Rail Gun???

[DeanoBeanCounter]

I missed something someplace. What is a Rail Gun? All I been able to tell is it is the kind of gun the bench rest guys use.
The only rail gun I knew about is the one I read about in Popular Science a few years ago that the military was working on. That one takes over 150,000 amps of power (not gun powder) to launch a projectile at over 5 miles per second (not feet per second). That was a lot of years ago too.
I don't think the BR people can afford that kind of expense.
Anyway, what is a rail gun to shooters?
Deano

[Buckshot]

..................Basicly it's a barreled action in a rigid metal fixture with recoil absorbers. It is a 'return to battery' setup and is fired hands off. Usually with a cable release like a camera or hydraulicly. The user opens the action and loads a cartridge. A look through the attached scope confirms the aimpoint and the user then depresses a button on the cable to fire the gun.

The gun recoils back on guides (hence rails) and the user ejects the empty and reloads, then moves the gun forward, checks the aimpoint again and fires the next shot. The setup can be very heavy, and somewhat complicated or actually quite simple. The object is to erase every possible variable involved so that what you're seeing is the accuracy of the ammunition, or the gun depending upon what's being tested.

................Buckshot

[wills]

What fun. I guess you could hire someone to shoot it for you too.

[Johnch]

I think the kind you are talking about uses electro magnets turning on and off real fast in the proper order to push/pull a metal object

In collage physics ( many moons ago ) we worked on a paper about one

In theroy you should be able to push a metal object just short of light speed

Of course if the goverment has a toy like that , they aren't talking about it

John

[Wayne Smith]

The govt. has it, and I've seen programs on it on the Military Channel. Naturally it's the Navy that's really pushing it, they are the only service that can generate the needed power on a moving platform, after all. The Army is pursuing a lower powered version that a tank could use. Long way away for that, apparantly.

Buckshot, sounds like the French 75 artillery piece.

[brshooter]

You can checkout railguns at http://www.benchrest.com/youngrails/. He is one the best railgun makers in the US. They are used in the unlimited class in benchrest competition for shooting 10 shot groups. Action and barrel are held in a huge block, all use benchrest triggers, no cable releases/remotes are allowed. Barrels are usually 1.350' and up in dia. and most any length. Scopes are min. of 36X, some use boosted scopes of up to 60X. They wieght around 75 lbs. or more, dependant upon the owner's ability to move it. At the end of the day after shooting 10 matches and moving that gun 10 times to 10 different benches (we rotate to another bench after each match) and bringing the top half to your cleaning bench each time to clean makes for a worn out shooter to say the least. Good railgun shooters can get 10 rds. off in less than 20 seconds when they find a condition that is conductive to a good group. Wind changes make shooting a rail gun fun, some times you would like to forget the damn thing. But when you get all your shots off on a good condition, the groups are fantastic and make it all worth while.

[twotrees]

A friend from Tn. brought one to an informal shoot in East Ga one year and demo'ed it for us. It shot 300 AI Win Mag and was about 70+ lbs. We had a 45MPH gusts that day and he asked for a bright target to be setup at the longest distance we could , safely. That was (Laser ranged) 1660 yards. Well as was said already the wind was playing H3ll with him but after a few ranging shots he hit a prestone anti freeze jug 2 times in a row. Quite a feat in anybodys book.

James, the shooter, set a world record with a light rifle, hand held BR at 600 yards of under 1 inch.

As for the other type of rail gun, Westinghouse was developing one for the military over 20 years ago. The first demo shot, in front of the Brass, the 1lb projectile went through the backstop acoss a parking lot and burried it's self 4 ft deep in Penna yellow clay. Needless to say that concluded the demo, right then.
I was not at the demo, but did come over when they were digging out the slug. LOL

Know your backstop !!![smilie=1:

TwoTrees

[dromia]

Bloody hell :shock: !

Here's me wondering about getting a sling to tighten up my groups.

[AkMike]

Here's a picture of the late Charlie Dell's rail gun. I found this at the ASSRA site.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Mike, you just beat me. I've mentioned Charlie's rail gun several times on various threads. Charlie had this gun mounted down range out his basement/shop's back window. The range was 100yds, and Charlie had wind barriers erected on both sides, to remove the wind from the equation. Most of his testing in later years, was for the accuracy potential of various bullet lubes. Besides being the ASSRA president for some time, and a master tool and die maker/gunsmith, he was the bullet lube guru of the schuetzen fraternity. A lot of what I know, I owe to his kindness, in willing to share his knowledge. May he rest in peace.
Morgan

[AkMike]

Although I'm a life member of the ASSRA I neve had the chance to meet him. I do wish I could have. His knowledge has helped me from afar!

[DLCTEX]

Those rail guns sound like a 155 Howitzer. Just about the same mechanicals. Dale

[AkMike]

That would depend on what barrel was screwed in it I'd think.. a 32-40 Ballard can't sound like a 155mm.

[Ricochet]

I'd like to have one of those 5 mile/second railguns, and a place and sufficient funds to shoot it!

[wiljen]

at 5miles / Sec are you are now into the territory of figuring the range like they do for terrestrial microwave communication ? That being, at what point it the curvature of the earth sufficient to obstruct the path of the projectile.

[LET-CA]

I was at the range last year and the gentelman in the next firing lane had his "rifle" mounted on a rail structure. He was poking a single hole at 100 yards, but it seemed kind of boring. There were several "high-tech" shooters out there, but I was getting far more attention with my stack of lever-actions. I think they had forgotten that you don't need a thousand dollar scope to hit a target at 100 yards. Mind you, I wasn't hitting with nearly the precision they were, but I was blasting the scrap piece of 2X4 all over the hillside with great ease.

Anyway, precision target rifles are interesting, but not my cup of tea. . .

[piwo]

Having a rifle on rails doesn't make one master the wind, nor account for ammunitions integrity, and shooting one hole targets at 100, 200 or 300 is not easy no matter what. Shooting .0000 group takes more skill then many would attest to outside a windless room no matter if it's on rails or bags. To each there own.

If find them far more interesting. When something that won't shoot in the "0's" is considered a meatball thrower, more then just the impliment is at play here.......

It's my cup of tea, just too poor to acquire the taste! :-D

[Ricochet]

at 5miles / Sec are you are now into the territory of figuring the range like they do for terrestrial microwave communication ? That being, at what point it the curvature of the earth sufficient to obstruct the path of the projectile.That being about a low Earth orbital velocity, the curvature of the earth might not obstruct it at all. Air drag would, of course.

[Dross]

You could always build one!:-D

http://www.rollette.com/railgun/

[Ricochet]

Oh, I've thought about it. Also about a hypervelocity light gas gun. But I doubt I'll ever get a round tuit.