I was thinking about the farmer's plasma rifle from the Broken Bow episode of Enterprise. I don't think we're in some desperate need to develop better small-arms than currently exist,as a species. But I was thinking back to how such a thing would work.
You can now purchase a gauss rifle, but its barely lethal, and is more of a proof of concept than anything else:
the PD-90 e-shotgun looks fun to have, but it is not really a weapon. This coil gun shoots specialized metal disks slower than the cheapest air-rifle and has an affective range of less than 10 meters.
These could be seen as being at the level of a matchlock 700 years ago, but the comparison fails because those matchlocks were effective from the moment they were fielded. Either way, we're still along way from the phaser. I know there was another thread like this but I can't find it.
So how would that farmer's gun have worked?
This is my idea:
Buttstock: power supply. Early versions might have to be augmented with battery cells or super capacitors/generator backpack. The "Lock" section would house the triggering section, mount for scope/red dot sight, laser spotter, etc and include the mechanism for initial plasma generation.
Small pack of very small sillicate nodules, about .17 caliber. Where a "magazine" might be thought to be held under the "lock" or "receiver" a powerful compact magnetron, not too different from the one making your microwave oven work. what would normally be the firing chamber of a rifle would be the coil section where the magnetron engages, transforming the silica into a dense, tiny unit of plasma, akin to ball lightening. The barrel of the rifle contains guide coils to propel the plasma forward, propelling it to hypersonic velocities before leaving the barrel, imparting stabilizing spin, and preventing the projected energy from making contact with the barrel and causing damage to the weapon and shooter.
With high enough exit-velocity, the performance of the plasma ball would be akin , hopefully to the ballistics of a .17HMR round:
https://www.ammunitiontogo.com/lodge/17-hmr-ballistics/
This makes for a remarkably flat trajectory. One of the problems with very small rounds with small mass is their inability to cause hyrostatic shock, unable to open the kind of larger wound channels seen with larger ammo. The plasma round, conversely, being dense plasma at high temperature, should be able to penetrate flesh and then cause significant tissue and bone damage due to rapid phase-state change and subsequent release of energy, avoiding exit wounds, and the associated risks of over penetration and collateral damage. With large enough power imput, rapid fire in microsecond busts would likewise overcome conventional personal defense armor by burrowing through layers faster than the target's reaction time. all of this is entirely hypothetical.
So how about you? Share your evil weapon ideas
You can now purchase a gauss rifle, but its barely lethal, and is more of a proof of concept than anything else:
the PD-90 e-shotgun looks fun to have, but it is not really a weapon. This coil gun shoots specialized metal disks slower than the cheapest air-rifle and has an affective range of less than 10 meters.
These could be seen as being at the level of a matchlock 700 years ago, but the comparison fails because those matchlocks were effective from the moment they were fielded. Either way, we're still along way from the phaser. I know there was another thread like this but I can't find it.
So how would that farmer's gun have worked?
This is my idea:
Buttstock: power supply. Early versions might have to be augmented with battery cells or super capacitors/generator backpack. The "Lock" section would house the triggering section, mount for scope/red dot sight, laser spotter, etc and include the mechanism for initial plasma generation.
Small pack of very small sillicate nodules, about .17 caliber. Where a "magazine" might be thought to be held under the "lock" or "receiver" a powerful compact magnetron, not too different from the one making your microwave oven work. what would normally be the firing chamber of a rifle would be the coil section where the magnetron engages, transforming the silica into a dense, tiny unit of plasma, akin to ball lightening. The barrel of the rifle contains guide coils to propel the plasma forward, propelling it to hypersonic velocities before leaving the barrel, imparting stabilizing spin, and preventing the projected energy from making contact with the barrel and causing damage to the weapon and shooter.
With high enough exit-velocity, the performance of the plasma ball would be akin , hopefully to the ballistics of a .17HMR round:
https://www.ammunitiontogo.com/lodge/17-hmr-ballistics/
This makes for a remarkably flat trajectory. One of the problems with very small rounds with small mass is their inability to cause hyrostatic shock, unable to open the kind of larger wound channels seen with larger ammo. The plasma round, conversely, being dense plasma at high temperature, should be able to penetrate flesh and then cause significant tissue and bone damage due to rapid phase-state change and subsequent release of energy, avoiding exit wounds, and the associated risks of over penetration and collateral damage. With large enough power imput, rapid fire in microsecond busts would likewise overcome conventional personal defense armor by burrowing through layers faster than the target's reaction time. all of this is entirely hypothetical.
So how about you? Share your evil weapon ideas
