Gauss Rifles and Railguns

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Toxicity
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Gauss Rifles and Railguns

My question here is pretty simple: IS there a difference, and if so, what is the difference?
Hyakushiki
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Mostly the difference is a Gauss uses an electromagnet wrapped around a barrel to propel a projectile while in a railgun, the rails themselves function as an electromagnet. they perform the same function in different ways, but Gauss and coilguns work more efficiently since they're not as prone to excessive wear as railguns are.
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Toxicity
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Thank you for the explanation, but your post brings up another question: what's a coilgun? I've never even heard of a such thing. :?
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Wingnut
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Toxicity wrote:Thank you for the explanation, but your post brings up another question: what's a coilgun? I've never even heard of a such thing. :?
If I'm not mistaken, it's another name for the linear guns used in the CE.
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G.Squirrel
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A coilgun works pretty much the same as a railgun, but instead of using rails to propel something, it has an electromagnetic coil (or coils) that loops around the barrel of the weapon.
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razgriz
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seems like the railgun would have a lil more excuse the pun juice to it considering the conduction rails form the main propulsion component of the entire barrel. but then you would need a special sabot in order to launch your projectile. vs the coil/gauss gun which has those multiple EM motors that need to work in perfect unison in order to fire off the projectile properly. i would say for large scale artillery the rail gun would be your choice but for smaller arms it would be the coil/gauss gun for compactness and simplicity.
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DeltasTaii
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The linear gun seems to be more closely related to railguns, based on external design. Look at the Archangel's Valiants.

A coil gun's just an alternate electromagnetic pathway, a linear gun is noteworthy for the fact the projectile doesn't actually make contact with the rail or coil, but instead is held away by the magnetic field, reducing friction and thus barrel heat and wear. That does however lower the acceleration, requiring a longer barrel for the same velocity. Actually, I imagine a coil linear gun would be more difficult, thanks to the inherent rotational motion of the electromagnetic pull, whereas you can just hold balance between multiple simultaneously push/pulling rails.
Gadget
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razgriz wrote:seems like the railgun would have a lil more excuse the pun juice to it considering the conduction rails form the main propulsion component of the entire barrel. but then you would need a special sabot in order to launch your projectile. vs the coil/gauss gun which has those multiple EM motors that need to work in perfect unison in order to fire off the projectile properly. i would say for large scale artillery the rail gun would be your choice but for smaller arms it would be the coil/gauss gun for compactness and simplicity.
You're quite right. In 'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress', a railgun is use to bombard earth from the moon by throwing moon rocks. Mt Everest was a gonner.

In Demolishion Man, Wesly Snipes uses a portable Guess rifle against Selvester Stallon.

But all these are still stuff of science fiction. (Or dreams....)
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Blade of the Red Comet
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Gadget wrote:But all these are still stuff of science fiction. (Or dreams....)
Not so, the science is proven to be viable...just not technologically advanced enough to create something handheld or even weapons grade. Railguns have a nasty tendancy to need to replace its rail after firing as the firing of the bolt can damage the electromagnetic rails.

Here's what the Wiki says about the Railgun, and Gauss gun.
As far as I know the only difference is the delivery system or method of producing the intended kinetic force. The basic intent/concept are essentially the same: Firing a metal bolt with tremendous kinetic force using electromagnetic energy.
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Gauss is a way of measuring the strength of magnet's. A gauss rifle uses a high gauss magnet turned round with a extreme impact concussion warhead. It's fired by similar means to that of a rail gun except that it high gauss rating causes it to be fired at a quicker velocity. However due to reloading and recharging of the launching coils this causes it to be fired less often then that of a rail gun. A rail gun uses high strength metal/composite alloys that have casted into thin elongaded cylinders. Sometimes atmospheric sensitive explosives can be placed inside the cylinders for greater effect. Recharge is much quicker because of the length of the barrel and the simplicity of loading cylinders.

A gauss rifle round needs to be fired out of a short yet wide cyndrilical chamber. The front magnets themselves require the use of creating great magnetic pressure on the round pushing it farther toward the back of the barrel. Once the necessary force is nearly achieved then the rear magnets charge followed by a power current cut to coils of the front magnets. The rear magnet coils at that point have achieved the necessary force to launch the concussion round forward toward the target.
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