Tech Level news: so, you can buy a Gauss Rifle now

[johndallman]

Further video of people trying it out, with a few scenes including a smaller and lighter version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVs1LPg-pYE

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Up to 75 m/s muzzle velocity.

The video (or at least the one I saw) had the creator noting that the velocity is a function of the switching speed of the coils and capacitor control system. That can probably be improved with some engineering (and money). Not that it'll get hugely more practical.

I'd also put a barrel on it. A coil gun might not need one, but a practical longarm does seem like it would benefit from a strong metal rod that can't easily get misaligned or bent when it's dropped or tossed around. Something's got to keep those coils in a straight line.

Also those huge projectiles. It was a point new to me that it's easy to have the design become inefficient with a smaller bullet (and thus higher speed, for the same energy) because the magnetic field saturates it too quickly and you don't get to put all the magnetic flux to work. Too much fiction with those needleguns means I'd never thought about it, just assumed it was yet another 1/2 m v^2 thing.

[jacobmuller]

Strikes me about the same as the first time I heard we have 3D printers...
Not the UT version but oooh ��
Would be great for small game, when it becomes practical & affordable
1st fix - machined slugs, grooved to spin, hollow arrows... 2nd fix - magazines that work.
PS in GURPS you can't punch a man thru his eye or heart... Wound Modifiers - I love GURPS.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Well, it apparently generates a magnetic pulse strong enough to warrant warnings about using them around sensitive equipment, which means pretty trivial to detect with with electronics.

Different strokes I guess - it would mean setting up EMP detectors, which I could see being standard kit in the future, but aren't currently installed in sentries, so in terms of silently taking down enemy pickets the "rifle" might have some benefits, and although radar-locating mortars is a relatively simple task at high-tactical/low operational level, the ability to produce bombs out of nowhere at a tactical level isn't to be sniffed at. You can, apparently, get silent grenade launcher rounds (silent on launch at least), but I'm told they are bit of a performance compared to the baseline and not as good in terms of range (they're apparently a captive-piston design). How you would go about supressing a mortar using conventional propellant I have no idea...

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

How you would go about supressing a mortar using conventional propellant I have no idea...

<shrug> Same way you suppress any large weapon. You use a really large suppressor. It'd be rather inconvenient for the typical muzzleloading mortars.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Different strokes I guess - it would mean setting up EMP detectors, which I could see being standard kit in the future, but aren't currently installed in sentries, so in terms of silently taking down enemy pickets the "rifle" might have some benefits, and although radar-locating mortars is a relatively simple task at high-tactical/low operational level, the ability to produce bombs out of nowhere at a tactical level isn't to be sniffed at. You can, apparently, get silent grenade launcher rounds (silent on launch at least), but I'm told they are bit of a performance compared to the baseline and not as good in terms of range (they're apparently a captive-piston design). How you would go about supressing a mortar using conventional propellant I have no idea...

You could make a silent mortar using a captive piston system. If you use a spigot launcher it'll be a pretty simple and accurate system.

If you're concerned about the range, consider that you're competing with a gauss system that's not very efficient at all and if it's tossing mortar bombs around will be requiring substantial batteries for the foreseeable future.

The problem gauss weapons have is that they're competing with a very mature technology. The best bet is probably to find some niche that chemical-powered guns suck at and that gauss weapon should not and exploit that. It's like lasers, which are only even a little bit competitive in a very specific niche within the niche of 'point-defence weapons'.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Rupert

The best bet is probably to find some niche that chemical-powered guns suck at and that gauss weapon should not and exploit that. '.

The problem is that it might be a niche that doesn't exist yet. Such as "weapons useful in a vacuum". Chemically powered slugthrowers will have some serious problems if used in vacuum and that gauss weapons would face fewer of those problems.

Of course you're already waiting on one + revolutions in the technology so you can wait for the market to emerge at the same time.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The problem is that it might be a niche that doesn't exist yet. Such as "weapons useful in a vacuum". Chemically powered slugthrowers will have some serious problems if used in vacuum and that gauss weapons would face fewer of those problems.

Fixing the problems with guns in vacuum mostly come down to creating vacuum tolerant lubricants.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Fixing the problems with guns in vacuum mostly come down to creating vacuum tolerant lubricants.

Oh no. The big problem isn't surfaces and lubricanrts for them it's waste heat.

Modern listings seldom specify if a machine gun is water-cooled or air-cooled any more due to the scarcity of water-cooled guns. But "no air" means "no cooling". If you start hauling water to cool your guns this is a serious multiplier on ammo weight.

There's also a secondary issue with the muzzle gasses. In air these mix with the atmosphere quickly but no atmosphere means the gasses go downrange until they hit something. Your gun is already going to be a big hot spot on IR but even if you can stealth that there's nothing to do about those muzzle gasses. From an overhead view they're going to point straight back towards your gun.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Oh no. The big problem isn't surfaces and lubricanrts for them it's waste heat.

Modern listings seldom specify if a machine gun is water-cooled or air-cooled any more due to the scarcity of water-cooled guns. But "no air" means "no cooling". If you start hauling water to cool your guns this is a serious multiplier on ammo weight.

There's also a secondary issue with the muzzle gasses. In air these mix with the atmosphere quickly but no atmosphere means the gasses go downrange until they hit something. Your gun is already going to be a big hot spot on IR but even if you can stealth that there's nothing to do about those muzzle gasses. From an overhead view they're going to point straight back towards your gun.

Bold to assume that the gauss weapons won't generate copious waste heat.

You are unlikely to use evaporative water cooling on a gun in space. It might make some sense for small arms, but I'm not sure how light and compact you'd be able to make an evaporative cooler suited to vacuum use. On a heavier platform you'd most likely use a circulating non-consumed coolant to sink heat and deliver it to larger radiators.

Similarly it hardly seems likely that you'd have working IR stealth to lose to gun gas bloom, though the logic there does make sense.