From:	"J.W.Thomas" <cm5323@***.AC.UK>
Subject:	GAUSS WEAPONS
Date:	Fri, 29 Apr 1994 16:42:17 +0100

GAUSS WEAPONS
railguns,coilguns,accelerators,magnetic catapults,bobbins
Call them what you want,gauss weapons are FUN
The basic principle is simple...fire little metal things at
great speed into peaple.
The weapon is
1 Dangerous...they can fire at up to MACH 9!
2 Flashless
3 Noisy (see 1 above)
4 low recoil,high rate of fire
5 versatile

for Shadowrun,the simplest rule is to class them as one weapon
type higher...
so a Gauss SMG does Assault rifle damage
a Gauss AR Does LMG damage
LMG=MMG
MMG=HMG
HMG=Assault cannon
the round fired can vary:
Spin stabilised slivers and Fin stadilised flechettes
dartlike projectiles that do damage by penetration and the
hypersonic shockwave.(from a big gauss gun a clip on the limb
will pull the limb off)
Armour penetrating like APDS
Slugs
standard ferromagnetic slug,doing normal damage
Subcallibre dustshot
for riot control, the gauss weapon can load small
(2mm)ballbearings from a hopper feed and just hose away. The
pellet will only penetrate a few cm,so fire at the legs.
Each shot fires lots of little ballbearings,so use flechette
rules from SR2
The SONIC BOOM AND SHOCKWAVE
the gaussweapon does(Power) L damage to all in 1m firer in
front 90 degree arc.
MMg and up do this damage to all in 1m of line of fire

RECOIL
gauss weapons have virtually no recoil...before you Physicists
cry out,remember Newtons 'for every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction'?
well if a milligram projectile is fired at
mach5(330*550m/s), and the gun weighs in at 5 Kg,what is the
force acting backwards? not much.
They count as FoF supermachineguns, suffer 1/3 the normal
recoil,and have magasines of over 100 rds

Versatility
Want a good suport weapon? use a Gauss MMG
Sniper? use a Gauss sniper rifle (16D)
Close in work? Gauss SMG
Silent? ARM,ER,WELL...how do you silence a hypersonic weapon?
easy! step down the power to the barrel=lower speed.use heavier
slug and Bingo! silent,flashless,no mechanical noise.
Whispering death.

THE PROBLEM
The only drawback is the business end of the gun... the
magnetic accelerator barrel.in a SMG its >50cm,almost 1m in AR's
and 2m+ in the heavier models...(conc -2 to -4)
Also, military vehicles can be outfitted with magnetic imagers
that can see the powerful magnetic fields around the barrel.

Stay Happy
Information is power
Don't wear a digital watch near a gauss gun
Never load Aluminium rounds
The CHOPPER