While I'm not a shootingpunk, here a couple points. 1. The space behind the slug of a man-usable firearm isn't that big. To get a decent velocity you have to pack it with a propellant with a high energy content. Gas or vapor phase systems are generally too low in energy/volume (consider: you can run a car on cylinders with <100cc of space above the cylinder at max compression. If you filled the same space with cordite you'd blow the engine apart instantly). Using a larger combustion chamber feeding into the space behind the slug might work (search on gas guns). The whole thing gets complex and heavy, since you have to mix the fuel and oxidizer, and feed in the slug. 2. Liquid propellant guns (search on that term) are well developed for artillary, but I don't know of any light weapons which use this. LPGs are kind of neat in howitzer type applications because (1) A tank of propellant & a rack of projectiles takes less space than cased solid propellant shells, so you can carry more ammo, and (2) you can vary the propellant from shot to shot based on emergent conditions. One neat hack is 'time on target' in which a series of rounds are fired in quick succession, at different elevations and propellant load so they all arrive at the target simultaneously. (the LPG liquid propellant does not need an added oxidizer). Peter Trei

---------- From: keyser-soze@hushmail.com[SMTP:keyser-soze@hushmail.com] Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 7:32 PM To: cypherpunks@lne.com Subject: fuel injected firearm

Have any of the shootingpunks on the list heard of constructing a firearm from something akin to a internal combustion chamber?