with multi-sub i wouldnt have been able to have a unique normal map for the hand and gun, only by joining the textures can they both have correct mapping with shaders on.
i dont get any frame rate drops, my hardware specs are in my sig, though beforehand on another computer i experienced some during the reload animation, no doubt this was caused by the amount of bones and individual animation going on.
besides that, the polycount isnt all that high, so you may want to try turning off the shaders/degrading the texture down to a 1024x512. What processor model do you have rolfy?
edit:
Smitho, i always found UV mapping easy from the start, its just time consuming and extremelly boring. there are plenty of tutorials as i have mentioned, you may also want to visit bond1's site and download the UV mapping tutorial video, it is with 3DS Max but it still shows the basic principles of UV mapping and will be the same with most or near all packages, planar map and weld.
http://www.hyrumark.com
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