[Jonathan Roehm]

Railguns have been talked about alot... Railguns have rounds of solid ammunition called ferro-ferros slugs. Have multiple electromagnetic coils or stages around or strategically placed on the surface of the barrel that are + on the part facing the receiver and - on the part facing down range. The stages have senors that monitor the (m) fields of the stages that allow the stages to opperate properly. As well as the stages there magnetic guiding rails on - to keep the slugs in the center of the barrel.

[Wargamer]

And what exactly is being discussed here? The only point of discussion I can see is that "Railguns" are not railguns - they're coilguns. Even then, it's hardly something that is worth discussing in depth.

[khanaris]

What you are describing, Jonathan, is more technically called a coilgun (or Gauss gun). A true "railgun" uses two rails with current flowing in opposite directions. The projectile forms an electrical connection between them, and is accelerated by the resulting magnetic fields.

It isn't really clear to me what the Tau Railgun actually is. Whether it behaves like what we call a railgun or a coilgun, or something a bit more exotic. Given the appearance of the Tau railgun, it probably isn't a coilgun.

[Carrelio]

From the looks of the tau railguns I think they actually are railguns, where the ammunition completes the circuit since most of the guns are formed with what looks like 2 tracks between which we know the slug comes out of.

[Jonathan Roehm]

aah sorry my bad.. I wanted to put more in my 1st post in terms of recoil and muzzle features during firing but my PSP won't let me post that much. Anyway in the way of recoil I think that a pathfinder's railrifle has the equivelent of a .32 caliber varmit rifle. And the only reason of muzzle flash is plasma from the intense heat and energy conversion in the half circle things.

please forgive for double posting but I was trying to actually refer to the small-arms most specificlly railrifles which look like a deviational variant of coilgun

Note: You can add to an existing post with the "modify message" button above and to the right of your own posts. - Khanaris

[jonnyp]

Actually there is a differance between a coil gun and a gauss gun. A coil gun uses coils that line the whole barrel and is very similar to a mass driver, while a gauss gun works by having a single large magnet at the end of the barrel.

[Greatshaper2]

ok...a railgun is not a railgun, it is a coilgun, but the tau call the coilgun a railgun so therefore it is a railgun, not a coilgun.