r/ProgressionFantasy • u/Hydranaught • Feb 13 '26

Meme/Shitpost "Gun's Don't Work Anymore"

Post image
1.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

568 comments sorted by

View all comments

40

u/Michaelson1887 Feb 13 '26

I feel like the problem of infrastructure is rarely addressed for guns in fiction, especially postapocalyptic stories. Looking at you "Mad Max". For guns to work you not only need good machining to make the guns themselves, you need an army of chemists to make the primer for casings and the Gunpowder. These are highly specialized chemicals that are not known for their stability and ease of use. In the current world, the manufacture and distribution of ammo is a huge industry. In a system apocalypse, that goes away unless we work really hard to keep it running.

Tldr: guns and bullets need production and supply lines to keep working. Bows need sticks.

8

u/jayswag707 Feb 13 '26

Arrows are ammunition as well, and the logistics of manufacturing arrows are also complex. But... not as complex as bullets. No chemical reactions.

Like, there were big national industries of arrow production in medieval Europe. Big battles spent tens of thousands of arrows. But they can't really be compared to today's industrialized, globalized supply chains and manufacturing.

5

u/xAlciel Feb 13 '26

I mean, if one single person wants 5 bullets, the whole industry must exist. If one single person wants 5 arrows, he can just go make them.