Railgun meets real life.

[[BTF]Defiant!]

The limitation is the ability to produce this high energy for the electromagnet.  Similar problem with portable laser technology, the power generator or store is to heavy and large for the weapon to be practical.

[jägermonsta]

but... it's freakin 2008??? where the hell is my laser pistol and flying car. what a crock.

[The Happy Friar]

The answer to that probably has something to do with the production costs of materials that can withstand repeated exposure to such current\heat and still be able to fire smoothly.

still, the military never even though to make a few just to see how they'd work 20 years ago?  If so, these guys must be pretty oblivious to it because they talk like this is a new idea.

TechTV showed a guy who made personal rail guns once.  That was maybe 7/8 years ago.  He was blowing up pumpkins from ~100 feet away with a "washer" (the ammo wrapped around the barrel instead of inside).   I think it was powered by a 20lb battery.

[[BTF]Jehar]

It wrapped around? One rail or two? If only one, that sounds more like a coilgun to me. *shrug* It seems that technology available doesn't often coincide with the research goals of the engineers. 20 years ago, air defense missles were all the rage, if I recall correctly. The potential usefulness of railguns could have been totally outside of their current mindframe.

[peewee_RotA]

My only issue is that military combat in the paste 20 years is more about Urban combat than traditional military operations. Al though it's nice to prepare for a sea battle with China, I've always been more interested in an immediate need which is military checkpoints and peace keeping operations. I.E. disabling the jihadi before he gets his bomb where he wants it. That's where the lightning gun comes in 
http://www.xtremeads.com/stunstrike.htm

Although it seems that the likelihood of seeing this weapon at all is getting slimmer by the day. The idea of non-lethal doesn't appeal even though it's more practical to disable all threats at a check point with non-lethal than to let one through for fear of being lethal.

[QwazyWabbit]

Here's the straight skinny on the RG from the lab, without the brain-dead filtration by the newsies.

http://www.onr.navy.mil/emrg/electromagnetic-railgun.asp

It's been in development quite a while. Getting it down to a deployable weapon from a research tool is the key.

In this test 2520 Meters/sec. muzzle velocity = Mach 7.6  or 8267 feet/sec.

10.6 MJ is only 2.94 kilowatt-hours but the peak power and power density in the weapon leads to intense temperatures in the bore. You have to have mass in the weapon to dissipate the heat and to survive the kickback. (Not a good handheld weapon.) Newton's laws still apply. (F = ma = d(mv)/dt)

The mass of the projectile was 3.520 kg according to the video. You need to know the length of the rifle to know the acceleration but it looks about 3 meters long. 3/2520 = 0.00119 secs or 1.19 milliseconds to go from 0 to muzzle velocity.
3.52 kg x 2520 m/s / 0.00119 s = 7454117.6 kg-m/s^2 (Newtons) or about 1.676 million pounds. Quite a kick.

You might have a nice K.E. weapon as a "needler" from SciFi novels. Something low mass like a 10mg needle at those speeds would do some damage. You might be able to create a rifle with a backpack power supply but then you would need another soldier to carry all the other gear they both would need. Great if you are sniper team.

From the paper, reading between the lines, it looks like the big techno hurdles are pulse generator design and material science on the projectiles and the bore. The intense heat and friction makes for some awesome erosion, I would imagine. Another factor would be moving all the air in front of the projectile out of the muzzle. That's why it's got such a huge muzzle flare. That's all just ionized gasses from the displaced air.

[peewee_RotA]

Here's the straight skinny on the RG from the lab, without the brain-dead filtration by the newsies.

http://www.onr.navy.mil/emrg/electromagnetic-railgun.asp

It's been in development quite a while. Getting it down to a deployable weapon from a research tool is the key.

In this test 2520 Meters/sec. muzzle velocity = Mach 7.6  or 8267 feet/sec.

10.6 MJ is only 2.94 kilowatt-hours but the peak power and power density in the weapon leads to intense temperatures in the bore. You have to have mass in the weapon to dissipate the heat and to survive the kickback. (Not a good handheld weapon.) Newton's laws still apply. (F = ma = d(mv)/dt)

The mass of the projectile was 3.520 kg according to the video. You need to know the length of the rifle to know the acceleration but it looks about 3 meters long. 3/2520 = 0.00119 secs or 1.19 milliseconds to go from 0 to muzzle velocity.
3.52 kg x 2520 m/s / 0.00119 s = 7454117.6 kg-m/s^2 (Newtons) or about 1.676 million pounds. Quite a kick.

You might have a nice K.E. weapon as a "needler" from SciFi novels. Something low mass like a 10mg needle at those speeds would do some damage. You might be able to create a rifle with a backpack power supply but then you would need another soldier to carry all the other gear they both would need. Great if you are sniper team.

From the paper, reading between the lines, it looks like the big techno hurdles are pulse generator design and material science on the projectiles and the bore. The intense heat and friction makes for some awesome erosion, I would imagine. Another factor would be moving all the air in front of the projectile out of the muzzle. That's why it's got such a huge muzzle flare. That's all just ionized gasses from the displaced air.

Holy crap..   


Could I interest you in a turbo encabulator?

[QwazyWabbit]

Looks good! Time to buy some Encabulator stock and get in on the ground floor of some amazing technobabble.

[NovaReaper]

people have already made homemade handheld coilguns (gauss) which have quite a bit of power considering how they were made. theres a few vids on youtube about this. it really wouldnt be that hard to make a handheld railgun like the one in quake 2 with the right power source

[jägermonsta]

people have already made homemade handheld coilguns (gauss) which have quite a bit of power considering how they were made. theres a few vids on youtube about this. it really wouldnt be that hard to make a handheld railgun like the one in quake 2 with the right power source

hook it up.

[UUD-40]

I happen to have one in my pants at this very moment.... cool huh? 

[jägermonsta]

I happen to have one in my pants at this very moment.... cool huh? 

Hook it up.

[UUD-40]

I happen to have one in my pants at this very moment.... cool huh? 

Hook it up.

any time babe! 

[jägermonsta]

I happen to have one in my pants at this very moment.... cool huh? 

Hook it up.

any time babe! 

 

[Sgt. Dick]

 

http://defense.aol.com/2012/02/09/new-navy-rail-gun-on-track-industry-tests-scheduled-this-mont/?test=latestnews