Autosling

Autoslings are a type of portable centrifugal weapon. The autosling consists of a forked stock, with a rotating wheel mounted on an axle spanning the two branches. The wheel is powered by a spinorb mounted near one end of the axle. The other end of the axle is hollow and connects to a hopper full of lead spheres. Extending from the rim of the wheel is a hooked track along which the bullets can roll. Lead bullets roll down the hollow axle on one side and are released at timed intervals to roll down the track. The final bend in the track turns the bullet's radial motion into rotational motion, thus maximizing the velocity with which it is released.

The accuracy of this weapon is limited by its timing mechanism. The simplest and most common timing mechanism is a second track encircling the wheel and interlocking with a slight notch in the first. When a bullet reaches this track, it is prevented from moving radially. However, the second track has a gap in it that allows the balls to pass through when they reach a certain angle. This angle is positioned so that the time it takes for the ball to roll down the first track equals the time it takes for the wheel to rotate from the gap position to the position where the terminal hook on the first track points towards the target.

An autosling.

Even with a good timing mechanism, accuracy is further limited by variation in its ammunition. Different sized bullets will sit differently on the rotating track, causing them to take different amounts of time to roll down the track. Also, the weapon has a relatively low muzzle velocity, making it sensitive to range estimation errors. Also the position of its handles is hardly optimized to absorb its recoil, which is additionally in an odd direction that does not align with the stock.

In addition to these problems with accuracy, the autosling's low muzzle velocity gives it limited range and power. Most types of armor cannot be penetrated by an autosling bullet unless it hits a soft spot, which can only occur by sheer luck as the weapon is barely accurate enough to hit a human-sized target, let alone target any particular point on the body. On top of this, its spinorb is difficult to recharge in the field, so an expended autosling is a useless encumbrance.

Despite these disadvantages, the autosling has one very decisive advantage: an unrivaled rate of fire. In a setting that doesn't even have gunpowder, an autosling is a fully automatic weapon comparable in firepower to a submachine gun. During its few moments of effective fire, an autosling gives its wielder the ability to take out multiple targets, possibly before those targets can even react.

An even more effective variant of the autosling is the mounted autosling. This weapon replaces the quickly expended spinorb of the hand-held autosling with a force conduit leading to an external power supply. Where the spinorb would otherwise sit, this weapon has a second ammunition hopper; the axle is now hollow on both ends, and the wheel has hooked tracks on both sides. This allows twice as many bullets to be fired per rotation of the wheel. In addition, having an external power supply means there is no need to be stingy with energy. Mounted autoslings have a significantly higher muzzle velocity, giving them both more range and more power. Also, the size of the weapon allows it to fire a larger bullet, which not only carries better (less air resistance) but gives it significantly better penetrating power against body armor.

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