Preston Coil-Rifle

Written by: Ripshot

The idea of using fancy magnetic shaboingery to throw a metal slug at high speeds has been around for over a century, but up until recently, the tech just hasn't been able to make it happen: Any magnetic gun capable of matching even small-caliber firearms was just too bulky and power-hungry to be practical for use. Even nowadays, it's still one of those things that you'll only occasionally see outside of well-funded proof-of-concept builds or heavy pieces of shit like the Thunderstruck, but a dude by the name of Jamar Preston might have finally changed that.

For the record: Despite Ripshot using the terms interchangeably, Coil/Gauss guns and Rail guns are different types of weaponry. The former uses staged electro magnets to attract/repel a projectile, while the latter uses parallel conductors to accelerate projectiles via the Lorentz force.

— Null Kit

Good thing we've got you to answer questions nobody asked.

— Tahoma

The Preston Coil-Rifle is the final production-model of a series of prototypes Jamar made for fun at his university. It's a bulky, long rifle-looking piece of kit that uses a couple of dozen electromagnets hooked up to a fixed peak-discharge capacitor to launch metal ball-bearings fast enough to give it similar performance to some low-caliber pistol cartridges. It's not technically or legally a rifle on account of the barrel being smoothbore, but the magnets have some kind of fancy spiral-setup that imparts a decent amount of spin on the projectile.

Another thing to note about the Preston is that it's pretty dang silent for how much bang you get out of it, no moving parts or gas-expansions and all.

— Redhat

So let's get this straight: This isn't really a gun that you'd actually bring to a fight. It's mostly a novelty item, and Preston himself admits he mainly uses it for pest-control. It gets a spot in this cache in part 'cause it's something you might see other people using on account of it currently having less red-tape to purchase than a firearm. And it's also here because sometimes we need a reminder that we're living in the 2080s...

Item type

Weapon, Ranged

Rarity

10R

Weight

5.8 KG unloaded

Dimensions

16" barrel, 40" total length

Base Price

3,500¥

Type

Sporting Rifle

Accuracy

5(6)

Damage

6P

AP

-1

Mode

SA

RC

-

Ammo

6(M)

Standard Upgrades

Laser-Sight

Every shot consumes one power-point from the fixed Peak-Discharge Capacitor, which has a maximum capacity of ten power-points and can be recharged from an external source at a rate of one power-point every thirty minutes.

This weapon fires steel ball-bearings, which can be purchased in packs of 50 for 10¥

This weapon uses Heavy Pistol ranges, and imparts a -6 modifier to perception-tests to hear it firing.