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Technology

Handheld railgun as powerful as an air rifle to go on sale in the US

By David Hambling

12 August 2021

91av. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

The GR-1 Anvil electromagnetic rifle

Arcflash Labs

An electromagnetic rifle, which propels a steel projectile using electromagnetic coils, is now being offered for pre-order in the US by Arcflash Labs, a Los Angeles company specialising in industrial pulsed power devices.

People have been building weapons that propel bullets with magnetic force for more than a century, from small student projects to the US Navy’s giant experimental railguns, but they haven’t previously progressed beyond the research stage.

The new device is known as the GR-1 (“Gauss rifle”) ANVIL. It is a coilgun, with eight sets of electromagnetic coils in…

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