GURPS Firearm: ALFA .357 Magnum, UK-Legal Muzzleloading Caplock Revolver

 GURPS Firearm: ALFA .357 Muzzleloading Caplock Revolver

Ah, United Kingdom. Homeland of tea parties, colonialism and quirky weirdos who save the world from weekly calamities (that mostly happen in London). They also have great gun laws that allow one to own such beautiful handguns like these:

Just kidding about the last one. But yeah, handgun ownership in UK is not the same as it was at the start of 20th century. Doctor Watson had to turn his Webley in, and his modern counterpart from Sherlock is straight up breaking the law as he runs around modern-day London shooting an illegal, smuggled in SIG P226. None the less, inventive people exist, and they readily find loopholes in the law to permit their fellow countrymen to enjoy handgun shooting like proper gentlemen.

Meet ALFA Series .357 Muzzleloading Revolver

ALFA .357 begins it's life as bona-fide cased cartridge .357 Magnum revolver, built in a Czech factory. It's relatively unknown, and is built for civilian market. The magic happens when it's almost complete. A number of ALFA .357s are sent on to a small, grassroots manufacturer in UK without a cylinder - technically not a firearm since it cannot chamber or shoot anything. The manufacturer, Westlake Engineering, assembles their own cylinder, but not a typical one. This cylinder operates on a caplock design, like early TL5 revolvers of the Wild West, requiring all the proper stuff of filling the slots with powder, pressing a bullet in, sealing it with a cap, etc, the difference being - it uses smokeless powder and modern .357 projectiles. This is an ingenious design, as UK gun laws do not regulate the length of muzzleloading firearms, allowing to dispose of weird shoulder things and to have any conceivable barrel lengths.

This weapon is LC3 in UK, being legally a muzzleloader, only requiring a basic firearms permit to own. The weapon has to be registered, alongside any spare cylinders, and the license usually holds up to 5 items, allowing for 1 Revolver and 4 spare cylinders. Spare cylinders are costly, usually no less than $250, Wt 0.3, but the weapon itself comes with two - one in gun, one spare.

Performance-wise, recommended loadings output behavior on par with .38 Spc. While the revolver itself is able to sustain .357 loads, the cylinder is less reliable - if using .357 Magnum loadings, Malf 16. Available projectiles are Solid and Hollow-Base Wadcutter (Treat as Solid and Hollow Point, respectively). WPS and CPS remain the same as with cased cartridges, use either .38 Spc or .357 Magnum values depending on load.

Weapon comes in 4 barrel lengths:

6" - In table

4" - 2d pi, bulk -2,  Wt 2.1/0.3

3" - 2d-1 pi, bulk -1, Wt 1.9/0.3

2" - 2d-1 pi, bulk -1, Wt 1.8/0.3

Magnum loadings:

6" - In table

4" - 3d-1 pi

3" - 2d+2 pi, rcl 5, ST 11

2" - 2d+2 pi, rcl 5, ST 11

Reloading is the same as for all cap&ball revolvers, (10i). Speedloaders are impossible. On the bright side, the cylinder is not held in place, so it can be swapped out rather quickly. Shooter can pre-load all of his cylinders at home and simply swap them out as the firefight goes.

1: Swing the cylinder out
2: Remove the cylinder and discard it. Keeping it is an extra Ready maneuver.
3: Draw a spare cylinder

4: Insert the cylinder onto it's base

5: Swing the revolver closed

In short, it's a solid piece for a civilian UK gun owner, something to defend yourself from a robbery, or while investigating a murder mystery. The weapon can come with a mount for sights and other improvements for sporting use, making fine (accurate) variants available. Do note that UK frowns upon any self-defense, armed or not, so consult your GM regarding all this, and don't use my advice on the matter IRL.

.gcs file (4.2)

Credits to Kalos for helping me figure out the damages and range of this thing.