ArcFlash Labs' GR-1 Anvil Portable Gauss Rifle
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The GR-1 "Anvil" is a portable, shoulder-fired gauss rifle made by Arcflash Labs. Yeah, it's pretty awesome to be living in the future where we actually have real gauss rifles, isn't it?
First, some terminology. This is accurately identified as a gauss rifle, coil gun, or linear accelerator (although gauss "rifle" is a bit misleading, as it is a smoothbore launcher). It functions by using a series of coils energized to produce electromagnetic fields and pull a ferrous projectile down a barrel. Each coil accelerates the projectile faster, controlled by a series of optical gates that shut off a coil as the projectile passes beyond it. The GR-1 uses 8 coils, which use between 4000 and 16000 amps of electricity from 8 high voltage capacitors. These coils are able to accelerate a 1/2" in diameter steel dowel pin up to about 75 m/s (240 fps). The most novel technology in the GR-1 is the hardware which allows the standard lithium-ion battery (25V) to fully charge this bank of capacitors in approximately 3 seconds.
Fundamentally, the GR-1 is an alpha sort of prototype. It is the equivalent to the first Wright Flyer - a technology demonstrator and a way to gain experience and expertise in building coil guns. As capacitor technology continues to improve, we will see coil gun capability improve from the level of airguns to that of handguns and eventually true rifles and beyond. Arcflash is leading the way in this technology, and I am grateful that they were willing to loan me one of their first batch of production guns for this filming!
Legal details: The GR-1, and coil guns in general, are not federally regulated as firearms. Under the law, "firearms" are specifically defined as propelling a projectile by combustion, and coil guns do not do this. Arcflash treats their coil guns as airguns out of an abundance of legal caution, and as a result there are several places where the GR-1 is not shipped because of state or local regulation on muzzle energy of airguns.
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"Here at ArcFlash labs, we fire the whole bullet. That's 65% more bullet per bullet"
ArcFlash's founder played Portal 2 once and went: "I too wanna be Cave Johnson." And he did.
they did all their science from scratch, no hand holding
did they get a cake at the end of testing?
@@brian0057 He made life take the lemons back! Got mad!
So you pass the savings on to others
"Do not stick a fork into the Gauss rifle." -Ian McCollum 2022
"Front toward enemy" vibes
literally 1984
Words of wisdom!
Even if its plastic?
I mean you can... like what is it going to do that a poder gun won't? Which in this design I'd doubt it move much as the coils are so far behind the muzzle.
“Don’t fire this weapon within 50 feet of delicate electronics” And now we’ve just discovered it’s ultimate purpose!
Yep, was thinkin' kinda the same thang... as a projectile weapon it still seems like a work in progress. But as a portable EMP Generator, hmmm...(for taking out drones, comm links, missile guidance systems, whatever)?!
A HANDHELD EMP!!!
@@klowen7778 already been made anyway
It didn't seem to upset the camera and i assume they had cell phones in their pockets. Are our basic electronics more hardened that we realize or was that warning just extra careful. I am old enough to remember warnings at diners if they had a microwave that you can't go in with a pacemaker.
@@klowen7778 this could be used in a disposable missile defence system to scramble enemy missiles
It’s weird to think we live in a world where Gauss guns are actually real.
Scarier still is when they figure out how to make personal rail gun rifles - use a Gauss coil to inject the carrier at speed into a charged rail system; for now it's a big power and construction material issue. Anyone know where to get a Vacuum space power extraction core?
@@user-ts1kj1te2j the future is now old man
They were real for a long time. I built one a few years ago. There's just not much use for them currently to be produced commercially.
@@CyberSpiderPrimegauss implies a permanent magnet. Any electromagnetic coil is a coil gun.
@@skypiratecaptain Gauss refers to any magnetic flux field, permanent and temporary. Creating one electrically just gives greater control of the field parameters. The term also differentiates the method used from a Rail Gun which uses the Lorenz force to electro-magnetically manipulate an object's motion (Gauss surrounds the target object, Lorenz passes through an armature which can be the target object or carries it). Not all coils are guns - a coil gun is one that is used to pull and release an object in order to propel it. Some coils pull and hold (usually called a solenoid and used for various purposes like relays, car starters, washing machine valves) and usually use a spring (which is another form of a coil) to reset. Still others are used to create or receive magnetic information (radio tuning coil, metal detectors have both a sending and receiving coil) or used for induction to change electrical parameters (transformers) or generate heat (induction metal heating). A coil is simply a length of material (metal, string, plastic, wood, etc.) wound up, how it's used defines its purpose (source material, structural support, electrical component, etc.). Therefore, Gauss Coil Gun refers to a specific use of an electrically charged wire coil (Coil) used to create a controlled magnetic field (Gauss flux field) for the purpose of attracting and expelling a magnetically affected object (the ammo for the Gun) in a straight line (may have multiple stages for greater acceleration). Particle Accelerators are, in simplest terms, multi-stage Gauss Coil Guns that shoot their atomic or subatomic ammo in magnetically bent circles (single or multiple streams, in one or two directions, simultaneously). The Coils both accelerate and bend the projectile path.
If an alien ship ever crashes on earth, Ian’s gonna be the first guy to review the weapons found on board
"Hey guys, thanks for tuning into Forgotten Weapons, I'm Ian and this is an Andromeda Arms anti-matter repeater rifle I picked up off that downed cruiser that crashed out back"
@@awesomedude222 bro andromeda arms make some good weapons specially anti-matter powered
@@kaiserpanzer548 I dunno man, the anti-matter stuff is ok, but have you checked out their quantum phased array warp entanglement phasers?
I can imagine him crouched above like a dead mutilated alien with a weird alien weapon in its hands and he does a witty little intro before prying the thing out of its hands and beginning to muck around with it, instantly knowing everything there is to know about this weird alien firearm.
@@awesomedude222 or if we get around inventing real life Bolter rifles
Hey guys, thank you for tuning into this episode of Forgotten Weapons, today we’ll be looking at the BFG 9000, a very unique weapon for the channel, but there are some interesting design quirks you don’t see in a lot of guns…
"Casually test fires it at demons" ;)) 🤣
decino could tell you how it works.
***proceeds to blow a hole in Mars***
And we'll look into that in a moment. But first I would like to introduce our special guest...
@@TheBlackAshTree man of culture
It sounds more like a crossbow than a firearm. Super cool and will be crazy to see where this ends up in a couple decades.
IT IS a crossbow, magnetic crossbow is a cool and accurate name for these weapons
Yes, in fact, its projectiles have the speed of a crossbow bolt.
It's clearly not a "fire"-arm since there's no explosion with fire to propel the projectile
@@vladpadowicz5946 in many states, it'd not qualify at all as a firearm. They'd fall back to "prohibited offensive weapon" or something similar, even if it's not explicitly prohibited and watch the court likely reject their charges - still costed you an attorney's fees.
@spvillano No where in the world does it qualify as a firearm for the reason I already mentioned
5:56 tp 6:00- that "hollow point" projectile is a 1/2" wedge anchor. So when Ian calls it "Hardware store stuff," he's more accurate than he may have realized.
This is the musket of the Gauss Rifle technology, just remember this video 10-20 years from now
Just about. While I'm not sure we'll ever get to the point where ammo for this thing is quite as cheap as current ammo (You can get 20 round of 5.56 for like $12), but I can definitely see these evolving into some BADASS sniper weapons.
@@jesuszamora6949 The ammo for a gauss rifle is basically just a steel rod sawed in small bits...as soon as there is demand for gauss ammo you will see prices way below what 5.56 costs
@@jesuszamora6949 i'll just go play Crysis and use the Gauss rifle in that ;)
@@Presbiter Ammo cost would be in the degradation of the power cells. Plus a few pennies for the slug and electricity.
@@johnk6757 Thats maintenance cost...like any other equipment that uses power cells like night vision googles
I love how even in a completely different style of firearm, the main issue is almost ALWAYS the magazine development lol.
Can you explain why aren’t most of them banana with spring or rectangle
Normally it’s not getting the rounds from one area of the magazine to the other which a spring easily manages, it’s getting the rounds to stop at the top and then get picked up only during forward motion of the bolt carrier, getting up a feed ramp and then into a chamber without causing the bolt carrier to slow down, hang, or lose enough energy to prevent lockup. All of these things something as simple as surface finish or an angle change of 1-2 degrees is enough to take a non functioning gun to completely reliable and vice-versa.
It's not just a question of "a rectangle or a banana", it needs to be a precise shape to fit the geometry of the rounds it will to hold.
@@youdontknowwhoiam4349 Mags are banana'd due to some cartridges having a slight taper. I.e. the bottom of the case is often wider than the top. There is no use of a banana mag here due to having the slugs be the same diameter.
should of just used old sten magazines
One of the surprising things about this is how quiet it is. After years of Fallout 4’s Gauss Rifle, hearing how silent the magnets actually are is not what I expected.
Same, especially after playing Halo 3 lol. That Gauss cannon was so loud
I imagine it'd probably get louder once they start accelerating slugs up to break the sound barrier But i'm surprised it makes any sound at all, the plastic-ey sliding/clicking what ever is interesting to me
Prolly because those guns are firing more than 200 times faster at least.
and this is precisely why, it will never catch on or become popular, irl
Now go listen to the Navy's railgun... that's closer to the sci-fi speed.
"Do not stick a fork into the gauss rifle!" Great advice and another great video as usual!
It sounds like a like straight from a science fiction book kind of crazy that it can be used in real life completly unironically
Do not look directly inside the Portal Gun
Never thought I'd live to see the day when I heard "do not stick a fork into the gauss rifle" being offered as real and legitimate firearm safety advice
It's not a firearm though. It's an energy conversion device.
@@randomidiot8142 How is a firearm also not an energy conversion device? I say we call those electroarms.
All firearms are energy conversion devices. The gunpowder devices transfer chemical energy. This is electromagnetic.
@@randomidiot8142 I believe I heard the distant collective screeching of a thousand confused ATF agents
Surely anything you can fit down the "barrel" you should be able to shoot 😄, if it's possible, someone will😆
Keep in mind that the "muzzle energy" of a crossbow bolt is also miniscule compared to a proper firearm, but it can absolutely injure or kill you.
The muzzle energy of a medieval crossbow bolt is somewhere around a pistol fired .22LR and this coil gun is somewhere around an air gun round. On top of that the geometry of a crossbow bolt helps to do the killing, but deviating from a cylinder shaped slug is quickly going to cost this coil gun muzzle velocity.
@@SBBurzmali Modern Air-guns can shoot WELL above this. Over 1500fpe. I own several that do over 500FPE.
@@robert7984 Of course, I was referring the the commonly available models, you can make a .22LR round with as much umph as a 9mm or more if you are willing to risk blowing your face off.
@@robert7984 kinetic energy is calculated, based on mass an velocity. Ur stupid airgun might shoot a lot faster, but your bullets are a lot lighter to.
@@SBBurzmali why? Slapping a non-ferrous cap on that slug wouldn't impact muzzle velocity.
11:20 - Given that the projectile isn't touching the walls of the barrel, the smoothboreness might not degrade the accuracy nearly as much as with a chemical firearm (where you get the ball or whatnot bouncing from side to side as it goes down the barrel), so a laser sight would probably make more sense for a coilgun than for a musket.
Except it clearly is hitting the barrel a lot. The alignment isn't perfect and in the slow motion you can see the projectile bouncing down the barrel. The manufacturing isn't good enough to float the round perfectly.
I wonder if fins on the projectile with protruding guide tracks on the inside of the barrel might help(and also give it a rifling effect). The neat thing with EM guns is because the barrel doesn't need to hold up to high pressure, some fancier things can be done with them.
I think with some tinkering, the projectile could be made to spin magnetically.
@@BeKindToBirds it's barely accelerated while in that transparent tube though, the real acceleration comes later, and IIRC the fields also align the projectile (again) ?
The powerful EM pulses concern me, and that thing must be tough to maintain...but my God, it's a GAUSS RIFLE. I didn't think that I'd see something like this outside of Battletech. I can't wait for the designers to refine the technology into something even more effective.
Maintenance will be different for sure. There is no explosion hazard or powder residues to deal with, but the electronics will be a nightmare to maintain for sure. It probably won't survive Garand Thumb's muddy or freezing rifle test just yet. But I can totally see it becoming attractive for situation where utmost silence is important and field maintainability is not a concern, like police sniper or SWAT operations.
@@KoflerDavid battery’s explode.
@@KoflerDavid also look at coil gun shooting projectiles going at real speeds the noise is comparable to a firearms and the muzzle flash is worse.
@@kekistanimememan170 Removable rechargeable lithium iron or ion batteries don’t “explode” in the course of normal operation. Pretty stable consumer safe technology.
@@kekistanimememan170 thats what railguns do not coilguns.
I work at an electronics recycling facility. When I learned about this gun I asked the question if we’d be allowed to recycle it, one of my coworkers said if someone does come in with one we’re hanging it on the wall.
I’d have a raffle for who can take it home
That’s kinda a badass thing to have on a wall ngl
Imagine this technology and you just go and recycle it. Like the barbarians sack of Rome and the burning of the great library of Alexandria.
The scariest thing about this weapon is how quiet it is. Imagine a battle where you don't hear gunshots, just screams.
I suppose at some point in the future these might be powerful enough to accelerate stuff to the speed of sound.
I almost spit red wine out of my nostrils at that comment
@@RyanTosh probably gonna happen sooner than we think
Just imagine all you hear is the screams and the rampant KZhead Sex bots.
If it advances to the level where it can shoot any projectile above subsonic levels, there'll be almost the same amount of noise as a rifle with a good suppressor.
I'm amused at the thought of, like some electric vehicles, production incorporating some artificial sound to give the firing experience "a better feel", haha! We're so used to the sensory feedback of traditional firearms that I'm gonna need that powerful scifi charge up and discharge sound! 🤠
The film camera flash charge sound would be perfect for this
The next model will have a text-to-speech voice saying "Bang" every time you pull the trigger.
"Hey guys, thank you for tuning in to this episode of Forgotten Weapons. Here today, I have with me the arm I dismantled from a Metal Gear..."
"A metal Gear ?"
METAL GEAR!?
@@georgesears2916 hey its the boss to surpass big boss itself ! Solid Snake !
“Do not fire when the weapon is too hot.” *solemn nodding from years of BattleTech and MechWarrior*
Just wait ‘till we start developing double heat sinks
Double barrel gauss rifle
@@idoobbberz_tv6676 rotary gauss. already in BTA.
@@thomasneal9291 Hyper Assault Gauss. In Kerensky's Name.
You act like the engineers on this project never heard of the game
I am having a hard time realizing that this riffle actually exist outside of fallout
Add another set of coils, and it’ll look more like the real deal than it already does
Trust me- me too. I play Fallout 4 and new vegas religously, but I already told my old lady Im getting one, Ill make videos on how it is to shoot hopefully soon. Lmao
i know the name from half life
@@roythegracious heck yeah
I'm having a hard time not seeing how accurate their design was. A lot of Fallout guns are just absolute nonsense but they really nailed the fundamentals with their Gauss Gun.
A gun creating a significant EMP every time it’s fired is something I very much wish I had in MW2
This is absolutely incredible. I honestly did not imagine I could see this kind of thing working in my lifetime.
... Do you live under a rock? You could build those (of the same power) 15, 20, and even MORE years ago! Literally nothing in this is amazing, innovative or impressive. The patent for those is from friggign 1904! The guy who made them, with that OLD ASS TECH managed to accelerate a half kilo projectile to 50 m/s too, just 20 m/s less than this too! What i'm trying to say is, this thing's a useless toy that i don't get your excitement over.
@@mkzheroyou couldn’t make the amount of power in the size of device 15-20 years ago 5-7 Tesla is insane for a handheld rifle id like to see u make something as cool as this since you’re so smart and it’s so easy
The fact that the screen says "FIRE!" as it fires is actually pretty adorable and I hope all future gauss weapons keep that feature.
What gets me is how quite the thing is. All i hear is just a click. I can just imagine where we be in 10 years. Hell that gun alone would have been scifi when I was a kid.
The perfect assassin’s weapon
Needs to flash red
@@nicholaspatton5590 a little hard to conceal though. I don’t think I can appendix carry that thing!
@@thewingedhussar4188 It's a subsonic projectile and there is no explosion. Obviously it's going to be much quieter than a gun. Though it will make a lot of sound once it goes supersonic.
Ian casually dropping the coolest names in weapons tech astounds me "Coil gun" "Gauss Rifle" "Gauss CANNON" "MASS DRIVER"
I personally like the halo name a M.A.C. Or a mass acceleration canon
@@Zdkazz Magnetic Accelerator Cannon*
@@devastater97 ah, my bad, been a few years since I read a halo novel thanks for that
Magnetic musket
@@robertunderdunkterwilliger2290 sci-fi blunderbuss
I always imagined Gauss rifle tech would be most practical when incorporated as a way to enhance conventional firearms. You’d still use traditional cartridges with powder loads but you could get much higher more energy by adding a coil to further accelerate the projectile. Best of both worlds
It would be perfect, since GAUSS rifles could also have disadvantages and firearms can be improved and fitted with more improvements, what do you think?
Yeah you try and get the best of both worlds.
@@epicdoggo4925 I think it would be better, but do you think GAUSS would be better than firearms but improved in the future?
Im wondering if there would be a way to reverse that process. Have the powdercharge fire off, after the round reaches full velocity from the magnetic propulsion. Im just thinking that the magnets would do more to catch the bullet than aid it along.
Its honestly more unbelievable that the first that I hear about s functional infantry scale GAUSS CANNON is on this KZhead channel, than such a weapon existing in the first place
This weapon is also doing something else very interesting. It's demonstrating the ridiculous amount of energy stored in just a few grams of gunpowder to get a projectile moving at the velocities that it does in such a short distance.
Such is the power in a few million atoms
It's also the same with electric cars the energy density of a battery is nowhere near that of petrol or diesel. and short of changing the laws of physics to be accommodating, never will.
@@Smitty.Bacall Nobody is arguing otherwise. It's an unfortunate reality and a big part of why we're not already switched off of fossil fuels.
@@Smitty.Bacall The good news is that if we make the planet unfriendly to ourselves, we cease to exist, and the planet eventually heals, allowing the circle of life to begin again. It happened before, and it will happen again because eco freaks want to push environmentally destructive technologies like wind and certain kinds of solar power while running like scared children from actually clean and truly renewable resources like nuclear. Funny how that works.
@@Smitty.Bacall Global starvation makes a planet far less hospitable to complex life forms. Pollution is bad. Nobody should disagree. But no matter how you swing it, outside the privileged white collar workers who drive 15m to work a day, fossil fuels are desperately needed and all the global outages and supply problems we've seen are just a taste of what is to come if we refuse *actual* green strategies like nuclear and continue to demonize ICE's.
Also I can imagine future drill sergeants yelling "for the love of god do not stick a fork in to the gauss rifle!" during firearms training.
Metal forks are entirely banned at training bases
Imagine firing crayons out of it lol
@jstorm 14 that is 100% not true, at least for army.
@@madmanthepope6448 dont give the marines any ideas
Next thing you know they’ve renamed FIREARMS training to just ARMS training
I can’t imagine how crazy it will be when this thing is actually practical. It looks extremely unsatisfying to shoot. It’s amazing how much impact the lack of sound has on the intimidation factor of a firearm. VERY COOL VIDEO
These Gauss rifles are the future of warfare. They eliminate the need for gunpowder and casings, which will eventually result in magazines with immense capacities, as well as being able to carry more of those magazines. The bullets themselves will be able to be customized with everything from armour piercing, incendiary, explosive etc. Obviously over time the rifles will become smaller and lighter but much more powerful and adaptable to suit any kind of combat. I'm genuinely loving Gauss and Railgun tech, it's so exciting. ( I know they are instruments of death...)
War, war never changes
I thought your remarks were really interesting. Could you clarify why it is easier to customize bullets more with these guns than with traditional guns? Can't you make bullets with exactly the same kinds of shapes for traditional bullets? What hinders creative designs on todays casings.
They are instruments of AWESOME
And all Gauss rifles are silent, too. This could be a game-changer.
Not until battery technology makes serious advancements, both in terms of the amount of power they can store and in terms of how quickly they can be recharged or discharged.
Love that the "hollow point" is literally a drop-in anchor for bolting into concrete
Got to hunt them magical golems some how...
It came off the shelf in the same aisle as the dowel pin and ball bearings. They went to a hardware store with a magnet.
@MINI DIVA Came for rail guns, not to rail girls. Spam somewhere else.
@@hollowscarf great comeback. I'm so tired of those spammer girls.
With the low velocity and high weight of the gauss gun the recoil appears minimal
If you'd've told me years ago that I'd be watching Forgotten Weapons review a gauss rifle in the future I'd say something along the lines of "I wish"
I'd have been like "Oh, you mean on April 1st right?"
But not a rifle. So a Gauss musket, I guess?
What's interesting is that this one, ArcFlashLabs' version, has been in development for a long time and I remember seeing their youtube channel around 2010. Meaning that it was possible even at the early days of Forgotten Weapons.
@@WingMaster562 I'd guess the theory was ready by then, but it took them 11-ish years to make it portable. Which is no small task!
*Gauz harquebus, for it to be a musket it needs to be able to penatrate munitions grade body armour at the very least.
Even though it's in its infancy, this is still an amazing piece of technology. This technology is what our grandchildren may be fighting wars with.
We shouldn't want that
I would hope not
let's just hope that by the time this technology is well-developed, we won't be sending young men and women to their untimely death in warfare
i absolutely love the captions, man. top notch captions! :)
Welcome to Forgotten Weapons, this is a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.
First thing that popped into my mind too!
The T-800 wouldn't have asked for that weapon if it did not exist A phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range was probably in the testing phase
Ah, the good ol' Westinghouse
You know your weapons, buddy!
"...Hey it's just what you see pal.."
Finally, a unique weapon that isn’t just a reskin of another weapon. Although, the physical damage is pretty mid, the energy damage makes up for it, especially against robotic foes and metal-armored raiders.
Buff against synths with a 100% critical chance lmfao
@@a3nofficial25 Every shot a critical?
On the other hand, it explodes for 20 points of damage if it receives a critical hit.
@@jeremysaklad6703 Shit, I never even saw that. It’s one of those items where the item card doesn’t read all the abilities so you have to physically test it out first. Jesus Christ, it’s Borderlands’ legendaries all over again.
Honestly I prefer the ozone smell that comes from a plasma rifle
"Do not stick a fork into the Gauss rifle" is something Sgt. Johnson would say
When forgotten weapons goes a little sci-fi
I will say, this has got to be the first gun I've ever seen that has a USB port on it.
it better be usb c cause you don't want to 50/50 it on the field.
@@palmespilates1294 but that's what makes it fun
I believe the MP-155 Altima has a USB port for its camera.
@@palmespilates1294 you mean 50/50/50
Serge voice: “AQUEL! AQUEL FOLEEEE!”
Im petitioning the name "bolt" for mass accelerator projectiles. It has history with crossbow bolts, connects to the electric nature of these weapons, and portrays their more weighty nature compared to bullets.
Competing with 40k gyrojets for that moniker
Solid artillery rounds fired by rifled cannons during the American Civil War were also called bolts.
Harrumph!
Seconded.
It's because you want to call it a Bolter, isn't it?
100 years from now you see one of these in a museum in the same sort of symbology as the earliest cartridge loading gun, something no one really picked up because it was just ahead of itself.
What really struck me was how quiet it was. Sci-Fi lead me to believe it was going to make a massive bang louder than a gun when fired. Instead we get a quiet squealing noise followed by the sound of a crossbow. Terrifying.
What you didn't mention is that you need an energy weapons skill level of 75 and a strength of 6 to use it effectively.
And high science and intelligence, maybe perception.
pfft. Like always a high CHA and no one needs to know you're actually empty.
@@jayhom5385 did I fire 9 dowels, or 10? Well punk, do you feel lucky?
I love the Fallout games, so thanks for the reference.
this is featured in this month's Future Weapons Today
Only now, seeing this gun, I could notice how important the 3d printer invention was for R&D. Even more so for small teams.
Custom machined plastic injection molds cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per PART. This thing is assembled from multiple parts. Could cost upwards of multi million dollars to proto type this thing with injection molding alone. 3D printing is absolutely critical for proto typing phases, especially for start up companies with not much capital to invest.
What I read somewhere is that 3d printing allows for insanely fast, rapid prototyping. Basically, they can iterate over a design multiple times very quickly and very cheaply.
@@rskat501 arent injection molds usually reserved for mass production? i always thought singular prototypes were done with resin, or cnc'd?
@@rskat501 yes and as a former machinist i gotta say they have to be shipped from overseas sometimes which can take a while as well especially if you needed to adjust and change where things were, not to mention the injection mold machines are ginormous and cost astronomical prices
@@brertt8350 yes, they're used for mass production. I was just stating my experience since I work in the industry. I'm not quite familiar with previous forms of proto typing, but rough CNC models would definitely be better than molding. Even then, that's still expensive and some projects would have been scrapped due to cost. Although it's no longer necessary since now 3D printing is far superior than CNC(for prototyping at least).
something you NEED to be aware of: capacitors hold power all on their own. this weapon could fire with the battery completely removed. particularly important when dealing with misfires, as a capacitor discharge could throw a "stuck" slug.
15:47 Sounds like they dump the energy pretty quickly. Either way, I'm sure this is something the manufacturers have considered
It is amusing how such a futuristic weapon sounds like a simple catapult. Awesome weapon, and an amazing demonstration!
The laser flashing faster then going to solid when it's fully charged is just to let the player know when the boss is about to take a shot.
Sounds like the spartan laser from Halo
I love how the digital display on the back says "Fire!" with an exclamation mark. This thing is straight out of a video game and I love it.
Instantly made me think of my man-portable sentry bot ruiner in Fallout 4 :D
Reminds of that demolition man gun
Since it's Smooth Bore making the Projectiles more Aerodynamic would be a big improvement,great video and Archflash has made a great first step toward a Gauss Gun.
The fact that it is almost completely silent and has little to no recoil is also really neat.
Considering it's place in the timeline of electrically driven guns I think the term 'E- Musket' would suit it well.
Definitely! It’s long, unhandy, inaccurate and got to be charged after every shot.
Would "Thunderbuss" be too goofy? 😄
@@Puffufuf If you could just dump a handful of steel balls into it and fire them shotgun style, "Thunderbuss" would be incredibly appropriate.
@@RedMageGaming you could already use masking tape and sewing needles to create a Flechette cannon, probably
@@Puffufuf Not at all, since I was thinking of Gaussket. Haha
To put this perspective: the GR-1 is like the musket (or even earlier) of gauss/coil guns, there's so much more to be done for it to rival modern-day weapons, but so did the early firearms compared to bows and crossbows of their time.
That's a good comparison for multiple reasons-- the bulk of the hard part going from cannon to man-portable firearm was in the size reduction, increasing the power, reliability and fire rate were fairly small refinements to the overall design. Taking this thing from something that weighs 500 pounds with 250 pounds of capacitor bank and causes the lights to flicker when you start charging it to something you can hold in your hand and fire repeatedly from a battery is the bulk of the really hard work. Going from that to a practical weapon is a comparatively small leap. It's already a theoretically lethal weapon, doubling the output power is a comparatively small refinement and would put this in the power range of a .38 S&W, a round that is indisputably capable of killing, if a little weak for the modern day. A 5-fold increase would put it in the range of an intermediate cartridge like 5.7mm
Yep, just like a musket its about a dozen technical innovations away from reaching its optimal form, but if anything it has one massive advantage: logistics. A gauss, unlike a normal firearm, pretty much does not care what you feed into it as long as it fits the barrel and is made of metal. That is an incredibly cheap bullet to make. Of course, you aren't going to feed it scrap metal for fun, but what you can is have a bucket-load of metal slugs that are immensely easy to carry around and store. They can't get damaged easily, there isn't gunpowder that can get wet. Hell there isn't cases to deal with, and unlike caseless ammo you don't have to deal with a fragile casing or overheating problems. That means that your requirements to produce and carry ammo are drastically lowered. And while making the firearm is harder, making the bullets for it becomes essentially workshop level trivial. Very much unusable in their current form BUT the progress in battery spurred by electric vehicles and smartphones is going to push the tech forward at great speeds.
@@dangerszewski9816 And I already imagine what would be the solution: A composite battery. There is a way to increase the current output of batteries is by putting them in parallel - the amount of current the batteries can support increases to the same degree to the amount of batteries you put in parallel, but for this application that means hundreds of batteries and the charger for those bateries would be challenging too, meaning they would have ho develop small batteries that you can build a parallel battery bank, and they have to be made with a good amount of precision as a voltage differential between batteries can generate unwanted current between them. As such, if the battery already outputs a high enough current you don't need a capacitor bank
@@mobiuscoreindustries It does need to be ferromagnetic, but you can pretty much just take a steel rod, cut it down to size, and then do whatever with it. Sharpen the tip for better aerodynamics and penetration, hollow it out and put all sorts of fun things, like high explosives, in it, as long as the coils can magnetically attract the projectile, the possibilities are nearly limitless.
@@suursuits7637 One thing I did think about is how the "propulsion" method scales a lot better with projectile mass. On top of that, the acceleration is a lot more drawn out and gradual compared to the thousands of G's worth of acceleration of gunpowder. So such a gun system would work wonders with a fin stabilized smart ammo or even just shoving a ton of explosives in it.
In the future we will have the AFL-V20K Thor... It will have a holographic sight with an integrated rangefinder, a detachable cooling sink, a level of EMProtection, and several types of factory-fit Bolts. Such as the basic Bolt, the Guide-Corrected Bolt, Splinterheads, Chemloads, and my personal favorite : Delayed Explosion-Applied Detonator (DEAD) Bolt.
Yellow bar amkes sense in a situation where you need to fire even with the risk as a "it might explode", and the red bar as a "it will explode"
Imagine about a century later, and Ian's great grandson is talking about how this was an ambitious gun that had some promise but ended up being a novelty, or remarking at how advance it was for the time. Basically ending up like half the guns actually covered on Forgotten Weapons
why not both?
I wouldn't be surprised at all considering Ian himself is the son of a firearms exoert. I have no idea how far back this goes in his family but lots of us Highland Scots and Irish pass down family traditions for many generations, not unlike the Japanese.
Or digitized consciousness Ian using his mind-linked robot to have a range day with his man portable plasma gun as magnetic rifles that use metal slugs are so last century when all the cool kids now use high energy plasma created in a magnetic field before it is released and accelerated magnetically, so it hits with hypervelocity kinetic and thermal effects.
Honestly I don't think that will happen. Rail guns and gauss guns are some of the more promising "sci-fi weapon" technologies at this time. Especially since there is a great industrial demand on the world market in general for more advanced batteries and ways to manipulate electrical currents (on account of the electric car industry). Laser guns are much much further into the future, since the power demands for direct energy weapons are that much higher to ever be of practical use. And then there's plasma weapons being a common sci-fi trope, but also presents a whole slew of other problems like being able to generate plasma hot enough to cause lethal damage and also finding means to project it in a desired direction. So out of these three, gauss guns and rail guns are definitely the most viable.
@@sevenproxies4255 What makes it more effective than contemporary firearms?
This XCOM play-through is going pretty well, we’ve unlocked magnetic weapons.
Magnetic Weapons available from the start of the game? I've heard of playing on easy, but damn. And we already have Arc Throwers (tazers).
"Here we have several magnetic weapons - generously donated for review by the XCOM and Xenonauts programs - ergonomics on the alien plasma weapons aren't so great, but we have these bad boys."
mf keeps it on em
I just happened to buy that on steam today lol
smh, this must be his first playthrough for not rushing sonic weaponry first. Lobstermen are going to fuck us up.
Thank you for this demonstration of the Gauss Gun.
That is amazing and can see a future in some very niche applications, when accuracy and punching power is sorted out. Any steel tube could go in that thing, got legs!
21:45 - you can hear the capacitors charging up like an old camera flash. I love it.
It's sooo much the same concept, down to the trigger design Ian talks about. Like my old photo camera, if I partly depress the button, it'll use power from the battery to charge a capacitor, making that noise, then the signal will come on, I fully depress and bang, the flash / gun goes off.
Sounds like I thought a gun of the future would sound like as a child. Soon the sound of guns racking will be replaced with the high pitched sound of capacitors charging.
@@42Antares42 Some simple DIY coil guns are built using the flash mechanism from those cameras
oh, to have tinnitus-free ears... every moment of every day is like an old school camera flash charging for me. Protect your hearing, kids!
Likes some shit from fallout lmao
Quite a fascinating look at the infancy of a new type of weapon. It's bulky and impractical, but the fact that they have gotten the concept of a gauss weapon to the level of commercial functionality is still impressive.
It's a 13th century hand cannon. Looks cool and makes all the other kids at the real renaissance fair want one too, but needs a lot of R&D to be a practical military, defensive, or hunting weapon. Still, you have to start somewhere.
@@kentvesser9484 Technological advancement tends to be a lot faster now than it was then Maybe instead of 300 years to get it right this time it'll only take 10% of that time
I had a couple initial "That was it?" impressions, then I remembered that somehow, somebody managed to make ALL that tech man-portable, and mostly unobtrusive as well, and I swung right back around to very impressed.
I'm surprised Biden didn't gift wrap this and leave it overseas as well
I think if the projectiles were smaller and lighter, and the coils wrapped around the barrel in order to provide spin, I think Gauss guns have the potential to be highly accurate and practically recoilless weapons.
I could see this being extremely useful technology for fixed applications. You could probably use 3 phase electricity to add spin to the projectile
having worked in automation where we use these kinds of components, that gun is serious.
This is the musket of the modern age. Primitive and unwieldy, yes, but a harbinger of things to come.
it's not, we won't be using linear accelerators outside of ships and weapon emplacements, simply because the energy needed is so great and there are very much hard physical limits to this type of stuff, eg: capacitor size to farad/voltage ratio, efficiency of the linear accelerator etc... because let's be fair, i have seen slingshots more dangerous than this, while only weighing a fraction
@@quantuman100 but that is why this is just a harbinger it is like Ian said it is barely in alpha stage of testing
@@quantuman100 All it takes is one breakthrough to completely reshape our fundamental understating of science and reality.
@@SemenTheSailor yes, i'm sure that someone will come along and shatter our understanding of physics... you know what the interesting part is? last time we put all the smartest minds together, something that basically gave us the field of quantum physics and was one of these shattering of the understanding of science and reality... we found that the stuff we where using before was still 99.9% correct! turns out Newtonian calculations are still sufficient in order to have a workable but not perfect model of reality so even if we have a modern solvay conference, don't expect that what we have until now to no longer apply, we will simply better understand the mechanisms behind it
@@SemenTheSailor yeah but I seriously doubt that a breakthrough of that nature will come from trying to make handheld gauss rifles. Why waste money and time on this when we have far more functional weapons already, which could potentially be improved on.
As far as looks goes, I'm incredibly suprised how close Fallout 4 got.
Holy shit, you're right
Like god intended
My thoughts exactly
I'm willing to bet it's not a coincidence
2077 is only 55 years away
We have entered the "Set phasers to stun" era
My God, it's awesome! Normally, I like the parts encased, but I like the bare design of this one.
2022: "The long projectile is about as long as a .308 case" 2032: “We fire the whole bullet, that's 65% more bullet per bullet”
Love the portal reference I was thinking the same thing lmao
JJ Simmons collab when?
The point is that it could fire a 308… (the entire round down range…)
Awesome reference! Thanks for reminding me of one of my favorite games!
@@allangibson2408 Screw that, I want to shoot a slug made of highly unstable fissile material such as Californium at sufficient velocity to go critical mass on impact...lol. Can't wait to see the ATF ruling on that one.
"Here at arcflash labs we belive in delivering the best customer experience - that's why our gun fires the entire cartridge! That's 300% more bullet per bullet!"
Sounds like something you would hear in a Borderlands weapon manufacturer advertisement
@Aaron Cutting Lol. Nice "Portal" game (Easter egg) reference XD
@@jfs1291 "Let's go ahead and get this out of the way: Most of my merchandise was taken from the hands of dead adventurers."
Aperture science hah
@@jfs1291 lmao very accurate 😂
"Assuming everything goes as it's supposed to" seems like it's doing some heavy lifting.
I would love to see a follow up video, on how much they advanced it so far. ❤
Please Ian, we all know the 3 second “charge” is a cooldown for balance purposes, this would be way too OP otherwise
SAFETY NOTE: Always treat the capacitors like they're live, like how you never ever point your barrel at someone
Yup, Capacitors have a nasty habit of sneaking up on you, and these things are monsters, if they don´t hurt, they kill outright. I guess, a few percent of residual charge is enough for a painful surprise
It's interesting to note that this rifle is never fully "safe". With projectiles removed the battery is still potentially a fire hazard, and even with that removed, the capacitors are still potentially an electrical hazard. That's a bit different to a normal firearm where if it's definitely unloaded, it's about as dangerous as a mousetrap.
@@cnawan Like firearms, unloaded this thing is only as lethal as you can swing it. Also, ammunition can literally explode, which is like the one thing worse than catch on fire. The rules can be contrasted as such: firearms and live ammo never mix unless you know what you're shooting at and it's a good idea to shoot it, and you should never ever touch one of those capacitors unless you are for sure certain that it and you are safe, because you can do all the things you need too with those capacitors with equipment that keeps you safe if those designers are worth their salt.
@@cnawan You can definitely discharge capacitors safely, depending on how the power delivery system is designed. But it's not an insurmountable issue.
People have to remember the dielectric absorption. HV capacitors need to be short circuited during storage to avoid this effect.
I made a little coil gun in high school for a project, nowhere near as hardcore as this, inspiring me to step up my game.
Some science fiction novels have had weapons like this in their stories for a while. Specifically as large weapons on ships in space. The idea basically that you spit out a lot of metal in front of an enemy ship or satellite and lack of atmosphere/gravity keeps the "bullet" travelling at a constant rapid rate.
Getting closer to the Needler video
Plasma rifle
I’m amazed by how fictional gauss rifles like those in STALKER and Fallout resemble this prototype in appearance and function. Similar magazine sizes, charge times, even a charge-up sound (although the video game ones use much more dramatic noises). The game devs must have done their homework, or life is imitating art once again.
In a sense it's the homework. A powerful flashbulb for photography, or even a disposable camera, makes a similar high-pitched whine as it charges. A battery dumping energy into a bank of capacitors is relatively old technology, at least conceptually.
@@thefez-cat absolutely, we’ve had the know how to do this for a very long time. Large Capacitors lots of amps lots of induction lots of magnetic field. Very simple theory. We just haven’t had good enough battery’s and capacitors until now.
Believe it or not, the gauss gun concept had been around decades before the game release.
"Until now" yeah, we still don't. While impressive as a dangerous toy, a 22lr is more effective than this thing. Hell, a sling is a better weapon. Maybe in 30 years.
@Nice Until the next big war that is... *glancing nervously at Ukraine*
The potential of this is amazing !
A flat battery with wireless charging mats and specific contacts, 2 batteries with with a wider tapering stock. A No2 cartridge compartment for gas assisted loading chambering for rifling and cooling. No2 gets cold when going through friction. Like filling a paintball tank. Capacitors that feel better in the hand and a rail to hold the in place for a mount like a bipod. Could throw a flexible replaceable solar cell on the outside stock side of the battery for unused charging. There's potential there.
Reminds me of the really early lasers. They look ludicrously huge and foreign but they eventually got smaller and more practical.
Only thing is that every single component of this gun is way older than laser as a technology. Capacitors, batteries, coils, etc. It’s been in use for decades before first lasers.
God right, insane to think about. Now they are smaller then a duracel battery and just need to operate on one.
Yes but it took a lot of time for those components, mainly batteries, to get small and efficient enough to be used portable. Also the computer controlling it.
Although those components are low tech, they require high tech materials and manufacturing technology to make the gun practical.
This is a completely different problem from miniaturizing lasers. The power supply on this device has a much lower specific energy and much lower specific power than does conventional smokeless powder. That is a fundamental fact of chemistry and nature.
Huge missed opportunity to shoot this at something interesting like a cinder block. Would like to see what these solid slugs do even at the lower velocity of this prototype.
so? did ya take the special offer?
WATERMELON!!!
I don't think it does much tbh. Still, that would have been my target of choice as well.
It would bounce off, maybe lightly crack it. Definitely wouldn't pierce or shatter it. You can tell based on sound alone that this thing is ridiculously weak. Not a true Gauss rifle. It's essentially a toy gun, equivalent to a high powered BB gun, at best.
@@monkeysk8er33 that sort of thinking is how kids end up on the news
It would be very easy to experiment with projectile shapes and sizes - spiral fluted to add spin like rifled shotgun slugs, or shape it with a conical point and front heavy to minimize Tumblr. It might also be possible to have more than one barrel in order to increase the rate of fire or to be able to fire different projectile types or different diameters - think of .17 and 45/70 coming from the same gun.
"why would you want that? It's not practical at all" "because its fuckin awesome thats why"
This really goes to show just how much energy gunpowder really holds.
It's high explosive
@@KneeCapHill Not... Exactly...
@@KneeCapHill its literally a low explosive.
Gunpowder doesn't actually hold much energy, it's a slow burning propellant. We modulate the energy released through pressure manipulation
@@21kiwi24 I mean, if you stuck a detonator in it, it’ll detonate. It’s nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose. We just don’t detonate it.
As a welder... wow. 16,000 amps?! For reference, guys, hardcore fabrication units run anywhere from 100-1000 amps. 16,000 @ 25 volts is insane. When Ian says that's a tremendous amount of energy, that's no joke. I run pretty hot welding rods at 170 amps @ 20-28 volts.
Im surprised it doesnt melt
One thing to consider is time. 16k amps for a half second is way less than 1000 amps sustained for 5 minutes.
Not to undersell the amount of power in the device, it's still awesome.
As Brad says, there's a big difference between peak and continuous power, and they're not really comparable without taking time into consideration. I have a pulse capacitor here not much bigger than a soda can that can dump 50,000 amps, but only for microseconds. Energy (Joules) = Power (Watts) X Time (Seconds). Jack's welder is running about 4000 watts continuous (170A*24V), or 4000 joules every second. So every 5 seconds that welder puts out more energy than the muzzle energy of a .50 BMG (5 seconds * 4000J = 20,000J) :O That's some serious energy, but it's not all being released in a short burst with high power like with firearms or explosives.
@@clotz1820 duty cyle of this thing is tiny. That current is spent in milliseconds.
This was ALL SORTS of fun to watch and I see a gauss rifle needs no silencer!
I like That the hollow projectile is a drop in concrete anchor making this ammo nice and cheap
Very nice, and nostalgic for me. In 1989 I built a coil gun as an item of interest for my electronics students. We did not have 3d printing or arduinos, but the basic physics are set in, well.. physics! Other than keeping coil reactance low, and gauss high, the key is to use a massive overvoltage on the coils, and timing the capacitor dump with light beams. It is very critical that the coil is shutdown just before the projectile centers itself in the coil, otherwise you will be applying unwanted braking force. The simplest way to achieve this is by an entry position of the light beam, vs the length of the projectile. In this manner, the shutoff time on that coil can be optimized, no computers needed. In my 1989 version, our voltage limit was based on available capacitors and switching transistors. So we ran at 400V with 450v caps and used TV horizontal output transistors, 2SC1308, for the switching element. As you can imagine (with each stage identical) the amount of energy contributed by successive stages diminishes. We ended up with 5 stages which would shoot A 6mmx35mm iron core through a 1989 pop can at about 40ft. Not significant, but fun! We liked to call it a rail gun because that sounded cooler than coil gun, but very quickly changed that to mass accelerator so to not panic the staff and administration. Really great to see this modernized iteration, keep up the great work!
that is really cool! thanks for sharing
Wish we had more teachers like you, dude.
“Very quickly changed that to mass accelerator” hahahaha, good work dude
That's awesome. My teachers didn't even know how to change the batteries in their TV remotes.
That'd awesome! Yeah, science!
For living in the future, the most terrifying noise to come will be the sudden high-pitched "weeeeeee" of a charging coil gun. Especially if right behind you unexpectedly.
There are scarier things, that are banned but probably still are being developed in secret.
that's probably just the riffle interfering with the mic.
I'm hoping more for an "ominous hummmmmm". Heh
Wasn't that in 'Men In Black'?
@@bastian_5975 That is common sound of switched power sources, even the way it sounds is just same as loaded/unloaded power supply, you can hear how it changes during charging. If you will grab power source of your laptop, or printer or something similar and put it close to your ear, you would hear almost the same sound of square wave.
Very cool it was louder then I was expecting it to be.
You know electrocution is death. Electric execution. “Electrocute you and potentially kill you“, is redundant. Shock is the word you’re looking for. Im not throwing shade. That term is just a pet peeve of mine. Your wisdom is incredible. I love your content
This thing is so of our time, I love it. 3d printing, USB ports, etc. People in the coming decades will look back on this like we do those cool 80s top mounted lasers, even if the gauss stuff doesn't take off (which I'll admit I'm skeptical it will, at least in a small arms context)
The only diffnce between this and the US navy's gun.. is power sorce and no one honestly belives we hit peak battery or powerplant yet.
Even if they never take off as a normal rifle or anything, I'm convinced there will be a niche for these just in how quiet they are. They're not even trying to make this one quiet and it already makes a suppressed firearm sound like a cannon.
@@GreenBlueWalkthrough I wouldn't say that there's no difference other than power. One is a railgun with a multi-ton barrel with a life of 100 shots, the other a handheld coilgun with a perspex barrel. One weighs many tons and accelerates about 4 Kg to 3 Km/s (or mach 10), producing up to 32 megawatts in muzzle energy. The other can be out-classed by a strong man with a slingshot. One needs a conductive projectile that doesn't benefit from added mass, the other needs a ferromagnetic projectile that automatically benefits from a heavier shot. Different in every appreciable way besides being weapons driven by electricity and firing a metal projectile.
As we get room temperature super conductors, and better batteries I see gauss taking off for small arms.
@@GreenBlueWalkthrough If you mean the one on the Zumwalt it was a railgun, it's a very different weapon. It uses much more sophisticated projectiles but doesn't need complex coils around the length of the 'gun'.
Being a Navy vet, I never thought I’d be around to see the day when we had a real shoulder fired Gauss gun. As compared to the rail guns. With the leaps and bounds the world has been making in battery and electronics tech in my lifetime I can only imagine what this will be like in the next 5-10 years. Awesome that we got to see Ian get his hands on it for us.
There are important differences between a Gauss gun and a rail gun - specifically the ablation of the barrel on rail guns. The interview Ian did with one of the designers of this prototype talk about those differences.
probably not much change except i there is some miracle revolution with parts of electronics used... some do believe that graphene can drastically improve capacitors and that is like 100 fold improvement but doesnt seem it will happen any time soon. but yeah that would make it far less bulky
In 5-10 years, they'll have slick injection molded furniture. The limitation of the battery not detonating and the gun not melting itself means that handhelds like this aren't likely to be anything more than a toy for a while. Bows and crossbows thousands of years old and even with all the modern technology of the last few hundred years, launching a projectile with mechanically stored energy hasn't changed much, electrically stored energy's efficiency hasn't improved much in the last 5 or so years, Tesla's last major improvement was doubling the capacity of a battery by doubling the size.
anymore 10 years in the tech world is an entire lifetime of innovation.
@@neglectfulsausage7689 I agree with you for the most part but the reason we don't have green energy rockets is literally because there's no other way to do it
Not a single comment about the terrifying lack of sound. Not only is almost silent ACTUALLY but I would not register that a gun shot.. TACTICAL AS FK
All I'm seeing here is the Bolter from Warhammer 40,000k in its very first (ancient) prototype. 👍🏽✔️
“This thing has the muzzle energy of a 22 long” that absolutely blew my mind. May not be a powerful round but I personally just wasn’t expecting this thing to be anywhere near that level of power at this early stage.
That's not much for the size of the projectile
Still wouldn't want to get hit by one Wonder how they would interact with ballistic gel
100J is enough to kill
This is the gauss rifle equivalent of a match lock. There is a lot of room for future development
With the advantage that the target won't fail to notice he was shot in the heart till after he beat you to death.
Greatest line ever: “Don’t stick a fork in the gauss rifle.”
-Terran Marine Proverb
@@pearz420 everyone gangsta till the grass rifle researches u-235 bullets
"Do not look at the operational end of the device"
I expected it to be.. Louder. I genuinely didn't realize he was even firing the thing at first.
I hate to have to say it, but licking this weapon is far more lethal than being hit by this weapon.