Firearms Expert Reacts To Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun’s Guns

Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down more of the weaponry of Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, including the several variants of the iconic Boltgun itself.

In the latest video in the Firearm Expert Reacts series, Jonathan Ferguson--a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries--breaks down the guns of Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun and compares them to their potential real-life counterparts.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
0:25 - Boltgun
3:36 - Shotgun
7:17 - Plasma Gun
9:32 - Heavy Bolter
11:33 - Meltagun
14:40 - Vengeance Launcher
16:55 - Volkite Caliver
18:23 - Grav-Cannon

[PaladinDervish]

Johnathan reluctantly explains the Boltgun for the 12th time as a commissar watches on just off-screen.

[myfaceismyshield]

The muted sound for a heavier gun DOES have an in-universe reason. Space Marine helmets have what is called "auto-senses" to make sure the marine doesn't go blind or deaf even in the brightest or loudest situation. So essentially it darkens the eyes if the environment is too bright and it blocks out sound if the environment is too loud.
So active noise-cancelling, but over explained in the lore because active noise-cancelling wasn't a big thing back when that lore was typed xD

[peterclarke]

"This is probably a rabbit-hole I can ill-afford to go down..."

This is basically what every grown adult who discovers 40k says, right before the Call of the Warp starts to invade their sleeping mind...

Next week, we find out which 40k army Jonathan has started collecting, are introduced to his already impressive and ever-growing Pile of Shame, and get a detailed breakdown of his Army list, Unit composition, and weapon specs. 🤣

[fluffywolfo]

The heavy Bolter is actually electronically fired! :p
Also it’s okay. Nobody actually knows how Meltaguns work. Sometimes they’re beams, sometimes they fire individual shots, sometimes they’re shotgun effects..

[Tounushi]

"How the bolter rounds really work, I don't know"
The closest equivalent would be 155mm M549 HERA shells. Base bleed rocket-assisted shells, so essentially bolts are .750 caliber (11 gauge) APHERA shotgun slugs.

Gyrojet's greatest weakness was that it has a minimum lethal distance. You can disable the weapon essentially by holding your finger to the muzzle. Having a case that hot launches the projectile at already lethal velocity ensures that there's no minimum lethal distance.

[Tounushi]

My armor is contempt
My faith is my shield
My hate is my sword
In the Emperor's name, let none survive!

[Tajealos]

A bit of elaboration on the Plasma Gun mechanic:

On the tabletop game, Plasma weapons have a mechanic where if you roll a 1 on a dice when trying to shoot one, it explodes in the user's hand and kills the wielder, the idea being that the plasma is so volatile and dangerous that any mishandling has catastrophic consequences

The overheat mechanic seems to be a compromise for the sake of gameplay; I can't imagine that shooting the Plasma Gun with a 1/6 chance of dying instantly would be very fun to play with

[DhruvaDevOnline]

" I have high hopes for Mr.Cavil and friends though". My man spitting facts. So do we all Mr. J.

[yarrbraxas]

I think "plasma - hot, splashy" is a perfectly fine and physics accurate description of what's happening.

[DoctorM]

Fun fact, heavy bolter is normally electrically fired, but it have primers for firing it if the batter runs out, electric cable is damaged, or entire system is fried by EMP. Which happens in 40k often enough to have a back up built in. It have lower rate of fire when not electrically powered, but still works.

[StressmanFIN]

6:54 the line you're looking for goes
"My armor is contempt, my sword is hatred, my shield is disgust, in the Emperor's name, let none survive."

[elite]

Honestly appreciate the inclusion of Dave providing context on some things

[garygcrook]

Meltaguns have an interesting story behind them.
In 40K there is a "super-metal" called Adamantium, a rare element that is super strong and can be used to make monomolecular blades and incredibly strong armour.
So in order to beat this armour, they took the cutting tool used to make it and turned it into a weapon. That weapon is the Meltagun, and the Multi-Melta.

[Fulgrim]

“Now here’s our Guardian Spear from the collection….”

[tonarsilverwolf]

the way a bolter functions is that there is a normal primary charge to propel the "bolt" out of the barrel already at fatal velocity, after that the rocket propellant within the "bolt" to propel it even further. also lore wise the heavy bolter uses electricity because of the required high fire rate

[blizzardgaming]

The reason the bolters never have stocks is because the gun itself is so heavy that the recoil is surprisingly low.

[Rossen]

I really want to see Jonathan break down the guns from The Order 1886

[Scorch]

I really respect how much Johnathan is willing to go down the proverbial rabbit hole to explain these obviously absurd weapons. It really is probably the best content Gamspot has put out in a long time imo.

[sametsahin]

The difference is the bolter round's case ignites and shoots the rocket as if it was a normal bullet THEN the rocket starts flying and lodges itself within the targets flesh exploding right after negating any momentum loss

[Schproemftell]

As for the Plasmagun overcharging and hurting the player is actually based on the Tabletop version where it then can even result in fatal malfunction and well these are also called, ,Sun-Weapons" as they fire miniature suns and a space marine armor provides "just" little protection against that