigger.
Edit: Fixed or removed broken image links.
