AS2-25 Bore Pistol

The AS2-25 Bore Pistol is a Voxelian sidearm-sized powered melee weapon adapted from devices like the JH-AA "Lance" Heavy Jackhammer. The bore pistol is essentially a powered impact drill or miniaturized jackhammer with a blade about an inch across and up to a foot long that reciprocates under pneumatic power supplied by a suit of auto-armor's utility port. A wide mantlet around the muzzle of the pistol protects the tool when retracted and the user from debris spalled off of the target when the tool strikes home.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The bore pistol is uses a pneumatic piston to drive its tool bit back and forth. Reed valves with sliding base mounts alow the user to vary the oscillation rate and depth based on the depth of the trigger pull to account for different materials. The tool is sprung so that it slides back into the protective confines of the mantlet when not under power.
The bore pistol is surprisingingly lightweight for its intended purpose, though the size of its grip ensures that only an auto-armor gauntlet or similar fixture could reasonably put it to use. Instead of relying on the weapons's mass for dampening, the user is protected from the damaging effects of vibration by a combination of grip padding and internal rubber dampers that decouple the grip from the rest of the apparatus. Some development models use a system of springs or gas shocks instead, but these introduced extra costs and were deemed more complicated than necessary for the function of the device.

Significance

On the battlefield, the bore pistol is useful as both a weapon and a tool. Knave operators use it in ultra-close contexts because they have the speed to make up for its lack of reach and need a weapon that can penetrate armor and flesh with devastating alacrity. Combat engineers and sappers who have access to auto-armor (typically milspec-rated utility skeletons) to break open fortifications, drill holes for demolition charges, and similar activities. The downside of a bore pistol is that, like any power tool of its size, stealth goes out the window the moment the user pulls the trigger.

Item type

Weapon, Melee

Manufacturer

Coral Bluff Tools, Inc.

Related ethnicities

• New Voxelian

Rarity

The bore pistol is seldom seen outside of the Voxelian military, though surplus units and civilian-adapted models with replaceable (non-weaponized) tool heads can sometimes be found in civilian construction and excavation contexts.

Raw materials & Components

The tool bit of a bore pistol is made of the hardest metal feasible, typically tungsten or endurastahl, to improve its penetrating power. The rest of the weapon is made of tool steel and a small amount of synthetic rubber (see Mechanics & Inner Workings).