Variable Velocity Gauss Weapons?

[atpollard]

But will probably have less penetration power against armor, due to the same reasons that make it mushroom on impact...

True if lead, but another option would be a harder material that didn't deform on impact ... then it cuts a core through the target.

It could be scored on the inside to fragment into splinters on impact ... Like a bundle of hardened penetrators.

I see lots of possibilities, an expanding hollow point is just one.
Just like today, the right bullet for the right job.

 

[McPerth]

True if lead, but another option would be a harder material that didn't deform on impact ... then it cuts a core through the target.

It could be scored on the inside to fragment into splinters on impact ... Like a bundle of hardened penetrators.

I see lots of possibilities, an expanding hollow point is just one.

I'm not an expert (to say the least) about weaponry or ammunition, but AFAIK, the same physical conditions that make a bullet to either fragment or deform (and so increasing tissue damage) make them bad penetrators if the target is armored.

If your bullet is to deform or fragment on impact with the body, it will deform or fragment also on impact with armor, so losing penetration. If it keeps rigid when it hits armor to better penetrate it, it will also keep rigid while passing through the body, so minimizing tissue damage (of course that does not mean it cannot kill you, if some vital organ is hit).

Just like today, the right bullet for the right job.

But unless you want to carry different ammo for different targets (armored or unarmored), you must either choose or reach a compromise.

 

[atpollard]

But unless you want to carry different ammo for different targets (armored or unarmored), you must either choose or reach a compromise.

... just like a regular bullet.

 

[SpaceBadger]

But unless you want to carry different ammo for different targets (armored or unarmored), you must either choose or reach a compromise.

Most Traveller systems pretty much require you to carry two types of ammo if you expect to face both armored and unarmored opponents.

I think most users of gauss weapons would want to stick w the standard 4mm needles.

The hollow silent round proposed by atpollard would be a set of specialty rounds - soft for when you want mushrooming, superhard for when you want to punch through armor. The suggested superhard w scoring to encourage splintering could be a compromise, able to punch through light armor but not the good stuff, and splintering to increase damage.

 

[SpaceBadger]

Almost forgot, I thought of another use for being able to reduce velocity for gauss rounds. You could have a low-velocity setting for short range non-lethal ammo such as the crystal shards that I suggested in the thread on Tranq Ammo. Add enough ferrous particles to the crystal for the gauss field to "get a grip" on it, and the low velocity setting would let you punch through the skin of unarmored opponents to deliver a tranq dose w/out punching a hole through them and causing serious injury.



EDIT: Unless of course you really want to cause serious injury, in which case if you are a crack shot like Jed Lacey you just shoot them in the eye.