Rail Gun

[fx77]

Do I need an FFL to get one of these?

U.S. Navy to test futuristic, super-fast gun at sea in 2016

 

[Maser]

Would also need a powerplant on your property to provide the joules to drive that thing.

 

[Maggot]

But you could really piss off the annoying neighbor.

 

[eli polite]

what about that projectile cost 25k ? is he saying just the projectile cost that ? or is he saying that the total cost to fire it is 25k?

if its just for the projectile that's what 1k per pound

 

[Maser]

Well, the actual projectile has to be a metal with a high melting temperature. I'm guessing solid tungsten. According to a quick internet search, it costs around $250 for 100 grams. That in itself isn't exactly cheap when talking about 23 lbs. of it. Let alone how much energy it would cost to fire it.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

When I was running advanced programs for General Dynamics, we were using these things on a small scale. The ballistics are awesome. We couldn't get EM guns to that velocity at the time, so we used progressive powder charges in a single barrel. Shot tiny pellets at 10,000 FPS +. Projectile about the size of an airgun pellet at that velocity would blow grapefruit sized craters in blocks of steel. All about kinetic energy transfer. The steel that sprayed out was melted spall...

BTW, some of the projectiles used in these things aren't steel, DU or Tungston... but are things like Lexan or composites. It's about velocity, not the material....

These kinds of railguns and hyper-velocity projectiles are some serious pieces of kit. But the power management for an EM railgun makes handheld versions something of a pipe dream. For now.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[eli polite]

I would think that heat from the friction of the air is the biggest hurtle..I have always been interested in this kind of thing

 

[TNT]

For a railgun, need a high melting temp conductor through the projectile to complete the circuit. Then you have a major issue of keeping the rails smooth and not melting those as well - you will need to replace them at a relatively frequent interval I imagine. Oh, and this is one more reason to go back to nuclear surface combatants.