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Homemade Portable Railgun Approaches Air Rifle Energies
Ammoland ^ | 19 October, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

Posted on 10/19/2015 5:47:25 PM PDT by marktwain

Railgun Finished Painted Capacitors

A homebuilt, portable railgun is claimed to have achieved projectile energies comparable to commonly available air rifles.

In the picture above, the capacitors, which store the railgun electrical energy, have been painted white.  They are the large cylindrical objects at the front and bottom of the gun..

Here is a video of a test of the railgun.  The rail gun can be carried, contains its own power supply for a single shot, and expels a projectile fast enough to make a half inch dent in plywood.  It probably would have penetrated the plywood, if the plywood had not had a steel backing.

Link to video

The original post only says that the velocity was over 250 meters per second.  That translates to 820 fps, or 560 miles per hour.  A poster on freerepublic noted a critical, and missing bit of information.  From freerepublic.com:

“How heavy was the projectile? An arrow traveling at 800 fps is a formidable projectile, for instance. Mass matters.”

I was able to find the mass of the projectile with some Internet research.
From YouTube:

(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 3dprinting; banglist; homemadeguns; railgun
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Quite an achievement, even if the energies are still quite low.
1 posted on 10/19/2015 5:47:25 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

My airgun shoots .22 pellets at 1200fps. and the pellets are readily available. Five hundred rounds for $9 at WalMart.


2 posted on 10/19/2015 5:50:05 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: Lazamataz

Go to a car audio store, get a bank of Subwoofer caps and blow holes in schools.


3 posted on 10/19/2015 5:50:06 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart (Embrace "Cage Theory")
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To: marktwain
They had them on babylon 5, they were called a PPG


4 posted on 10/19/2015 5:50:56 PM PDT by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: SkyDancer

[ My airgun shoots .22 pellets at 1200fps. and the pellets are readily available. Five hundred rounds for $9 at WalMart. ]

I got me a Ruger squirrel break-pump rifle, I just wish there was an air rifle I could load up with multiple rounds even if I had to pump for each shot, it is annoying trying to load little pellets one by one with gloves on in winter when i am plinking squirrels and small game.


5 posted on 10/19/2015 5:53:34 PM PDT by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: GraceG

There are some out there:

http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2005/12/single-shot-vs-repeating-air-rifle-which-way-to-go/


6 posted on 10/19/2015 6:05:20 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

what does ‘fps’ mean in this context?

sorry, but as a software guy, all i see is ‘frames per second’


7 posted on 10/19/2015 6:17:48 PM PDT by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: sten

what does ‘fps’ mean in this context?

Feet per second. 820 feet per second.

Air rifles attain those velocities with about the same weight projectiles.


8 posted on 10/19/2015 6:19:30 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

Career 707 is a Korean (another reasopn to buy it) vs. it being some chinese crap.


9 posted on 10/19/2015 6:25:41 PM PDT by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: GraceG

I have a Daisy pistol where I can shoot five pellets fast as I can pull the trigger. It’s CO2 fed but those pellets can bust glass bottles at ten feet or so. Crawling in the basement for mice or rats it comes in handy.


10 posted on 10/19/2015 6:28:49 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: SkyDancer

Yes, and you don’t need to charge it for an hour or two before you use it!


11 posted on 10/19/2015 6:33:48 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: marktwain

wile interesting, it seems like a silly endeavor when one can buy a really good air gun (1200fps/.177) for under $200 and have nearly unlimited shooting.


12 posted on 10/19/2015 6:39:08 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18 - Be The Leaderless Resistance)
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To: SkyDancer

What is the make/model of yur air gun? I think I want one of those.


13 posted on 10/19/2015 6:39:59 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18 - Be The Leaderless Resistance)
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To: Mariner

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=782166


14 posted on 10/19/2015 6:41:42 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: marktwain

A tiny tungsten pellet, small bit of water, high energy electrical discharge to push the round and overcome the initial inertia. From there, use laser to time the discharge of the coils.


15 posted on 10/19/2015 6:53:55 PM PDT by taxcontrol ( The GOPe treats the conservative base like slaves by taking their votes and refuses to pay)
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To: marktwain

What level does it spawn on?


16 posted on 10/19/2015 7:16:45 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: GraceG

I had a Crossman semi-auto 22 cal C02 pistol once upon a time. It had a tubular magazine on the barrel and a widget that transferred the pellets to the chamber for firing as fast as you could pull the trigger. It had enough power to take down a grown cotton tail rabbit.


17 posted on 10/19/2015 7:33:15 PM PDT by Dalberg-Acton
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To: Dalberg-Acton
My memory was off slightly as it was about 35 years since I had that Crossman. It was a model 600.:


18 posted on 10/19/2015 7:43:53 PM PDT by Dalberg-Acton
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To: marktwain
Quite an achievement, even if the energies are still quite low.

Here's the pro version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eObepuHvYAw

It accelerates a projectile to Mach 6, about 6700 feet per second.

19 posted on 10/19/2015 7:49:38 PM PDT by TChad
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To: TChad

Do you know how they guide the projectile?


20 posted on 10/19/2015 7:56:56 PM PDT by marktwain
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