Ray Gun Design - Doing it Derringer Style:

Top: The NeoDerringer Pulse Pistol 1.0 

Bottom: The Colt No.2 Derringer 1854

Back in 1825, a Philadelphia gunsmith by the name of Henry Deringer crafted and produced a popular single-action, pocket-sized handgun called the Philadelphia Deringer. This blackpowder, muzzle-loading pistol was the concealed weapon of choice for many professional gamblers and also, for a certain deranged murderer, named John Wilkes Boothe, who used one to assassinate President Lincoln.

Over the years, this tiny pistol was imitated by many gun makers worldwide, always evolving and improving with continuing developments and new technologies. The name Deringer stuck, but a frequent misspelled version, using the double letter “R” eventually became the standard term for all pocket pistols.

Hundreds of derringer designs have followed to this day, released by manufacturers from Remington to Cobra Arms. Functional, powerful, beautiful and exotic derringers have all found their way into history.

Now, the derringer moves into the future, with Ray Gun Technology:

I designed and built these ray gun props to embody the derringer design as pocket pistols, not as powerful as their larger counterparts, but retaining enough potential to pack a surprisingly considerable punch for their size. These tiny, mini ray pistols have become a huge favorite for me…

 NeoDerringer Stinger Pistol 2.0

  QMOne50 Sureshot 
 Compact Focused Plasma Stream Release Generator -  
Three discharge settings for light stun, heavy stun and full disruption.

Spinner Trim660 -  EM Pulse Booster Pistol

I designed and put together these NeoDerringer ray gun props out of various found plastic parts, o-rings and poly-resin clay. Small hex bolts are sealed inside for weight, and the surfaces are painted and then finished with metallic buffing compounds.

Anatomy of a Ray Gun

Like the space shuttle, the realization of the Ray Gun will depend on the research and development of a diverse variety of technologies coming together to be synthesized into a single unit of interdependent systems. The emerging fields of nanotechnology, super conduction, molecular engineering and others currently exist, which could ultimately produce an actual ray gun. These fields are still in their infancy, so sadly, the ray gun, for all practical reasoning, remains as far in the future to us, as it was a half century ago to the fans of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. But wait. What if tomorrow was today? What if you happened to be curious about just what was inside your hefty, gleaming, brand-new T77 Particle Attenuator Pistol that you just had delivered for 35,000 credits? So how does it shoot that scorching, bright violet ray of disintegration out of its emitter? Let's find out!

 CLICK ON THE DIAGRAM ABOVE TO ENLARGE

A ray gun's entire firing sequence from actuation to discharge . . . . . . . . . . .  All within a single second:

0.4 seconds: Safety interface deactivated by double-clicking the external control button.

0.2 seconds: Depress trigger to initiate power cell, which powers all the device's systems in sequence.

200 microseconds: Primary jump battery launches the kinetic boost sequence of the inertial confinement fusion power cell, ramping up to a maximum 1.5 second output of approximately ten thousand megawatts. (1) 

10 microseconds: The primary micro-accelerator assembly outputs a flow of charged particles into a nanocollider cascade chamber, where a unidirectional quantum proton scatter bombardment results in a hyper-condensed ionization particle conversion. A dynamic eruption of particle plasma wave pulse energy is released out and forward. (2&3)

25 microseconds: The particle plasma wave pulse propagates from out of the cascade chamber, and along the length of a repeating nanoaccelerator of transverse resonating micro-field coils, inducing an extensive linear augmentation of wavelength harmonics, polarizing the plasma wave into a single focused and amplified "beam" of a specific energy "signature", determining its intended interactive effects on atomic structures. (4&5)

60 microseconds: The beam enters the final electromagnetic capacitor, which propels it through the oscillating electromagnetic attenuator, exponentially intensifying the aspect output while aligning the axial plasma field dynamics according to the parameters of the determined settings. (6)

Shielding: As lightweight as possible. Outer shell is a composite laminate of Andalium and Tritium Carbide. Inner layers of deep thermal shielding are composites of several heat activated, cryogenic stabilization alloys, Deotritium and TriCarbon Telditrium.

The resulting emission is a sustained and stabilized energy ray, with matter interaction rates of anticipated proportions.

In other words... ZZZAAAPPP!!

Mike Maihack's Cleopatra in Spaaaace! . . . . . . and, of course, her ray gun!

I am rather fond of any fictional character who packs a cool ray gun and knows how to use it. This character in particular has found a special place in my heart not only for being an unlikely and fascinating space adventurer to begin with, but also for being the delightfully entertaining creation of a very prolific and talented artist I have the pleasure of working with every day, Mr. Mike Maihack. -- All the action can be found here at Mike's web site:  http://www.cowshell.com/cleopatra/
The operating concept behind the ray guns of Mike's vision of the future involve an energy release in the rear of the device, which courses rapidly through the body, increasing exponentially in magnitude until it hits the emitter rod at the tip, and ZZZAAAPP!! I don't even know the model name of this fictional weapon, but I naturally felt compelled by its coolness to build a prop replica of it, complete with accurate details and realistic heft. This is one I made pretty much from scratch, modeling components completely from Sculpy poly clay, progressively sanding the finish, applying hot glue assembly, masking and spray painting and detailing.

Everything looks better with a model . . . . Including Ray Guns!

I put together this Q31 Wide beam WaveSplitter using a highly modified, reshaped toy dart pistol in addition to various found plastic pieces - Filled it full of Sculpy poly clay and little metal hex nuts for weight, then finished it with silver buffing compound and painted in some details.
Then, in Photoshop, I digitally put an image of it into this stock art model's hand, added the futuristic background, and zzzaapp!
It's a tradition, I guess... Well, I AM inclined to go with a leggy female, rather than a guy... I'm weak that way.

You can't always afford what you want... but you can still dream about it:

....came across this on eBay.
What a deal!!... Two for the price of one!!

"Blasters" welcome:

Blaster type pistols, which are more probable than ray guns, with their compact, bullet-like bursts of energy output are also a very cool thing to envision. The image at the top is one of my purchased and manufactured prop replicas of pistols from various sci-fi features - This one is a realistic replica of the blaster which Bruce Willis carried as the lead character, Korbin Dallas, in the entertaining 1997 film about the future, The Fifth Element. It's got clean detailing and flashing diodes like the actual film prop. When held, it has the feel, heft and balance of a real firearm - That is obviously a VERY important quality I appreciate in a prop fantasy gun.

The next image is of a blaster I put together from a modified Nerf toy, which I thought looked pretty neat to begin with. It's a very different animal now that it appears metallic and weighs in at a solid four pounds, instead of its former bright orange and hollow plastic toy persona. Even though it has no functioning or moving parts, this thing looks and feels like it could take out an entire armored tank division in a few shots, and that's cool enough for me.

Plastic vintage toy ray guns have their place... but not here.

The ray gun prop pictured here is something I put together using several retro style water pistols, a pvc pipe connector and some o-rings. The body is filled with dozens of small steel hex nuts, polyvinyl compound and hot glue for weight. The exterior was evenly coated with several layers of flat black spray paint and then treated with a bright metallic buffing compound. The result has more solidity and believability than any of those antique hollow metal or plastic mass produced toy ray guns. - Considering that some of those vintage toys can cost up to six hundred dollars a pop, it's a much more affordable option too.