Gauss Automatic Rifle

Official Designation: Morrigan-pattern gauss rifle

Basic Description

Gauss weapons are fundamentally very similar to modern firearms in that they shoot solid projectiles, but instead of chemical propellants gauss weapons use a long series of powerful electromagnets set into the barrel to accelerate a metal dart at speeds vastly exceeding that of conventional guns, but with far less recoil, fewer moving parts, and no need for gunpowder of any kind. Advanced cultures often make use of gauss weapons as personal, vehicle, or even starship-scale weapons for the amount of kinetic damage they can inflict on a target. Gauss weapons often use far less energy to shoot than weapons-grade lasers and particle beams. Personal-scale gauss weapons can shoot spikes at hypersonic speeds, while starship-scale accelerator cannons can, with enough power channeled into their EM coils, fire their shots at velocities that can reach a significant fraction of the speed of light, creating explosive impacts that can be the equivalent of kilotons (or even megatons) of TNT.

Gauss weapons prove that Sir Isaac Newton is the baddest son of a bitch in the galaxy.

History

The gauss automatic rifle has been undergoing tests and development within the Delmo Corporation since 2002 when Solarchos returned from the "Gensokyo Incident", bringing with him an advanced railgun assault rifle that he'd acquired during the final battles there. The original gauss battle-rifle was clearly of unknown origin, and no one in Gensokyo knew how it had gotten there or who could have introduced what was obviously offworld technology. Still, upon obtaining it Morrigan turned the weapon over to the Delmo's research and development department for examination.

During the events of the Unmei Wars five years later, a breakthrough was finally made by Delmo Corp's R&D and they were successful in replicating the gauss rifle. The Jolly Rogers Platoon of the Moon Kingdom Army then began to field test the new weapons, using them successfully in battle against various forces of the Imperium of Man, including a Deathwatch Kill-Team. During the Egae Crusade later that same year, when the original Necromundan 8112th switched sides and defected from the Imperium, the entire regiment was reequipped and rearmed entirely with the new mass-produced gauss rifles, which were vastly superior to anything normally issued to Imperial forces outside of the Space Marines.

Prior to the outbreak of the Zealot Wars, the gauss rifle design underwent another change. The information gathered from the Egae Crusade had indicated that while the current weapons had performed beyond expectations, they were hampered by high energy requirements, relatively low magazine capacity, and cost to produce. With the establishment of the Van Saar Nation, as well as the first official foundings of new Imperial Guard regiments, a new type of weapon was commissioned: the Morrigan-pattern gauss rifle.

The Morrigan-pattern rifle can best be considered a "gauss assault rifle", reducing the overall size of the spikes fired in order to increase capacity and scale back energy requirements to fire each shot. The 100-round clip (doubled from 50) greatly improved the logistics of the weapon (meaning a soldier could carry far more shots). Less-sophisticated accelerator rails reduced the overall damage of the weapon by a third, but cut the costs to make each weapon by half. Extensive tests indicated that the Morrigan-pattern was still a highly-effective and deadly weapon, one that was far cheaper to produce and received very well by the soldiers they were issued to. When the Zealot Wars erupted, the Morrigan-pattern proved its worth and became one of the signature weapons of the Van Saar Federation.

However, during the Zealot Wars several specialist units (and former veterans of the Necromundan 8112th) unofficially switched back to the original "Mark-1" gauss rifles, which had fewer shots but were far more damaging, especially against heavily armored targets (such as Chaos Marines and other super-heavy soldiers of the Alliance). Eventually, the Federation began manufacturing and issuing upgraded versions of the original Mark-1 rifles to certain heavy assault units: the Medea-pattern heavy gauss rifle.

Statistics

Weight (loaded): 10 pounds

Shots per clip: 100 for the Morrigan, 50 for the Medea

Caliber: 2mm steel-jacketed tungsten-carbide for the Morrigan, 3mm for the Medea

Velocity: 2000 meters per second

Rate of Fire: 500 rounds per minute, firing in either single shot or 4-round bursts.

Maximum Range: 4500 meters

Penetration: A spike fired by a Morrigan-pattern can easily punch through 0.7 inches of armor-grade steel. A spike fired by a Medea-pattern can easily defeat 1.25 inches of armor-grade steel.

Damage: A hit from a 2mm shard from a Morrigan-pattern will inflict damage equivalent to a 30-06 rifle round. A hit from a 3mm shard from a Medea-pattern will cause injuries as damaging as a hit from a .50 BMG shot.

Physical Effects: Getting hit from a gauss shard is like getting hit by a hypervelocity nailgun. Soft targets (like living creatures) will be punctured by the spike and likely run through by it, suffering little in the way of hydrostatic shock (like with regular bullets) but the cavitation effect will make up for the lack of that. Or, in simpler terms, a person shot by a gauss spike will be in deep trouble as the vacuum caused by the spike's passage will tear at the surrounding tissue as it shoots through the body, creating small entry wounds but much-larger exit wounds that bleed heavily. Harder targets, such as heavy body armor and power suits, will sustain shatter damage upon getting struck. Repeated impacts to the same area can eventually wear down and destroy sections of even Astartes power armor.

Technical Systems: Some of the gauss rifle's internal mechanisms have been deliberately patterned after the components used by the Kantrael model-36 short-pattern laser rifle used by the Imperium of Man. Laser weapons are one type of technology the Imperium understands extremely well, and the standard laser rifle used by the Imperial Guard is arguably one of the sturdiest and most reliable weapons in the galaxy. Gauss rifles incorporate the same heat dissipation and power regulation systems, making them that much simpler to maintain and manufacture.

Known Ammunition Types

> coming soon <