Thursday, September 6, 2012

So where's my flying car, already?

I mean, there are working semiautomatic gauss rifles:



This is design your own land though:
The 400-volt semi-automatic Gauss Rifle is what’s known as a multistage coilgun. It shoots 5.7-mm steel ammunition, from a built-in 8-slug clip. Priebe did his best to explain to us non-weapons-makers just how that ammo is fired.

“You charge a capacitor (high voltage preferred), and discharge it through a coil made of copper wire,” he said. “You will get a short electromagnetic pulse, which pulls the slugs through the coil. My rifle holds four banks of capacitors and four coils ... at the entrance of the last three coils are contacts made of spring-wire, reaching into the barrel. When the projectile touches, the pulse discharges and the coil accelerates the projectile, pulling it through to the next coil.”

This results in the slugs leaving the muzzle at a claimed velocity of approximately 100 meters (328 feet) per second.
I'd think that would hurt.

3 comments:

Divemedic said...

Under the stupid Heller ruling, coil weapons can be restricted without falling afoul of the Second Amendment, because they are not in common use.

Anonymous said...

Good idea the EPA have been trying to ban lead ammunition for years surely this would be an environmentallly clean solution and you could charge the capicitors using solar energy. No nasty chemicals needed. It is the first green gun.

Ian Argent said...

Paintball guns are typically regulated to approximately 300 fps for safety of players. Color me unimpressed.