$3,375 Electromagnetic Gun Declared "A Serious Weapon" During Expert Range Report
While the rifle may not pack the punch of a traditional firearm, a review of the ArcFlash Labs GR-1 shows why it is not a toy.
By Brett Tingley February 12, 2022
The War Zone
A video review appeared online yesterday for the ArcFlash Labs GR-1, an electromagnetic Gauss rifle that surfaced last year when its manufacturer began taking pre-orders from the general public. We did a story about it then which you can read here. While the largely 3D-printed battery-powered rifle may at first glance appear to be almost toy-like, the review makes it clear that it is anything but.
The full video can be found on YouTube and was made by small arms expert Ian McCollum, who is a researcher for Armament Research Services and runs the popular blog Forgotten Weapons, the latter of which focuses on obscure, experimental, and prototype small arms. In the review of the GR-1, he walks through the Gauss rifle’s features and capabilities before taking it to a range for target shooting.
In a Forgotten Weapons blog post accompanying the video review, McCollum writes that the term ‘rifle’ is technically a misnomer in this case. Rifles are typically defined as having a spiraling (or helical) pattern of grooves cut into the inner wall of their barrels. The GR-1 is technically a smoothbore, as its barrel is smooth and lacks these grooves.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44269/3375-electromagnetic-rifle-declared-a-serious-weapon-during-expert-range-report
