Top Ten Sci-Fi Firearms

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Spacedock delves into ten of the most iconic science fiction firearms.

THE SOJOURN - AN ORIGINAL SCI-FI AUDIO DRAMA:

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[Spacedock]

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[JustTheJames]

I feel like the needler from Halo deserved to be on this list, becasue it's incredibly unique as well as being iconic. I would have also given an honerable mention to Tracer's pulse pistols from Overwatch, just becasue they reload by rewinding time which is awesome.

[DrakonPhD]

One of mine is the humble M36 Lasgun from 40k. Its a perfect example of how insane the 40k universe is, because in modern times the Lasgun would be the ideal service rifle (accurate and reliable, simple to build and maintain, decent weight, and most of all it has rechargeable magazines you can reload just by plugging it into an APC/IFV, putting it into a fire, plugging it into a solar panel, etc. Plus it would be a match or penetrate most modern body armor.

But because its 40k its one of the weakest weapons around.

[anthemanatheme]

Covenant Plasma Rifle.

Just the aesthetic is... Beautiful. Really gives it an alien look without being cliché.

[RichBensen]

I quite liked the Widow anti-material rifle from ME2, both for it's deadly headshots and the description that includes the sentence "the Widow Anti-Material Rifle is primarily used by sniper teams in assault missions against armored vehicles or Krogan".

[addisonchow]

The fact that bolters are not here is HERESY.

[TheArklyte]

As Ian from Forgotten Weapons once put "the fiction part comes not with energy weapons, but with having cheap, sturdy and reliable drum mags in the future".
Sci-fi guns don't have to be fantasy, they just have to be already existing modern tech made affordable. So good high capacity mags, electric priming, plastic cases and electrothermochemical ammo. And you have automatic gun that would laugh at most sci-fi. Or rather you get stright up "pulse" rifle from Aliens;)

[DrownedInExile]

Awesome list!
Here's one obscure weapon from Deep Space 9. The episode had a murderer on the loose, killing his victims with an archaic sniper rifle. It wasn't clear how the killer was getting line of sight. Chief O'Brien figured out he was using a rifle with an advanced scanner and integrated micro-transporter beam. After firing, the bullet could be transported right through walls, and preserve lethal velocity for the target. Pretty cool!

[theishiopian]

I love the phaser rifles from later DS9 and VOY, such a badass shape.

[anonarchist]

Unreal's Shock Rifle deserves at least a mention. Mostly for the sheer fun of firing a slow moving projectile, and then hitting it with the hit scan beam to trigger an explosion.

[FlameBringer]

Fun fact about the Chemrail. The handle also has a canister of coolant that is pumped into the gun when firing to keep the barrel from overheating.

[MrAshleyR]

Mine has gotta be the TR-116 from DS9's season 7. A gun that uses micro-transporters to shoot through walls?! Insane. Not even an honourable mention here? Even more insane.

[Dreamfox-dfbg]

The Caster Gun from Outlaw Star. It uses literal magic shells. What it fires depends on the shell being used. It can stun, shoot electricity, energy beams up to shell #4, which fires a miniature black hole at the target, which also only affects the target.
It might be just a single shot gun, but with ammo like that it ends the fight most of the time. However, the rarity of the shells also makes it a weapon of last resort.

[KeemperorK]

My personal favorite are the Tau Pulse Weapons from 40k.
They fire a highly ionized pulse, by rapidly super heating a metallic element through a high energy convection field.
Even by 40k standards its a brutal weapon, in an elegant package.

[Bearmauls]

Glad you included a few shots of the PPG from Babylon 5 at the end there. I love that they aren't necessarily better than the slug-throwers that the Earth Alliance can produce, but they're specifically issued to the space forces so there's less worry about punching holes in pressure hulls.

[CitroChannel]

Might not be my _absolute_ favorite, but I've always loved the sheer insane brutality of the Cerebral Bore from the Turok games. Not the most realistic or versatile gun, but the incredibly sadistic savagery of it definitely left an impression on me the first time I played Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. 😅

[infernosgaming]

Pistols from Bladerunner. Not quite Sci-Fi but I love the clunky "kachunk" they make when they fire, like a realistic near-future coil gun firing a fat slug out of an old frame. Perfect for the setting.

[hamishsewell]

Excellent choices! A personal favourite of mine is the DC-17 Interchangeable Weapons System from Star Wars Republic Commando

[iwiffitthitotonacc]

My favorite is the Shock Rifle from Unreal Tournament - first firemode fires a hitscan laser, second firemode fires a slow projectile that is unaffected by gravity.

Shooting the projectile with the laser, creates an extremely powerful explosion! It effectively forces players to not move recklessly and consider their options, as going around the wrong corner can mean instant death.

[pseudonymsam]

My vote goes to the Dominator from the anime Psycho-Pass. It is not just a cool weapon, but it also exemplifies how science fiction can explore futuristic moral quandaries. What happens to a society when a brain-scanning smartgun becomes the judge, jury, and executioner of the law, instead of the justice system that wields it?