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[Rolepgeek]

Mechs in a historical fiction setting tend to work best with Magic or magitech, as it avoids much of these problems, while enabling weird schizotech stuff like non-sealed machines so infantry can present a more viable threat.

But then, this ain't the fantasy weapons thread.

[GiglameshDespair]

Speaking from ignorance, but would the relatively crude cast iron rods (or whatever form of iron) they use even be able to survive the stress and heat of being able to be fired from a railgun? I imagine that's quite a lot of forces they're under.

[Sheb]

It might make more sense to have the mech's armaments mostly useless due to the locals not being able to manufacture ammo, and be replaced by locally made muskets/bombards (possible using recycled high-quality barrels from autocannons). That way, you got your bulletproof mechs fighting infantry as mobile fortresses (they can still stomp ofc).

[Dirst]

Speaking from ignorance, but would the relatively crude cast iron rods (or whatever form of iron) they use even be able to survive the stress and heat of being able to be fired from a railgun? I imagine that's quite a lot of forces they're under.

Even if the iron melts before getting out the barrel, it would still present a Bad Day to whatever it hit.  Maybe these iron slugs are fitted into what were intended as disposable sabots, but the locals need to recover them from the battlefield to construct more rounds.

[Amperzand]

Honestly, assuming the railguns are firing at a velocity that doesn't hinder their ability to function in atmosphere, wrought iron rods should survive firing, at least mostly. I'd be more worried about the barrels, and honestly they should just be using coilguns, they're basically better for long term, high-performance jobs.

[Parsely]

So basically the mechs have spaceguns, (HV impactors and I guess either lasers, or not lasers because the hardware only worked for vacuum frequencies and was removed), and then normal guns for purposes of normal targets.

I would contest that unless the railguns are straight broken, it'd actually be easier to manufacture ammunition for them than for the autocannon. Ferrous rods hardened as far as the locals can get them would still do work, although if the guns are specifically railguns their barrel life is going to be pathetic, and the locals probably can't make those very well.

Yes.

The problem is less making the ammo and more understanding that these are magnetic guns that fling ferrous projectiles. It's a wacky concept compared to the ways the medievals already know how to fling things.

It might make more sense to have the mech's armaments mostly useless due to the locals not being able to manufacture ammo, and be replaced by locally made muskets/bombards (possible using recycled high-quality barrels from autocannons). That way, you got your bulletproof mechs fighting infantry as mobile fortresses (they can still stomp ofc).

I can see them just reusing the brass and reloading those to reuse in the modern artillery. I don't think that would be too tough to do. But yes, to a large degree that is what's going to happen. They're only going to keep what they know how to use (i.e. the powder artillery).

[Amperzand]

Well, with reloading metallic cartridges, you have to know a bunch of chemistry and so on to make the primers ETC work correctly. With the kinetics, whatever ammunition remains with the gun is, under examination, obviously weird-shaped arrows made of some kind of metal, and huh, weird, it rusts, let's try iron. With railguns, the projectile literally just needs to be conductive, with coilguns, it just needs to be magnetic. If they have compasses, somebody might notice that the coilgun starts fucking with their lodestones when it's powered, and try loading it with lodestone bits, and things would progress from there.

[Parsely]

Well, with reloading metallic cartridges, you have to know a bunch of chemistry and so on to make the primers ETC work correctly.

With railguns, the projectile literally just needs to be conductive, with coilguns, it just needs to be magnetic.

If they have compasses, somebody might notice that the coilgun starts fucking with their lodestones when it's powered, and try loading it with lodestone bits, and things would progress from there.

What do you mean?

Again, I said the ammo wouldn't be that big a problem compared to cartridges for artillery.

People were apparently steering ships by compass in the 1400s so that's not too farfetched I suppose.

[Amperzand]

While I admit that last post was rather incoherent, what specifically are you questioning?

[Parsely]

While I admit that last post was rather incoherent, what specifically are you questioning?

I'm curious what kind of chemistry you need to know to make primers.

[Sheb]

You need fairly advanced stuff. What if they're electric primers? But yeah, the crap rounds would explain why the mech's armament is suddenly not effective anymore.

[Dirst]

You need fairly advanced stuff. What if they're electric primers? But yeah, the crap rounds would explain why the mech's armament is suddenly not effective anymore.

I'm sure at least one of these inoperative arm-mounted railguns will have a ginormous sword blade permanently implanted.  Meanwhile an iron cannon on each shoulder provides actual ranged fire.

[Amperzand]

While I admit that last post was rather incoherent, what specifically are you questioning?

I'm curious what kind of chemistry you need to know to make primers.

The simplest compound I'm aware of is Mercury Fulminate, which AFAIK was developed in the 1800s, and has major issues with stability and toxicity. Other chemicals show up as you move forward, with modern firearms apparently using stuff from the 30s and 40s, and a lot of autocannon using special electrically ignited primers. I'm not sure how those work, if you're wondering, but I'm sure their chemistry is weird.

[Erkki]

I'm not sure how easy it is to manufacture but Mercury fulminate is corrosive. It was still used by all militaries until 1950s or so... Most modern primers are non-corrosive and use lead styphnate. Mercury fulminate has a small advantage in being slightly more reliable(and probably cheaper) which is why you find all former Warsaw Pact and modern Russian guns with chrome lined barrels: all of their mil grade ammo used to be corrosive until this decade!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_styphnate

[Sheb]

So, I've seen lots of people here say KKV could outperform antimatter as far as the amount of energy delivered goes. How does that make sense? Antimatter warhead impacting would (assuming 100 % anihilation) produce 2mc² worth of energy, where m is the antimatter mass. By definition, a KKV going at c will have a kinetic energy of mc²/2, where m is the kkv mass.