Rifts Up Close: TX-500 Rail Gun

By Tim Willard

As recently as 57 PA weapons from the industrial giant Triax began appearing in the North American eastern seaboard and around the Great Lakes area. A German company that supposedly survived the fall of Man and the Great Cataclysm, Triax weaponry is considered to be superior to most "local" weapons, regardless of their real abilities, and Triax capitalizes on this viewpoint. Unknown to most of the population of North America, Triax is locked in war with an empire of supernatural creatures, and so uses the Great Lakes area and North America in general as a "field testing" ground for weaponry, so that any problems in the design show up in the field testing rather than when one of their soldier's has a demon bearing down on him. Additionally, the North American market allows Triax to get rid of a lot of the stored and out of date weaponry that no longer sells in Europe.

Introduced in 99 PA, the TX-500 rail gun is actually a departure from the traditional railgun. Normally two or more magnetic rails run the length of the barrel, but for the Triax-500, the rails are roughly 1/3 of the barrel length, and magnetic "pressure" is used to fire the round.

The weapon's case is of brushed durasteel, with the stock made of macroplast, rather than the more common duraplast. The weapon is well machined, with the tolerance being less than 1000th of a micron in variance in over 100 weapons randomly selected for examination. At the same time, the weapon can handle up to 1.5 microns variance in parts, allowing for extended field wear on moving parts or parts subject to friction.

The two magnetic rails are 50% thicker than normal, and covered with magnetic plastic that passes magnetic and electrical currents quite easily, and has almost no friction despite intense heat generated within the the barrel of the weapon. Both rails can be quickly and easily pulled from the weapon and replaced in under 10 seconds by a trained operator while under fire.

The forward handgrip is made of deformable plastics, to allow a solid grip by even armored fingers covered with liquid, prevented field slippage or loose grip aiming errors under rapid fire.

The top mounted scope is not built in, but rather is fit to a low picatinny rail system, allowing the scope to be swapped out for one that the end buyer prefers. Some more unscrupulous weapons dealers remove the scope and sell the railgun without it, selling the scope seperately for up to 1000 Cr.

The power conduit receptor is located underneath the weapon, several inches forward of the trigger guard, and has a locking ring to accept locking cables, or the Triax TX-500PU micro-fusion reactor, which provides over 300KW steadily, and is easily able to last up to 5 years before needing refueling. (5,000 Credits, needs 500 Cr worth the fuel. Most dealers swap the micro-reactors out with a 2,500 Cr exchange cost and just refuel it later, or trade it to Triax, who takes old reactors for 1,000 Cr toward a new reactor (which they charge 1,500 Cr for) regularly.) The reactor is far smaller than anything found on the North American continent, and more than a few traders have made a living off of selling the 400KW fusion generators to settlements, and only offering the rifle with a reactor conduit cable.

Beneath the standard firing barrel is a gas vent tube, allowing compressed gasses pushed forward by the accelerating rounds to be bled off into the tube in order to prevent muzzle velocity loss due to air compression in the barrel. However, the weapon is still effective if the tube is cracked, broken off, or dented, just with 25% less range and slightly less damage.

The trigger assembly differs from most North American rail gun systems as it is designed for the whole hand, rather than the index finger. The grip is built in such a way that it can accommodate cyborg hands, power armor gloves, or environmental body armor gloves. The trigger requires a 15 lb pull to fire the weapon, making accidental discharges less likely. However, after a year or two of steady use, the trigger begins to lose about 1 lb per 3-6 months, until it only requires a 5 lbs pull, or like many borgs say: "It's as smooth as butter."

The rounds are fed into the chamber on a frangible link belt, where the separated sections of the belt are thrown from the left side. Once the round hits the chamber, magnetic chamber pressure of a much higher rate than other weapons, pushes the round into the rails at over 2,570 m/s, nearly reaching the speeds other weapons have for muzzle velocity. The weapon also has extensive shock dampening, recoil compensation, and magnetic saturation protection elements, preventing over saturation of the chamber with magnetic fields from lowering the weapon's cyclic firing speed, or from reducing barrel pressure.

In addition, the belt feed port has a locking mechanism to allow special magazines, sold virtually everywhere Triax equipment is sold, to be used in case a belt is damaged or runs out. Many cyborgs prefer the magazines, sold in sizes up to 5 bursts, to the belts, which foes like Juicers and Crazies target in order to deprive the operator of the weapon ammunition.

The solid stock contains a buttkit, within are tools to take apart the weapon, a wrench to remove stuck cables or power packs, tools to remove a jammed shell, a demagnetizer/deguasser for use on the rails or the chamber, a diagnostic scanner the size of a thumbnail, and a small instruction booklet on the proper maintenance of the weapon and proper use of the tools and scanner.

Weight: 80 lbs
Length: 48"
Caliber: 18mm
Muzzle Velocity: 6,432 m/s
Maximum Range: 2000m (6000 ft)
Maximum Effective Range: 1500m (4500 ft)
Typical Combat Range: 700m (2100 ft)
Magazine Capacity: Belt Fed, however mini-clips are available in 90 round ,120 round, and 150 round sizes
Manufacturer's Cost: 22,000 Cr
Wholesale Cost: 55,000 Cr
Manufacturer's Recommended Price: 85,000 Cr
Black Market Price: 125,000+ Cr
Wilderness Price: 35,000 Cr