Homemade Gauss Rifle, Prototype from the Interwebs Options

[Trigger]

So, I am not the biggest gun nut in the world and there are probably issues with this prototype, but a friend on mine posted this on the social media type things and I figured it would be something that Dumpshock would enjoy/critique/discover how to make better.

Without further comment: Full-Auto Gauss Gun

[Stahlseele]

I WANT ONE OF THESE NAOISH!

[CrystalBlue]

I mean, it is a rail gun. And certainly, it does work. Ammo is ejected from the front and into a target. The penetration of those rounds, though, leaves something to be desired. I don't know if it's the velocity or not (since I don't have sound right now to hear what he's saying). Also, this is a fun toy to use in a sterile environment. Good luck militarizing this any time soon, though.

[Sendaz]

Still very nice for a homemade job.

With just his two batteries he pulled off a listed 42m/sec, half that of a paintgun which averages around 91m/sec but paintball guns also has a lot lighter ammo so that affects values for comparisons.

Military Railguns do around 2500 -3500 m/sec, but have massive power consumption and not man portable.

Now if we could just lay our hands on a bigger power supply.....

[Doc Chaos]

The website gives muzzle energy of the projectiles at 10 joule. My softair guns clock in at 7.4 joule, so while this thing can harm somebody, there are toys out there with more firepower. Truly awesome concept work, though.

[Teulisch]

as soon as they move to needle ammo, those things will be deadly. maybe add little plastic stabilizer fins for accuracy. the micro-dart railgun would have more velocity as the projectiles would weigh less.

[Doc Chaos]

Gauss-fired fletchette ammo... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[Sendaz]

add some thread at the end of those Flechettes and you gone a jim dandy sewing machine right there (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

At least until you take a needle to the knee.

[Stahlseele]

try and make it so the fins are between the coils to give the bullet spin for added stability in mid flight. kinda sorta a bit like rifling in a normal barrel.
if you pump in more energy, it should probably be able to create more velocity i guess? if so, move from these 2 to battery-packs connected via cable.
a tornister full of ammo and batteries might be fucking heavy, but technically it's still man-portable enough. especially with exo-skeletons being worked on.

[Jaid]

just getting bigger batteries isn't all that is required.

more power in means you're going to have more waste power too, as a general rule... which means you need components designed to handle the waste heat.

it's possible he's already got some extra breathing room in there as far as adding more power is concerned, but then you run into other problems... like the fact that the gun actually can't fire the slug any faster or else the timing on the coils will be wrong.

in other words, sad as it may be, "more batteries" is really not the solution (although it could certainly be part of the solution).

[LordlierPie]

which is why i like Gauss designs instead of Coil designs. alot more wear and tear though.

[Umidori]

Oh god! The Tumbling! SO BAD!

That said, neat hobby item.

@Teulisch and Doc Chaos

Thin, needle-like ammunition is actually not very desireable, as it overpenetrates and creates small, nonthreatening wounds, resulting in low "stopping power". High penetration is only useful for things like tank rounds, because those explode after passing through the armor and exploit the Chunky Salsa effect.

~Umi

[Starmage21]

which is why i like Gauss designs instead of Coil designs. alot more wear and tear though.

Those two are synonymous. Gauss Gun = Coil Gun

You may have been thinking of a Rail Gun

[Sendaz]

Wonder how much steel wire I would have to wrap around the woodchuck to make a guass version of the Chuck Shot

[Umidori]

Simpler solution - use an electrically conductive sabot. It opens up and drops away from the chuck mid flight.

Otherwise, you'll only end up a firing crimson colored mass of wire at your enemy.

~Umi

[Slide]

As far as I can tell he needs fin stabilization on the projectiles. They started tumbling mid air some. I also would say that being no bigger than a carbine this guy did a good job. Our battery tech is only so good right now, but design one around a larger power source and it would be amazing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[FuelDrop]

As far as I can tell he needs fin stabilization on the projectiles. They started tumbling mid air some. I also would say that being no bigger than a carbine this guy did a good job. Our battery tech is only so good right now, but design one around a larger power source and it would be amazing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Extension cord + mains power = pain.

[Slide]

Extension cord + mains power = pain.

Yeah, he's got another one on youtube with a giant capacitor bank, but it's single stage and single shot. 1.2k joules though.

[KCKitsune]

I mean, it is a rail gun. And certainly, it does work. Ammo is ejected from the front and into a target. The penetration of those rounds, though, leaves something to be desired. I don't know if it's the velocity or not (since I don't have sound right now to hear what he's saying). Also, this is a fun toy to use in a sterile environment. Good luck militarizing this any time soon, though.

I would think the size of the bullets is what did it in. A smaller bullet would be accelerated to higher speed and kinetic energy is more dependent on velocity than mass. Not too small otherwise you won't have an efficient transfer of kinetic energy.

Also, I wonder if you can produce spin on the rounds without having the discarding sabot?

[Slide]

I would think the size of the bullets is what did it in. A smaller bullet would be accelerated to higher speed and kinetic energy is more dependent on velocity than mass. Not too small otherwise you won't have an efficient transfer of kinetic energy.

Also, I wonder if you can produce spin on the rounds without having the discarding sabot?

KE= M*V^2

That is 100% true, but it also takes the same amount of energy to accelerate the projectile. What we have found with guns is that larger slower moving rounds transfer KE better. I'm going to stand by the idea that the energy source is the limiting factor right now. Especially since he was running it in full auto.

As far as producing spin....Its not difficult to rifle a barrel. I'm not supper familiar with Rail guns but I'm pretty sure they navy prototypes don't spin. They have stabilization fins. But then again... that gun is measured in the tens of mega joules.

[Umidori]

When you get to high enough levels of energy going into a round, the flight characteristics stop mattering because it's prolly gonna go molten anyway.

~Umi

[Slide]

Edit- I said something stupid after a bit more research I was looking at the sabot for the rail gun rounds. Pretty neat though.

[Tzeentch]

Most large railguns are single-shot rest units that basically destroy themselves every time they get fired (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Current designs are aiming for projectile velocities of no more than c. 2.2 km/s due to mechanical limitations of the armatures. Some earlier citations I see suggest a limitation of 6-8 km/s for armatures due to plasma formation from air friction (which causes parasitic drag among other problems).