[Ultra Tech] Variable Solid Propellant Firearm

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Varyon

The idea is that, as with a liquid propellant firearm, you have a magazine of bullets and a bottle of propellant - but instead of the bottle consisting of two chambers with separate liquids (mixed and injected into the firing chamber just before shooting), it's instead filled with smokeless powder. .

It sounds like a TL4+5 Lorenzoni. That would be a seriously divergent tech path. :)

The first change that occurs to me is to use neither a liquid (much less two) nor a dry powder. Instead you go for a viscous but squeezable gel. Your gun squeezes out a desired quantity of that directly onto the back of the bullet and you set it off with an electric arc.

This would avoid the mixing problems of binary liquid or even liquid monopropellant with ambient air. It also avoids the handling problems of a dry powder. Your gel doesn't mix with anything and it doesn't rattle around either.