But-but-but “looks scary” IS the difference between a hunting rifle and a firearm designated as an “AK” rifle.
For a REALLY high-powered long-range assault weapon, the prospect of using an electrically-powered linear acceleration launch platform, rather than some variation of gunpowder, may be the next big technological advance. Muzzle velocities of 10,000 fps, using a missile of no more than the size of a sewing needle, would prove to be much more deadly.
“using a missile of no more than the size of a sewing needle, would prove to be much more deadly.”
Whoopee!
My wife’s supplies for her quilting will now be verboten. And she thought I was the aberrant one.
It is really hard to keep up these days.
A railgun is an electrically powered electromagnetic projectile launcher based on similar principles to the homopolar motor. A railgun comprises a pair of parallel conducting rails, along which a sliding armature is accelerated by the electromagnetic effects of a current that flows down one rail, into the armature and then back along the other rail.[2]
Railguns have long existed as experimental technology but the mass, size and cost of the required power supplies have prevented railguns from becoming practical military weapons. However, in recent years, significant efforts have been made towards their development as feasible military technology.