Reporters attending a police briefing on the success of an anti-gun campaign accidentally shot

[Howzit]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7514322.stm

"An officer picked up one of the weapons on show - a confiscated home-made gun - but it went off in his hand. A reporter needed surgery for injuries to his ankle, crotch and chest, after being hit by what appeared to be pebbles fired by the gun."




You don't need high tech machines to make a deadly weapon. Just stop teaching kids to speak and read so that they cannot exchange ideas about how to make weapons such as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m86gK-EOEsQ&feature=related

With grand parents like this, how can a kid grow up to be "good"?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV59_if9vTw&feature=related

If you really want to ban guns, you would have to ban all the materials on the periodic table too; "animal vegetable and mineral...": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSloW2coCDQ&feature=related

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. All I can say is THANKS... coilgun.... that may be the future

and damn I thought that was sci fi... (even if physically possible)

[Callisto32]

2. Modern capacitor and magnet tech allows some really amazing, powerful, utterly terrifying railguns..

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=29018

[Howzit]

4. Wow, you could put an eye out with a thing like that

As in knock down observation satellites.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. I know and superman the ride is essentially a rail gun

it is the size... just incorporated the idea to a sci fi game I write.

(Yes the way the principles work in that ride, are the same as how it works to propel ahem ammo)

[sir pball]

7. Kind of..

The Superman ride is a linear induction motor - basically a normal electric motor that's "unrolled" so that instead of spinning an axle it creates a linear force. If you use it for a bullet it's a "Gauss gun".

A railgun a conductive projectile between two conducting rails; when a massive current pulse is put through the system the induced magnetic fields plus the charge on the projectile create a force that pushes the bullet down the rails. It's simpler, but far less practical than an LIM for maglev trains and rollercoasters.

The basic principles of Lorenz forces are the same between the two designs but beyond that it's like comparing a gas turbine to a piston engine, same fuel is about the only similarity..one can push a train to 300mph, the other can shoot 7 pounds of aluminum at 7800fps...anybody want to calculate that muzzle energy? :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. True, but trust me when you are trying to explain to a person

what this is and the theory behind it, it is a great place to do it.

I mean the visuals are there.

(Even the energy glut. first time they tried it, bulbs dimmed for five miles around)

[krispos42]

3. It will be one day

I think that what will happend is that we will get energy-storage devices of incredible (to us) power density and then we will be able to have a practical coilgun or railgun for personal use.

In this case the ammunition clip would only have to hold bullets, no casings or gunpowder or primers. As a result, a sixty-round double-stack magazine is quite doable.

Since the coilgun or railgun would be a breechloader that used a solenoid-actuated nonrotating bolt to move rounds into the barrel. I believe that the bolt would be thrown backwards simulatiously with the bullet being propelled down the barrel to help absorb recoil via opposite reactions, then shoved forward to strip a bullet from the magazine and shoved into the breech.

I also think that since only bullets would be in the magazine, it would be possible to have mags with two, three, or even four columns in it, with the rearward throw of the bolt controlled by the gun's electronics. The gun would feed from the front column first, then the next-rearward one, then the next, etc., until finally it was feeding from the rear. This would enable magazine capacities of 120, 180, or even 240 rounds that are no larger than a typical M16 or AK47 magazine.

Finally, I think that the user would be able to select muzzle velocities. A lower 3,000 ft/s or so velocity for bursts of automatic fire, 4,000 ft/s for short-to-medium range single shots, and a very fast 5,000 ft/s velocity for long-range sniper duty.




Yes, I've thought about this before... :-)

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. So have I... as a sci fi writer I have to

but seeing it in action is when you go... HOLY SHIT

[krispos42]

8. You write sci-fi?

Sweet! Anything I would know?

Need any help?

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. if you ever played battletech

I got published in MechForce Quarterly

And also in CAV

Some other gaming credits

And these days run my own game company (of course the economy ain't doing well)

www.deistgames.com

Some free stuff there for the taking (as well as the writing side of the website, with resources for writers)

[benEzra]

11. That is awesome. Kudos.

:yourock: