Guns.

In five hundred years people will still be killing people. It is a solid fact stretching from across the eons of human history and pre-history.

In today's time the main way that we kill each other is the fire arm. The Gun.

What will we be using in five hundred years?

First we need to understand the gun and how it works.

When the trigger is squeezed a pin strikes a primer setting off the gunpowder charge. The charge forces a specifically shaped piece of metal down a rifled barrel. The bullet spins and flies through the air.

What are the potential problems with firing a gun in space.

Oxygen.

A gun does not rely on external oxygen to work. It has enough oxygen in the bullet casing to work properly. As such, no oxygen. No problem.

Space is cold.

People think that space is cold. It is not exactly true. Space is a vacuum and as such has no temperature of its own. Not like you or me. Temperature in space is in direct relationship to the proximity of the sun and the objects albedo. An albedo is basically the objects tendency to reflect radiation rather than absorb it. A guns powder could get so cold that it might not fire reliably.

Casings.

After a gun fires, the bullet casings or cartridge is ejected from the firing chamber and falls down to the ground. In space, there is no gravity. A casing will float in the space getting in peoples way. Can you imagine after a long fire fight. Thousands upon thousands of bullet cartridges blocking everyone's view of what is going on.

Because the temperature of space will make a gun unreliable and the fact that the empty cartridge litter will become a problem, I have rejected gunpowder based firearms altogether. They are phased out of use by all military and police forces in the solar system.

Lasers.

I mentioned in a previous post that masers, lasers, phasers aren't in use. Not because they don't have any or none scientific sense. Lasers are being used in military's around the world right now. It is not unforeseeable that they could not be perfected into something resembling Star Trek.

But that is not what I want to do. I do not want to recreate Star Trek or Star Wars or Schlock Mercenary for that matter. It is cliche and way over used.

When I first thought of what are the possibilities of firearms, I immediately killed any and all thoughts of lasers.

Then what will the people fire at each other.

My answer.

Rail Guns.

A rail gun uses strong magnetic fields to push a conductive piece of metal along a pair of rails. There is no lingering byproduct like smoke or cartridges. It is okay if it is cold or hot.

My rail guns come in various shapes and sizes. From Battleship sized behemoths to pocket sized handguns. The behemoth sized ones are for a later blog post. I'll talk about the smaller ones today.

The basics of all man-sized rail-guns us the same basic components. Two rails encased in a non-conductive material attached to some type of stock. A battery pack is needed to run the magnets. It is attached to the butt of a rifle or half of a handgun handle. It also needs a clip for the projectiles. They come in different sizes and lengths.

The projectiles are called staples caused the resemble a staple. The rail-gun a stapler. In a stapler, you put a length of metal all attached together with a small piece of glue. The stapler 'shoots' it at its target.

My Rail-Gun's work in the same principle. You take a length of 'staples' and slide it into its slot. You then lock them in place keeping them there. You cock the gun. The action of the gun breaks off the first 'staple' and puts it into the firing chamber. With the gun on, you aim it, squeeze the trigger and away the 'staple' goes. Like all modern guns, the gun automatically breaks off and puts a new 'staple' into the firing chamber.

All you have to do is to pull the trigger.

Or hold down the trigger depending on the model of gun that you are using.

The possibilities of combat and the rail-gun's use are for another post.

There are more weapons in my system. Like Plasma Guns, Grenades, Rockets, Mines, Close-combat weapons, non-violent guns, non-lethal guns, power armor and nano-bots.

More stuff for later posts. Getting late. Cheers.