Yupp. I wrote up on this last year.
Why are all hunters so "Old school"?
Before I start, let me just ask you all to please play nice, not start a flame war, start insulting me or others, and to be constructive. Nobody gains anything on people being assbutts to each other.
Don't get me wrong, my dream car is a mint condition '67 Impala, I wear a weathered leather jacket on a daily basis, and admittedly Sam and Deans taste in music is amazing.
But how come no hunters have adapted to new technology and new environments?
The above serves as a TL;DR.
(For those who like the long read, and the background behind my thoughts)
I've done a lot of instructing in manipulating handguns and carbines, and I've taken over a hundred. I have experience in tracking, bypassing and causing, as well as relieving ,trauma, both with firearms and hand-to-hand combat. I could probably know my way around the life of a hunter in other words, with some adaptation time.
The first thing we teach at our classes is to be adaptive and to accept the changes in the environments as well as the rules of the playing field. This of course doesn't apply as much when hunting a vamp, since the vamp hasn't changed much over the past thousand years, while a gunfighter most certainly has.
After a couple of classes and talking with some students afterwards we came onto the subject of Supernatural. The topic first came up when a Police Officer said (On the topic of not being adaptive to new technology) "I don't understand why they don't get themselves an SBR or similar." (SBR = Short Barrelled Rifle)
And he made an excellent point. How often do we find them literally almost getting killed because they have only a handgun each, and most of the time tucked inside their pants. Yes, concealment is an issue, but let's face it, their faces are everywhere on wanted posters every now and then. The gun they carry is not the biggest concealment risk.
Their handguns for example. I wont go into models or calibers, as it's very personal and both Sam and Dean seem to have personal/sentimental value in their handguns. I would guess they come from John or Bobby, or such. They look very personal and probably have history. But. Simply by using a decent IWB (Inside Waist Band) holster they could up their efficiency by miles. A good example is the Haley Strategic Partners/G-Code Incog. Video for those interested.
Then onto alternate firepower. As such I would refer to an SBR, or at least an SMG (Sub Machine Gun). Most of you have probably at least heard of the classic H&K MP5. It may look extreme to those not interested in or used to guns, but it's not. This is one of the most common SMG's in the world, if not the most common, and you've seen it in the show used by most SWAT and FBI teams that have been after Sam and Dean. It uses the same ammunition as Sam's handgun, and some of their other weapons.
Taking it to the next step is something along the lines of my personal carbine. This is a bit more "extreme", but what I would personally recommend to a hunter. I wont go into details as it's quite a different world for those who aren't interested in guns and so on, and those who are wont need them. If anyone is interested though I'll gladly add more.
Load any of these up with silver rounds, and presto. If you've got the time, start carving devil's trap in the rounds. Melt down an angel blade. Whatever you like.
The advantage with a carbine or SBR is that you can engage targets at a longer distance, but still get in close. The disadvantage is that it's harder to transport than Sam and Dean's typical choice. However most of the time we see them drive up fairly close to the nest or whatever it is before approaching. It is also very rare that there is other people around, simply because of the nature of the things that they hunt.
Application wise I am not talking about making Sam and Dean supersoldiers that walk into a vamp nest and start hosing out bullets all over. Any sensible shooter doesn't even touch full auto, for example. And it's not black or white, nothing is. The issue I have is more that they don't seem to even try to get more efficient. No matter how many times they lose their guns, run out of ammo, or find their weaponry insufficient, they don't seem to learn from it once.
A typical situation I remember (Although I can't figure which ep it is) is when they enter some kind of nest, find more than the expected amount of creeps, and one of them takes of running into the night. Dean takes a couple of shots, but the darkness and distance makes it very difficult, and the creep gets away. Now, what if he would've had a carbine with a tactical light attached? He could've lit that sumbitch up and put a well placed silver round in the back of it's head no problem.
But I suppose this would change them far too much from the characters we love. However even if Sam and Dean aren't willing to (for whatever reason), how come we haven't seen a single hunter that is more accepting of modern technology and modern techniques? Imagine what someone who employs more modern gear and in a more modern application as a hunter. How much more efficient would he be? I say a lot.
If you did stay with me through all this, thank you for reading! If you just skipped to the end, I understand! It's a wall of text that only some will make it through. I simply had to share my thoughts and see what some of you others might think.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Supernatural/comments/1yl04h/why_are_all_hunters_so_old_school/
