Laser Guns or Rail Gun

With the way that technology is advancing today, which do you think would be a better weapon, Rail guns or laser guns. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. I personally think that rail guns would be nice for their armor piercing abilities, but they are hindered by the need for ammo. Any thoughts? -Muzz

Rail guns have ammo, lasers have power.

Rail guns would probably make most armor useless. Lasers would probably be used to stop missiles.

Shoot, I don't know which one would be better.

RAIL GUNS, dude if there's this big ol' lummox of a meat head runnin' at ya, you'll want to stop him quick with a bursting rain of hot, high powered, led not some little Captin Kirk phaser; have ya seen those, I could stomp 'em

id like to say rail but the need for ammo is a big issue here. gotta be the laser not reaseached far enough yet but it gotta have potential but on the downside of things wot if battery goes flat lol

i dunno

Well, accutally, railguns use more power than lasers ( www.islandone.org... ) the power is used and makes plasma. the Maximum speed for the projectile is 6km/s!

I thinka that a rail gun could be used to fire long distance, high altitude ground artilery where as lasers couldn't. -Muzz

see the rail gun kicks major ass, TAKE THAT KIRK, hairpeice wearin' jerk

I think a steady laser beam could penetrate armor, but I would prefer a laser mainly because it would be much easier to obtain ammo. Rail guns are still cool, though.

If you had a laser like the main phaser on the Starship Enterprise, you might have a contest. Does anyone know if laser beams increase in size like any other beam of light. If I shoot a pinpoint from here is it going to be a foot wide in a mile withe half of the intensity? -Muzz

Originally posted by muzz
If you had a laser like the main phaser on the Starship Enterprise, you might have a contest.

that's a point I've never considered, Huge Lasers.

Does anyone know if laser beams increase in size like any other beam of light. If I shoot a pinpoint from here is it going to be a foot wide in a mile withe half of the intensity? -Muzz

I'm no Genious so don't quote me, but yea I think a laser can increase in size at the cost of intensity.

Thats what I thought. It's like a flashlight, it get bigger and dimmer the further away you move from it. -Muzz

rail guns would be excellent for well every aspect of combat u not think!!
i love them! my weapon of choice any day!

I agree with DevilWasp. Rail guns are much more powerful and the way to go.

Lasers cannot go through the clouds and smoke so they are not especially big deal except shooting down enemy misiles. They can be also used against the soft target but there is nothing that laser can do and 20 mm gatling cannot.

The railguns can see some limited use in the future however they need too much power to be efective. I dont think we will see significant use of railguns in next 20 years.

How bout a rail gun with a switch to switch ya over to laser mode. Kinda like the setting on a machine gun Auto/Full Auto

For line of sight weaponry; a laser, for artillery style attack, a rail gun

A laser in use would look pretty cool, but you cant beat the insane speed of a railgun projectile

Last I heard they had mounted an experimental railgun on a battleship, pretty big.

well i done some calc and i think (im no weapon exspert so dont trust my readings 100%)and i believe u need only a car/truck battery to acheive a good speed with a rail gun

Originally posted by devilwasp
well i done some calc and i think (im no weapon exspert so dont trust my readings 100%)and i believe u need only a car/truck battery to acheive a good speed with a rail gun

If you want to fire larger projectile, 25 mm for example, you need much more than a truck battery. If it was that simple all tanks would be already armed with railguns. You need huge energy input, and also don't forget to have really long barrel.

[Edited on 25-4-2004 by longbow]

naw u dini need it at 25 mm just get a washer and man thats the ultimate anti infantry weapon it would an could work with small infatry versions but be too exspensive giving each soldeir a car battery
secondly it wouldbe to exspensive for tanks now adays cause they would fire something slighty bigger than 25mm and the power needed would be to large