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Comment by andrewzah | Hacker News Reader

Why? Other than tracking stats, this seems not useful at all. One of the main selling points of an AK is the rugged durability.. and you want to throw in sensitive electrical components? edit: This is for a shotgun by kalashnikov, not an AK, but my point still stands. Guns need to be reliable.

If a gun doesn't consistently go bang when you pull the trigger (and safety is off, etc), it's completely useless and would better serve as a paperweight.

edit: an external system that integrates with the gun for training purposes would be useful. If I could track shots + accuracy at X yards at the range, that would be very useful. But for a real situation, the last thing I want is something potentially causing an issue with the gun.

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>> why?

pick up a cyberpunk or shadowrun book ;-) smartgun increases chance to hit and is required for automation

1. remote fire control, obviously, and an interface for drones, semi as well as fully automatic ones

2. the shotgun has a display and camera - how about friend/foe recognition? (requires a tactical network)

3. connect it to augmented reality goggles/visor/eyes. gun sees what it is pointed at, use that to render a crosshair

4. think about police officers and body cams. A gun that records its point of view makes a lot of sense as well.

>> If a gun doesn't consistently go bang when you pull the trigger (and safety is off, etc)

"Safety" might change away from a mechanical aspect over time. Some may consider these anti-features:

5. there is an active police operation in the area, your gun is now locked to safety on.

6. this weapon can not be used in this country (the USA did that for rocket launchers)

7. this weapon can not be used with this ammunition (printers do that with cartridges)

8. you are not the registered owner of this weapon

9. your license has expired

10. Wait 5 seconds before you can skip the ad and shoot.

> One of the main selling points of an AK

This is not an AK assault rifle. It's the “Ultima shotgun”, which is (the article doesn't mention this) a variant of Kalashnikov’s apparently-quite-popular MP-155 shotgun.

Some pieces specifically about the Ultima (the source article here goes back and forth between the Ultima and various production licensing deals with AK assault rifles which provides little insight on either):

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/08/28/kalashnikov-c...

https://www.rbth.com/science-and-tech/332677-kalashnikov-cre...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9240201/The-hipster...

I see, I missed that. Either way, I see no real purpose for adding electronics like this to a gun asides from range training tools. It just becomes a liability in a real situation.

Yeah, it's obviously something of a toy and marketing gimmick (and I'm not sure how much of it is “marketing the actual product” and how much of it is a concept-car-like piece to draw attention to the company more than or instead of selling the particular product.)

Information is valuable.

When you've got everyone's rifle connected to a network you can know who's having a bad day and have help on the way in case they ask.

No current firearms designer is dumb enough to put nonessential electronics in the critical path.

I can see a usefulness for some of the electronics stuff in a training context as well.

Details in the article are sparse but the article states this is a sporting shotgun. Knowing how non-electronics companies ventures into consumer electronics typically go I bet this is just a $100 worth of sensors and a Bluetooth module integrated into a stock and marked up 500% and if it does a good enough job recording that trick shot you made (so you can share with your internet friends for bragging rights) people will pay for it.

> When you've got everyone's rifle connected to a network you can know who's having a bad day and have help on the way in case they ask.

This is the one (maybe) plausible use case I’ve seen in the thread so far.

I’m still skeptical though given how fast technologies can change. A gun maintained well can work fine 50 years later. Will Wi-Fi or Bluetooth still work the same 50 years from now?

Speed of change is also why luxury electronics is very different from traditional luxury accessories. How long is the useful lifetime for a gift of a Vertu smartphone [1] or an Apple Watch Hermès [2]?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertu

[2]: https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-hermes/

It seems manufacturing volume of new firearms in the US has been on the rise [0]. Perhaps guns that last so long aren't good for sales.

[0] https://www.atf.gov/file/149886/download

No current firearms designer is dumb enough to put nonessential electronics in the critical path.

The State of New Jersey has/had a law[1] that would require all handguns sold to be outfitted with smart gun technology within X months of said technology becoming available, that would prevent the gun from firing except when in the hands of its authorized owner.

At the time, it was assumed that would take a form like, the owner needs to wear a special ring on the hand that would grip the gun, and the firing mechanism would sense proximity of the ring. The nightmare stories that could arise from that pretty much write themselves.

But my point is that, even if manufacturers aren't that dumb, politicians are.

[1] I'm not sure of its current status

The only value I see is the metadata generated by the rifle sent to the manufacturer

IFF via Facebook lookups?

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