Prototype Automatic Gauss Gun Developed

Although I love firearms I must admit that I'm beginning to find old fashioned chemical propulsion to be rather boring. Thankfully the hacker community has been working on this issue by developing exciting new electromagnetic propulsion systems. Meet the fully automatic Gauss gun:

While it may only be able to shoot a few cans right now, we certainly wouldn’t want to be in front of [Jason]‘s fully automatic Gauss gun capable of firing 15 steel bolts from its magazine in less than two seconds.

The bolts are fired from the gun with a linear motor. [Jason] is using eight coils along the length of his barrel, each one controlled by an IGBT. These are powered by two 22 Volt 3600mAh LiPo battery packs.

Here's a video of the weapon firing:

Obviously the weapon isn't very deadly at this point in time but it's a prototype developed by a hobbyist in his spare time. As technology tends to do, this design will continue to advance until it becomes a viable weapon platform. These are the things I get excited about in the firearm industry these days, new prototypes that make actual advances.