Re: Low Tech Scenarios

On Tue, 19 May 1998 15:06:22 -0700 Los <los@cris.com> writes:
>Thomas Barclay wrote:
>
>> You'll still have the sizzling noise made by the round as it hisses
>> through the air (it displaces air and the air rushes in to fill the
>>
>> A good sniper weapon, good penetration, good range, good downrange 
>KE
>> if the round hits something solid that it won't penetrate.
>> (Overpenetration wastes KE). No muzzle flash. Quieter than 
>unsilenced
>> conventional arms. Works in airless environments. Huge ammo capacity
>> vs. conventional cased rounds (although weapon is heavier if it has
>> power source integral).

I just thought of something that may throw some sand into this. Both a
railgun or a gauss rifle would throw up a wicked EMF pulse (noticeable
for miles.) Any detector system would light up like a Christmas tree,
even if it wasn't tuned to that. You might find that shooting the rifle
would generate a counter battery strike from someone looking for large
power sources (like radar, high powered commo gear, battlefield lasers,
etc.) At the least you would have a couple of RPV's and a recon team
coming your way to find that energy spike.

P.S. If the barrel is open enough to spit out a projectile, it's NOT
shielded.
P.P.S. Any shielding would involve a major ground, like standing in a
stream, and you're triggering how many kilovolts?

I'm sure there is a solution, but I can't think of one at the moment.

Tom Hughes

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