Spring Rifles?

For discussion of the original 1978 rules and for the revised second edition that is entering development.

Spring Rifles?

Postby az_gamer » Fri Jun 24, 2016 5:11 am

Can anyone chime in on what a spring rifle is intended to be, function, or design? Is it some kind of Coil Gun or Gauss Weapon or is this something entirely different?
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Re: Spring Rifles?

Postby Jay_NOLA » Sat Jun 25, 2016 8:49 pm

They are from the Dorsa!i (Childe Cycle) series of book, which as you know the game drew stuff or was inspired from.

"Each man carried a handgun and knife in addition to his regular armament; but they were infantry, spring-rifle men. Weapon for weapon, any thug in the back alley of a large city had more, and more modern firepower; but the trick with modern warfare was not to outgun the enemy, but carry weapons he could not gimmick. Chemical and radiation armament was too easily put out of action from a distance. Therefore, the spring-rifle with its five thousand-sliver magazine and its tiny, compact, non-metallic mechanism which could put a sliver in a man-sized target at a thousand meters time after time with unvarying accuracy."

-Dorsai!, by Gordon R. Dickson


The series doesn't give any other detail on them except for that, but they are a type of "needle-gun" in the few other mentions of them in the series. Usually it is just a mention that a character is equipped with one, but we do get to see how deadly one is one book.

"Silence!" snapped the Force-Leader from his. "Hold your positions. If you don't—" But he had no time to finish, for, at that moment, the first serious assault of the Friendly infantry mounted the slope against us. And a sliver from a spring-gun took the Force-Leader high in the chest, just at the base of the neck, so that he fell back, choking on his own blood."

-Soldier Ask Not, by Gordon R. Dickson


Also of note for those reading the thread who don't know, the Rigel and Videni were also based off of heavily from the Dorsai and the Friendlies from the series. (I usually picture Videndi in black military clothing of a similar type of the Friendlies.
Last edited by Jay_NOLA on Sun Jun 26, 2016 6:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Spring Rifles?

Postby az_gamer » Sun Jun 26, 2016 5:51 am

Thanks, that is very helpful
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Re: Spring Rifles?

Postby Jay_NOLA » Sun Jun 26, 2016 6:43 pm

Glad to help.

I did some looking in some of the other books in the series and checked to see if I missed any thing from the ones I did post stuff from and I got some more info on them.

They also have spring-pistols and the rifles are capable of auto fire the needles have good penetrating power too and some times will pass through the body of a target instead of being logged in.


"In less than five minutes after he got me quiet we found ourselves staring down the pin-hole muzzles of the spring-rifles in the hands of two young Friendly skirmishers, attracted by my shouts."

-Soldier Ask Not, by Gordon R. Dickson



I felt the ache in my stiff leg where the doctors on New Earth had taken the
needle from the spring-rifle out of it three years before.

-Soldier Ask Not, by Gordon R. Dickson



A Friendly noncom stopped my car at the gate with his black spring-rifle and opened the car door at my left.

-Soldier Ask Not, by Gordon R. Dickson



I felt the butt-plate of his spring-pistol grinding into my side with every movement he made on the controls.

-Soldier Ask Not, by Gordon R. Dickson



The small, chameleon-clad figures continued to advance. Squinting at them through the occulting leaves and limbs, he made out a small black cross sewn to the right shoulder of each battle-dress. These were no mercenaries. These were native elite troops of the United Orthodox Church itself, superb soldiers and wild fanatics both. And even as the recognition confirmed itself in his mind, the advancing men broke into a charge upon the camp, bursting forth all at once in the red-gray dawnlight into full-throated yips and howls, underlaid a second later by the high-pitched singing of their spring-gun slivers as they ripped air and wood and flesh.

-Dorsai!, by Gordon R. Dickson
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