Reply #27: Maybe you could explain this, or maybe this will help you.

[DoNotRefill]

OK, when the powder in a cartridge is ignited, it produces a large volume of gas. The chamber and the barrel of the gun contain and directionalize the gas along the axis of the barrel. So, the bullet is pushed down the barrel, and an equal and opposite force is pushed into the breechface, causing the action to cycle. With me so far?

Now with a gauss gun, there's no expanding gas to push back on the breechface. The bullet is pulled, not pushed, down the barrel. So there's no force being expended backwards into the breechface, right? Unless ther's a vacuum generated by the passage of the bullet down the bore, which I suppose is possible, but that would be force pulling the gauss gun forward, not backwards.

With a standard gun, you've got mass (bullet), energy (propellant), mass (breechface). The energy is released between the masses, causing both objects to be pushed in opposite directions. With a gauss gun, you've got energy (magnetic), mass (bullet), mass (breechface). The energy pulls the first mass away from the second mass.

See the difference? If you've got two balls on the ground and are between them, and then push both balls at once, they'll both roll away in equal and opposite directions at the same time assuming you pushed in both directions equally, the mass of the balls are the same, and they meet the same resistance, right? If you've got two balls side by side, you're on one side, and you pull the first ball towards you, the second ball will stay still, right? You're not acting on the second ball.