This thing can produce 18.7 joules of energy to throw its 42 grain (0.1 ounce) projectile at about 100 feet per second. It takes approximately 5 to 10 seconds to recharge between shots and must be plugged into 388V power supply to do so.
The M855 5.56mm cartridge that an M16 fires has about 1600 joules of energy in it and throws its 62 grain (0.14 oz) bullet at 2800 feet per second. It can fire as fast as the operator can pull the trigger or in three round automatic bursts.
I bet gyrojet pistols come first. We can fix the problems they had. Gyrojets were really awesome as long as your target wasn't too close and wasn't moving and your ammo wasn't defective.
David Drake had an interesting sidebar about this in one of his books. A large disadvantage is that electricity discharges from a central well with each shot, i.e. the entire stored charge gets weaker on a shot-by-shot basis. This is opposed to modern bullets, which each have the same amount of force because it's just a measured charge burning out of a cheap cylinder of brass. So for electric guns to have any kind of worth on the battlefield, you have to come up with an expendable way to store a lot of charge; a capacitor you're willing to have eject out of the side of the gun into the underbrush. ... Alright, maybe it's not *that* interesting.
That is a lot of effort to invent a shittier version of a slingshot. The three stars are for the giant light-bulb charge status indicator.
-Zato - there is no way in hell those little-finger sized steel slugs he was using are 42 grain. They have to be closer to 500, please recalculate, and then we can giggle at him more)
5 stars of pure crap. A kid could build better with a rubber band and a plank of wood.
I also like how he shows off the "reload mechanism" which everyone else just calls gravity and the giant lightbulb that turns on after every shot which in his mind probably equates to muzzle flash.
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