Projectile weapon

Multiple realities

(covers information from several alternate timelines)

Kirk fires cannon at Gorn — Kirk fires his makeshift cannon at the Gorn

Picard inspecting a Colt 45 — Captain Jean-Luc Picard examines a Colt .45

Sisko with shotgun, Past Tense II — Commander Benjamin Sisko with shotgun in 2024

Machine gun, mid-21st century — A wrist-mounted machine gun circa 2070s

Kolaran buggy — Kolaran dune buggies with machine guns

USS Kelvin photon torpedo launchers — Starship-mounted torpedo launchers in 2233

Grenade launcher, 2259 — An automatic grenade launcher-type grenade launcher in 2259

Grenade launcher, 2267 — Captain Kirk with a mortar-type grenade launcher in 2267

Rotary gun — A rotary gun in Paradise City

Sybok gun — Spock threatens Sybok with a improvised projectile rifle made on Nimbus III in 2287

Ezri dax tr116 — The 24th century TR-116 rifle designed to fire tritanium bullets

Vup's ace in the hole — Vup's wrist-mounted weapon in 2399

Projectile weapons were mostly relatively primitive armaments that accelerated and directed bullets or other solid objects toward a target to achieve damaging effects by direct application of kinetic energy. Hand-held projectile weapons that utilized chemical combustion for projectile propulsion were also known as firearms. Such weapons have been used by most species prior to the development of directed energy weapon technologies. Despite their "primitiveness", projectile weapons were still considered potent, effective, and reliable weapons by many civilizations in the 23rd and 24th centuries. While most societies largely abandoned the use of such weapons, they remained largely potent weapons namely because they didn't require electricity, plasma, or technologically-derived energy sources in order to run. They were invulnerable to electronic countermeasures, dampening fields, and radiological environments, basically any environment in which phasers, disruptors, or other energy weapons would be rendered useless. ^{(citation needed • edit)}

History[]

Examples of projectile weapons include their most primitive forms, the sling and the bow and arrow. (TNG: "Who Watches The Watchers") Steel crossbows were used on Earth in the 14th century. (TNG: "Booby Trap") The Akaali still used them in the 22nd, (ENT: "Civilization") and the Ligonians and the Klingons still made use of them in the 24th century. (TNG: "Code of Honor", "Starship Mine")

More advanced projectile weapons, flintlocks for instance, propel their projectiles by means of an explosive chemical reaction, such as that provided in igniting gunpowder. (TOS: "A Private Little War") Cannons were larger projectile weapons that fired cannonballs. (ENT: "Storm Front, Part II") To defeat the Gorn, Captain James T. Kirk once even constructed a primitive makeshift cannon by making gunpowder out of potassium nitrate, sulphur and coal, with a bamboo stick as the cannon and a diamond as the projectile. (TOS: "Arena") Muskets and dueling pistols were other antiquated firearms used on Earth. (TOS: "The Squire of Gothos"; TNG: "Hide And Q")

The Buntline Special, Colt .45 "peacemaker" and the Winchester rifle were 19th century Earth weapons. (TOS: "Spectre of the Gun"; TNG: "A Fistful of Datas") The .38 police special was a 20th century pistol made specially for police and law enforcement officers. (TOS: "Shore Leave")

Some of the German soldiers who had invaded the United States of America in an alternate 1944 used Mauser Karabiner 98ks. P-51 Mustang aircraft attacked a Starfleet shuttlepod with their .50 caliber machine guns. (ENT: "Storm Front", "Storm Front, Part II") The Japanese Zero was another form of WWII airplane which was equipped with a machine gun. It likewise made a series of strafing runs at a landing party on the Shore Leave Planet in 2267. (TOS: "Shore Leave")

In the script of "Shore Leave", this airplane's machine gun was specified as being .50 caliber, even though the type of aircraft itself wasn't specified.

Shotguns were a type of projectile weapon used on Earth well into the 21st century. During the Bell Riots of 2024, the residents who held the government personnel hostage used acquired police shotguns to ensure their cooperation. (DS9: "Past Tense, Part I", "Past Tense, Part II")

In 2063, Lily Sloane attempted to kill Lieutenant Commander Data with a Calico M960 submachine gun in Montana. Also in that same year, Captain Jean-Luc Picard enjoyed mowing down two Borg drones with a holographic recreation of a Thompson submachine gun from the 1920s, the time period his holo-novel was set in. (Star Trek: First Contact)

In the mirror universe, Zefram Cochrane used a shotgun in 2063 to kill the first Vulcan who set foot on Earth. Commander Jonathan Archer kept this weapon in his quarters aboard the ISS Enterprise. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly")

The MK-33 and MK-34 were also weapons of the 2060s. The crew of the SS Conestoga was equipped with them when they departed Earth to found the Terra Nova colony in 2069. (ENT: "Terra Nova") Wrist-mounted machine guns were used by soldiers on Earth in the 2070s. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")

In the mid-22nd century, guns (particularly revolvers) were highly prevalent on a Skagaran colony planet in the Delphic Expanse. (ENT: "North Star")

In 2168, a book on gangs in Chicago during the 1920s was left on Sigma Iotia II, it became a blueprint for the natives' culture. Virtually everyone carried a gun, known in slang as "heaters", including guns resembling "Tommy guns" of Earth's history. One brand of firearms was called Bang Bang. (TOS: "A Piece of the Action")

In 2259 of the alternate reality, Starfleet security personnel at Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco on Earth had access to automatic grenade launcher-type artillery weapons that fired small torpedo-shaped rocket-propelled grenades with aerodynamic attachments. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

In 2268, the Ekosian Nazis and the natives from 892-IV were armed with various firearms similar to Earth weapons of the mid-20th century. (TOS: "Patterns of Force", "Bread and Circuses")

Mortar-type grenade launchers were standard-issue weaponry used by Starfleet in the late 2260s. (TOS: "Arena") Torpedo launchers were used on starships and other spacecraft and installations as projectile weapons, accelerating a torpedo for launch. While some types of torpedoes couldn't be fired without a launcher, most types of torpedoes had internal engines to sustain their flight. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; et al.)

In 2287, the inhabitants of Nimbus III, barred from using conventional weaponry, devised improvised projectile weapons which fired rocks or other debris through the apparent use of compressed air. The Galactic Army of Light also used a single minigun. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

On the USS Voyager in 2374, the crew fought in a holodeck recreation of World War II using various American projectile weapons of the period (M1 Garands and Colt M1911A1s) and captured German weapons (Gewehr 98/40s and MP40s). Captain Kathryn Janeway threatened to kill Seven of Nine with a holographic Colt M1911A1 when she believed Seven was a Nazi spy. She also killed the lead Hirogen with a holographic Mauser Kar 98k after he had killed the original leader Karr, and hunted Janeway with it. (VOY: "The Killing Game", "The Killing Game, Part II")

In the 2370s, the Delta Quadrant pre-warp civilizations on Makull's homeworld and the Vori-Kradin planet both made use of projectile weapons. (VOY: "Time and Again", "Nemesis")

The Calico M950 and the Detonics Pocket 9 were used to represent the alien firearms in "Time and Again". K-VAR AKU-94 Bullpup was used to represent the Kradin assault rifle and Ruger Mini-14 in a Muzzelite MZ14 Bullpup stock was used as the Vori assault rifle in "Nemesis".

Sometime prior to 2375, Starfleet experimented with projectile weapons for possible use in areas where energy weapons were subject to the effects of dampening fields. One such weapon was the TR-116 rifle, which fired tritanium bullets and could be modified with a miniature transporter and exographic targeting sensor to allow use from longer distances and through walls. (DS9: "Field of Fire")

In 2379, the pre-warp Kolaran civilization made use of several types of machine guns and other firearms. (Star Trek Nemesis)

In the shooting script of Star Trek Nemesis, the Kolaran weapons were called primitive plasma weapons, though in the final film they clearly appeared to be regular projectile weapons. [1] The Kolaran weapon props were sold at the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, and actually were modified replica guns of the Valtro shotgun, [2]^(X) the FN Herstal P-90, [3]^(X) the Glock 17, [4]^(X) the Vickers machine gun styled buggy-turret guns, [5]^(X) and other carbines. [6]^(X) One of these, labeled a "Kolaran submachine gun", was subsequently put on display at Star Trek: The Exhibition in Blackpool, UK.

Guns were also mentioned in the song heroes, which was used as incidental music in "Children of Mars".

Hand-held projectile weapons[]

External links[]

Projectile weapon at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Firearms at Wikipedia
Firearms in Star Trek at IMFDb.org

Projectile weapon

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History[]

Hand-held projectile weapons[]

See also[]

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