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Comment by chrissnell | Hacker News Reader

I'll pass. I'd rather have my Accuracy International Arctic Warfare and my Schmidt und Bender scope and save the extra $10,000 for ammo. My rifle is a .308 Winchester but for that money, I could have easily bought the .338 Lapua version and still had several crates of match-grade ammo, a Bluetooth wind gauge, and a nice ballistics computer app for my iPhone.

My AW rifle: http://www.flickr.com/photos/defender90/7960052026/in/set-72...

My S&B scope: http://www.flickr.com/photos/defender90/7960054928/in/set-72...

I don't understand the point of this rifle. Is it to enable non-shooters to shoot? It's not hard to learn how to shoot. With an afternoon of instruction and a few practice sessions, you can hit 1000 yd targets with a normal scoped precision rifle without much difficulty.

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> I don't understand the point of this rifle. Is it to enable non-shooters to shoot? It's not hard to learn how to shoot. With an afternoon of instruction and a few practice sessions, you can hit 1000 yd targets with a normal scoped precision rifle without much difficulty.

I gather that it must be more publicity stunt than anything; or perhaps at best a vehicle to a lucrative government R&D contract. Shooters don't need or want this and those who don't shoot because they think it's too hard won't pay for it (if such a person exists at all). The government has no possible use for it beyond automated weapons systems which they already operate, but I wouldn't put it past them to pay for additional development just for the hell of it.

The "point", I imagine, is that it is high-tech and fancy. People like that. It doesn't shoot for you; from what I can tell, it's basically just a step up from a traditional scope.

From what I gleaned from the article, it does indeed "shoot for you" so far as it is what actually fires the shot.

Modern cars electronically control the throttle plate based on your input on the throttle. Modern planes modulate ailerons in the same fashion. Do you consider the computer to be driving/flying for you?

I would consider an automatic transmission to be shifting for me.

I'm not trying to slight the gun or anything, it seems pretty cool. I'm just saying that "you tell the gun what you want to shoot and when to start, and then the gun decides when to shoot and promptly does so" is a straightforward description of what it is going on.

No, the gun doesn't shoot for you. It replaces the trigger with one with a solenoid behind it that it can dynamically change the pull of. It sets the trigger pull restrictively high until your reticle matches your tag, and then quickly drops it so you make the shot. You just hold the trigger down until it lets you shoot.

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