Small people using powerful firearms?

In my story travellers will often carry large black powder rifles with them as a means of fending off extremely large and aggressive predators (this is a fantasy setting, and these critters are the size of a large horse). I'm thinking something akin to an elephant gun. Scarcity of resources in the setting dictates that these weapons and their ammunition are fairly rare.

Of my four main characters, my current plan is to make the marksman who will use this weapon be a small woman with a slight build. The rest of the crew is bigger and stronger, but two of them are novice shooters and the other's vision and shooting skills aren't nearly as good. My assumption is that having an expert marksman behind the weapon is more important than having her be able to carry it around easily.

What sorts of problems would this bring up for her? Is there a serious risk of her injuring herself when firing this weapon? Am I off-base in assuming that she'd be able to handle it at all?

Thanks!

Stanmiller said:

Puma,
If I remember correctly, the OP brought this up sometime back. It's a civilization that's reverted to lower-tech, and gone back to BP weapons with cast lead projectiles because of the loss of the precision machinery necessary for brass cartridges and jacketed bullets.

Perhaps the OP will enlighten us....

Stan

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Yeah, you're remembering correctly. The civilisation was roughly 1940's level technology wise before a world-spanning cataclysm about 150 years prior kicked their asses and broke most of their people, land, and infrastructure. I still haven't nailed down exactly how limited they are in terms of machining abilities, but black powder has become the standard because the infrastructure and resources required for smokeless powder is severely diminished, and the loss of old-world transportation networks means that most firearms and ammunition need to be produced locally. Black powder is simpler to create and stores a hell of a lot better, so it's generally speaking a better choice.

As far as machining, I'm still assuming that they've mainly fallen behind on capacity instead of sophistication. They can still use relatively primitive cartridges and jacketed bullets, and I fully expect that they know to rifle their weapon barrels, even if the quality pales by comparison to old-world standards. Regardless, they'll certainly be aware of old-world designs, even when putting them into practise might be difficult.

A quick google search reveals that muzzle brakes were pretty well known around the 1940's (though I couldn't find out when they were first introduced) so I expect that it'd be reasonable to expect the design to be known in my setting. I think I'll make the addition to the weapon, since it doesn't seem to be that difficult an addition. Throw in a bipod and cloth padding on the butt of the gun, and I guess that'd start looking reasonably manageable recoil-wise.

Of course, she'd still have the whole "carrying around a weapon that's a third of your weight" issue, but she'd be able to shoot it!

@ Stan: I'll try to keep you posted, but since this is ultimately a side project I fear it'll be quite some time before it's presentable.

Kitti said:

Is there any reason she needs to be of a slight build? (I'm assuming that, by this, you mean someone with small bones and not much muscle - please correct me if I'm wrong.)

My mother and I are both short (5'2" and 5'3" respectively), small boned and skinny, but because I play sports there's about a thirty pound weight difference between us and it's all in muscle. I would be very surprised if your character didn't build up significant muscle from all that travel and from toting around her gun, unless there was a lack of food/nutrition.

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That's a good point. She's short (my current notes put her at 4'9", though I might end up bringing that up a tad eventually) and skinny but she's still athletic. In fact, she does a lot of sprinting, vaulting over obstacles, and climbing (basically parkour) as her preferred method for getting around. Still, that's mostly the wrong kind of muscle better suited for quick movement and endurance than to brawn.

I imagine she would get better at carrying this monster around after practise, but they're not travelling on foot... they've got vehicles with them, and the weapon would likely just stay in its case in the truck until the kinds of critters that it's meant to kill show up (which, fortunately, are usually seen a ways off). It is a specialist tool, after all, so there's no need to have it at the ready at all times. She'd still end up carrying a smaller rifle around for the smaller threats that give less forewarning, but that'd likely be something significantly more manageable.

@ jallanecs:

That's a really interesting idea. Can those sorts of improvised props be set up in a hurry?

Oh, now that's interesting. What I like about both the prop and the shooting sticks is that they're something that'd be very easy to improvise or create with simple techniques and materials, which makes a lot more sense in this infrastructure-starved setting than sophisticated bipods and the like.