Gauss weapon speculations

[AnotherDilbert]

According to FF&S you can build gauss weapons of any TL (10+), caliber, and muzzle velocity.
You can fire darts, HE, HEAP, or tranq rounds.

Yes, you can build a low-velocity gauss weapon relying on HE or HEAP to do damage.


Yes, you can build a high caliber, high velocity gauss rifle that punches through BD.

 

[whartung]

We've tried bullpups.

Gauss bullpup (should) have no need for an ejection port. Its not using explosives, so there's nothing to really clean (just grime and grit in the controls, keep that barrel clean! Imagine dropping a GR into a bunch of sand, and having it come out all black and fuzzy with iron filings clinging to it!). Also, without the need for an ejection port, its ambidextrous, vs ejecting hot cartridges into the faces of left handed shooters.

There's no hammer, and probably no spring, so the trigger is electronic (the whole thing is electronic, save the feeding mechanism), which eliminates a primary complaint of bullpups (the complicated, crunchy, creepy triggers).

It has an electronic sight, so you don't need the extended length of the barrel for better accuracy using iron sights.

The only real possible issue is overall balance, but since the hand grip is pretty much in the center of the rifle, probably not a real issue. Might not be as good as a melee weapon.

Bullpup gauss rifle sounds good to me.

 

[mike wightman]

Putting the magazine over the barrel raises the sight line compared to the barrel, which isn't ideal. On the other hand, a lower barrel makes for less muzzle jump, and Book 4 gives gauss rifles (and ACRs) as being only 750mm long, which supports them using bullpup layouts.

Not much of an issue.

 

[Condottiere]

It depends on the (edition) gun design, but I think a gauss personal defence weapon would answer close quarters and rear area needs.

The pistol may be both overpowered and underpowered, simultaneously, hence moving up a level.

Gauss snubnose pistol, for short range.

 

[Rupert]

Gauss bullpup (should) have no need for an ejection port. Its not using explosives, so there's nothing to really clean (just grime and grit in the controls, keep that barrel clean! Imagine dropping a GR into a bunch of sand, and having it come out all black and fuzzy with iron filings clinging to it!). Also, without the need for an ejection port, its ambidextrous, vs ejecting hot cartridges into the faces of left handed shooters.

There's no hammer, and probably no spring, so the trigger is electronic (the whole thing is electronic, save the feeding mechanism), which eliminates a primary complaint of bullpups (the complicated, crunchy, creepy triggers).

Oh, there will be a spring alright. There'll be some kind of recoil buffer, and at least one spring to store that recoil energy so it can be used to power the ammunition feed system (no point wasting that energy when soaking it up also reduces felt recoil). One hopes that there will be some kind of access to the feed and chamber to make clearing the inevitable miss-feeds without having to strip the weapon possible (though this access could also be the magazine well if mis-feeds are rare enough that removing the magazine isn't too much of a nuisance.

It has an electronic sight, so you don't need the extended length of the barrel for better accuracy using iron sights.

The only real possible issue is overall balance, but since the hand grip is pretty much in the center of the rifle, probably not a real issue. Might not be as good as a melee weapon.

Bullpup gauss rifle sounds good to me.

The big thing with bullpups, which may or may not apply to a gauss weapon, is that having the action and magazine at the rear messes with balance - it's not about the grip placement, but about the centre of gravity. This means they tend to be muzzle-light, and thus 'bounce' a lot when fired. As you note, the other common problem (crappy triggers) shouldn't be an issue with a gauss weapon.

 

[whartung]

But GRs are gyro stabilized and compensated. The recoil pulse is mitigated by the magnetic acceleration since the acceleration is applied continuously down the barrel rather than all at once in the chamber. The spring based feed for the bolt is due to the backward force of the cartridge from containing the explosion, that won't be the case on a GR, unless the entire barrel cycled (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense in this case) so it may well be a motorized feed, with a spring in the magazine. Also, the chamber doesn't have the same sealing requirements as a CPR, since it's mostly there just to get the bullet into the throat of the barrel, and keep grit and grime out. It doesn't need a locked bolt. Think more like one of those vacuum messaging systems, only with magnets. Simply remember that the bullet is pulled down the barrel, no pushed.

 

[coliver988]

But GRs are gyro stabilized and compensated. The recoil pulse is mitigated by the magnetic acceleration since the acceleration is applied continuously down the barrel rather than all at once in the chamber. The spring based feed for the bolt is due to the backward force of the cartridge from containing the explosion, that won't be the case on a GR, unless the entire barrel cycled (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense in this case) so it may well be a motorized feed, with a spring in the magazine. Also, the chamber doesn't have the same sealing requirements as a CPR, since it's mostly there just to get the bullet into the throat of the barrel, and keep grit and grime out. It doesn't need a locked bolt. Think more like one of those vacuum messaging systems, only with magnets. Simply remember that the bullet is pulled down the barrel, no pushed.

but there is still a recoil, just spread out more. The pull has the same recoil spread over the length of the barrel vs all at once as you pointed out.

 

[Rupert]

There's still recoil, and it's still going to be quite a shove. Say a 70cm barrel and 1500 m/s, that means (assuming a constant acceleration) the dart is in the barrel for ~0.00093s, or about a millisecond. To the user that's no different from the initial kick of a conventional firearm. Recoil is light compared to an autorifle (i.e. 7.62x51mm NATO), but heavy compared to an M16 or equivalent (same mass projectile, much higher velocity).

So, yes, they're gyro compensated and all that, but the recoil energy and momentum still has to go somewhere, and if you use some up operating the mechanism that means the gyros can be that much lighter. It's 'free' energy and you want to soak it up and space it out anyway.

 

[infojunky]

There being no gauss weapons added after TL13, I don't have anything from which to extrapolate further. As I said, the significant armor advancement at TL13 may have rendered further research into gauss weapon improvements moot.

Depends on which editions tech table you are looking at, advanced Gauss guns exist in TNE and T5.

IMTU, a TL10 Gauss rifle looks like the ACR limited to DS ammo...