[Iron Kingdoms] Could someone put guns in perspective?

[Lord Pendragon]

So my DM is about to start a new campaign after we wrap up a 2+year long 3.5 campaign (yay, 20th-level!) He is very interested in the Iron Kingdoms, which will be where the new campaign is set.

I've been reading over the Character Guide, trying to decide on a character. Part of the interest of the setting, for me, was the prevalence of firearms.

However, reading over the book, it would appear that guns...well...suck.

Why?

They have to be reloaded after every shot (every 4 shots at the most, with a special gun), and reloading them takes (at least) 1 standard action.

There aren't any feats to reduce this. And there aren't (that I could find) any firearms that might carry a clip or some other means of bypassing this huge penalty.


Tell me...am I missing something? Or do guns in the Iron Kingdoms, despite the campaign's flavor, suck as much as they seem to?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I don't know the IK rules, but what are the other stats like? How much damage do they deal? What about crit range, range, and all that?

I'd think there'd be a Rapid Reload like feat for guns (if the Rapid Reload feat can't be used for them, that is. If it can reduce a heavy crossbow's reload time from full to move, it should be able to reduce a firearm's standard to a move)

Clips wouldn't be appropriate for early firearms, the only thing that would not scream "d20 Modern" would be a revolver, or something like that (several barrels that are loaded at once and fired one at a time).