'Tis the season for a Gauss Cannon

[dracodraconis]

Source: Engadget

Just what everyone needs, a Gauss pistol. The GP-219 uses a micro-controller to precisely control the pulse shape, allowing you to fire steel projectiles from a pistol. Granted, the pack of batteries and capacitors probably makes the thing weigh a ton, but the pistol is effective and silent. The future is being made today.

Comments

[dracodraconis.livejournal.com]

What they are currently working on implementing can be found here: http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_RailGuns,,00.html

Also, here is a comparison of Gauss guns to Rail guns from HowStuffWorks.

"A coil gun (or Gauss gun) is an electromagnetic launcher that offers a few advantages over rail guns. The "barrel" of a coil gun is a series of copper coils. These coils are energized sequentially, setting up a traveling magnetic field on the inside of the barrel. This magnetic field attracts a ferromagnetic projectile down the barrel. Since the projectile of a coilgun floats in the barrel and never touches the coils, it suffers less wear and tear, and these guns are completely quiet. Coil guns have been demonstrated to supersonic velocities, but they are not as efficient or as capable as railguns."

Railgun mechanics can be found here: http://science.howstuffworks.com/rail-gun1.htm

and Coil gun mechanics here: http://www.coilgun.eclipse.co.uk/coilgun_basics_1.html