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This clandestine pistol is modified to:
-be electrically fired
-be extremely quiet
-shoot a deadly poison that emulates a heart attack and doesn't show up on autopsies
-be capable of shooting a target without them realizing they've been shot
-work at 100 yards
Video of the hearing: [3:57] https://youtu.be/4m6dldvNECI?si=
So much of this.
Getting an ice dart to travel 100 meters intact so the poison reaches the target is absurd with modern technology, to saying nothing of 1970s available tech.
To start, most bullets leave the barrle of the gun 20-30 degrees above ambient temperature. A dart made of ice would melt and send a spray of water and toxin out the barrel. And even if you could design a round that could be carried in a holster that keeps the dart below freezing and ad some kind of shot cup that magially keeps the ice from melting on firing, you have to deal with accuracy.
Hitting targets beyond 10 meters with a 1911 is not something amateurs can reliably do. Hitting a target at 20m to 30m is considered exceptional marksmanship. At 100m it's more luck than skill. Now swap out the spin stabilized bullet designed to accurately shoot from the barrel of a gun for a projectile made of ice, not stabilized in any meaningful way and melting with every meter from the gun it flies, and you are not going to hit anything at 100m.
Its just not possible to do any of that, let alone silently and in such a way a person isn't going to notice being stung by any icey barb that still needs to be big enough to carry enough toxin to carry a lethal dose.
I don't think you could make an accurate version today of a rifle using pneumatic air or magnetic acceleration rails/coils that could it could penetrate a person sized target at 100 meters but still fit inside a 1911 holster or case.
But these aren’t being fired using gunpowder, so the thermal curve would change dramatically.
Strongly agree with all your other points though.
I could see it as a small BB gun, with a range of 10 meters instead of the advertised 100.
“Ice” doesn’t necessarily mean the water ice we are used to, it’s just the solid phase of something that’s a liquid or gas under normal conditions. For example, methane ice exists. Perhaps it’s a chemical with a reasonably tough solid phase that melts at 80 degrees f.
Also, ice can be way colder than the usual 32 degrees. It just has to be kept in a very cold environment. For all we know it could have been kept in a cooler full of liquid nitrogen and enter the gun at -300 f.
Hang on, not missing the entire target at 20 yards is not that difficult. A typical handgun range is 10 yards and a typical silhouette is 1/2 scale simulating a shot at 20 yards. I am not a great shot but I'm not usually missing the entire target.