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How long before the conventional gun goes the way of the Horse and Buggy ??

How long to you think it will be until a Death ray type weapon is available


  • Total voters
    19

GLOCK21GB

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The Gun has been around for close to 500 years, using Gun Powder, smokeless powder, Mini Ball & Cartridges. How many years do you think it will take the Engineers to develop a Lethal replacement for the current Cartridge firing weapons of today ? Like a Death Ray, a Star trek Phaser, a Star Wars Blaster, etc. Something with a Minimum lethal range of 100 yards & man portable under 10 pounds with at least 100 shots per charge / Battery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUXXGbNS8oY
 
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VW_Factor

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Leesburg, GA
The Gun has been around for close to 500 years, using Gun Powder, smokeless powder, Mini Ball & Cartridges. How many years do you think it will take the Engineers to develop a Lethal replacement for the current Cartridge firing weapons of today ? Like a Death Ray, a Star trek Phaser, a Star Wars Blaster, etc. Something with a Minimum lethal range of 100 yards & man portable under 10 pounds with at least 100 shots per charge / Battery.

Why 100 shots per charge/battery?

Minus giant magazines most guns don't have that capacity either.

What about 15 shots per charge/battery.. Carry extras just like we carry extra mags?
 

GLOCK21GB

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Why 100 shots per charge/battery?

Minus giant magazines most guns don't have that capacity either.

What about 15 shots per charge/battery.. Carry extras just like we carry extra mags?

All good points. I would think a power cell carried on the back or on the belt would be acceptable in the beginning, then over time everything would be reduced in size while increasing power output & extending the life of the power cell. although i would think at least 50-100 shots before needing a new power cell would be the minimum.
 
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HeroHog

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Aug 26, 2008
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Shreveport, LA
I didn't read the whole post before I voted and therefore voted way off! Not 10 but more like 40 years or more!
 

Grapeshot

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If you think about it we already have it - high intensity lasers.

Just hasn't been built for sale to the public in a small enough, portable form.

Also you do not have a category/selection for "not in my lifetime."

Besides which I would miss the smell of gun powder too much. :lol:
 

celticredneck

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Jul 23, 2008
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Amelia County, virginia
But just think. Fifty or more shots per battery. No way, ordinary citizens have absolutely no use for those high capacity batteries. We must limit them to 10 shots or less per battery. (Sarcasm off now). Seriously, I'd think more along the lines of some kind of hand held rail gun instead of a death ray.
 

Daylen

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Aug 29, 2010
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America
To realize how silly such a devise is I recently had to come up with a laser equivalent to the M2.

rate of fire: 600 rpm
energy per bullet: 10,000J

A pulsed laser that could deliver such energy would need a 150 megawatts. That means to deliver the equivalent of what one small ancient antiaircraft position could deliver one would need an entire industrial power plant or nuclear reactor on a naval vessel.

Another problem is reflection. Even normal clothes can be a problem if the wavelength is not chosen carefully. If long wave IR is the carrier frequency then other problems more to do with effective range, size of the devise and heat dissipation become a problem.
 

Grapeshot

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To realize how silly such a devise is I recently had to come up with a laser equivalent to the M2.

rate of fire: 600 rpm
energy per bullet: 10,000J

A pulsed laser that could deliver such energy would need a 150 megawatts. That means to deliver the equivalent of what one small ancient antiaircraft position could deliver one would need an entire industrial power plant or nuclear reactor on a naval vessel.

Another problem is reflection. Even normal clothes can be a problem if the wavelength is not chosen carefully. If long wave IR is the carrier frequency then other problems more to do with effective range, size of the devise and heat dissipation become a problem.

Who knows where development will take us.

We use red lasers for sighting; even low powered green.

Dental techniques are employed using blue laser. Surgeons use laser scalpels.

What's next - ultraviolet lasers or has that already been done?

Maybe there is an anti-matter gun in the future of the younger generation .
 

elixin77

Regular Member
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Feb 20, 2010
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Location
Greenville, NC, ,
I'll keep holding out for my bolt pistol :cool:

warhammer_40k_bolt_pistol_from_ultramarines_movie_1.jpg
 

GLOCK21GB

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Apr 22, 2009
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Location
Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
I am thinking it will be a, Particle beam weapon - plasma weapon - or Microwave weapon that will have enough lethal characteristics to serve as a killing weapon.

But I sure would like to OC a Han Solo Blaster :) Which for the movies was a pimped out Mauser Broom handle
 
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DevinWKuska

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Feb 5, 2011
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Spanaway
0.

Someone already put together a laser pulse rifle. Video is on youtube.

The issue with these on youtube is their extrordinary limited range. Most of them are shooting from mere inches away. I have seen some rail gun prototypes shooting from as far as 15ft however they are barely puncturing pop/soda cans. Poping a balloon or punching a hole through paper is one thing.. shooting something from 100yrds with lethal efficiency is entirely different. Not to say that those on youtube arent the first baby steps. I just see a real lack of potential for a usable model within the next say 100 years?

I suspect Cold fusion will be a reality before we see laser/rail guns on the battlefield or in the hands of civilians.
 

TFred

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Most historic town in, Virginia, USA
The US Navy is looking to have this on a ship by 2025.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/122010/12082010/592921
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/122010/12112010/593845

Under development since 2005, the railgun prototype fired yesterday at a Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division range is powered by a massive pulse of electricity. That jolt, about 4 million amperes, propels an aluminum projectile downrange at 1.5 miles per second.

That converts to just under 8,000 feet per second. That'll pop most balloons... :rolleyes:

TFred
 

DevinWKuska

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Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
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Spanaway
The US Navy is looking to have this on a ship by 2025.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/122010/12082010/592921
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/122010/12112010/593845



That converts to just under 8,000 feet per second. That'll pop most balloons... :rolleyes:

TFred

Wow very impressive. Now my question would be will they be able to scale it down(2 story building for a battery is kinda unrealistic) and how accurate is it? Sounds like hand held version is kinda out of the question atm.
 

TFred

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Most historic town in, Virginia, USA
Wow very impressive. Now my question would be will they be able to scale it down(2 story building for a battery is kinda unrealistic) and how accurate is it? Sounds like hand held version is kinda out of the question atm.
Very good questions. I'm not a battery chemist, but you have to hope that there is at least some parallel to be drawn from the massive reduction in size of computing machinery over the past few decades... that smartphone everyone carries in a shirt pocket would have literally filled a building just a few years ago.

As for accuracy, they will build smart projectiles. The problem to overcome there will be how to harden the electronics to withstand the massive g-forces encountered during firing. They have already done this with conventional gun shells.

TFred
 
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