On 6/27/2015 12:14 PM, Richard Aiken wrote:
On Thu, Jun 25, 2015 at 9:12 PM, Kurt Feltenberger (via tml list) <nobody@simplelists.com> wrote:
While this would be the closest to canon (both the series bible and "The Science Of Battlestar Galactica" refer to them as 'railguns' or kinetic weapons), it would also be quite limiting . . . 

[Somehow gmail separated this post out into my "Promotions" folder, so I almost missed it . . . ]

How about applying the squeezed/tapered bore principle?

NOTE: According to http://www.quarryhs.co.uk/highvel.htm, the 2.8cm PzB 41, with a 28mm cartridge reducing to 20mm at the muzzle, achieved a muzzle velocity of just under 4,600 fps (1402.08 mps). This weapon weighed in at only 505 lbs (229 kg), including it's wheeled field carriage. If muzzle velocity scales linearly with overall weight, then a weapon of this type which masses 600,000 kg should have a muzzle velocity of ~3,673,572 mps.

This would work, but I'm trying to stick with either rail/coil guns or fusion/plasma guns and the design of the guns doesn't include an actual barrel so much as what appears to be a set of rails/frames extending and forming the "barrel".

Thanks for the idea, though! I had forgotten about the squeezebore and it might fit in something else I'm working on.

--
Kurt Feltenberger
kurt@thepaw.org/kfeltenberger@yahoo.com
“Before today, I was scared to live, after today, I'm scared I'm not living enough." - Me