Projectile weapons, also known as firearms, are relatively primitive devices which accelerate and direct solid objects toward a target to achieve damaging effects by direct application of kinetic energy. Such weapons have been used by most species prior to their development of directed energy weapon technologies.
Examples of projectile weapons include their most primitive forms, the sling or the bow and arrow. More advanced projectile weapons, flintlocks for instance, propel their projectiles by means of an explosive chemical reaction, such as that provided in igniting gunpowder. There have been numerous occasions where holographic recreations of these weapons were used, many times with the safety protocols off.
In 2063, Lily Sloane attempted to kill Lieutenant Commander Data with a Calico M960 submachine gun in Montana. Also in that same year, Captain Jean-Luc Picard enjoyed mowing down two Borg drones with a holographic Tommy gun, which was a submachine gun of the time period his holonovel was set in. (Star Trek: First Contact)
Some of the German soldiers in an alternate timeline in the United States of America used Mauser Karabiner 98ks. (ENT: "Storm Front", "Storm Front, Part II")
On the USS Voyager in 2374, the crew fought in a holodeck recreation of World War II using various American projectile weapons of the period (M1 Garands and Colt M1911A1s) and captured German weapons (Gewehr 98/40s and MP40s).
Captain Kathryn Janeway threatened to kill Seven of Nine with a holographic Colt M1911A1 when she believed Seven was a Nazi spy. She also killed the lead Hirogen with a holographic Mauser Kar 98k (after he had killed the original leader Karr, and hunted Janeway with it). (VOY: "The Killing Game", "The Killing Game, Part II")
Starfleet experimented with projectile weapons for possible use in areas where energy weapons were subject to the effects of dampening fields. One such weapon, the TR-116 rifle, could be modified with a miniature transporter and exographic targeting sensor to allow use from longer distances and through walls. (DS9: "Field of Fire")
After a book on gangs in Chicago during the 1920s was left on Sigma Iotia II, it became a blueprint for the natives' culture. Virtually everyone carried a gun, known as "heaters" and resembling "Tommy guns" of Earth's history, when they traveled. One brand of firearms was called Bang Bang. (TOS: "A Piece of the Action")
In the mirror universe, Zefram Cochrane used a projectile weapon (shotgun) to kill the first Vulcan who set foot on Earth. Commander Jonathan Archer kept this weapon in his quarters aboard the ISS Enterprise. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly")
Despite their age and their "primitiveness", projectile weapons like firearms (especially firearms from Earth's 20th and 21st centuries) are still considered potent, effective, and reliable weapons by many civilizations in the 23rd and 24th centuries.
Torpedoes
- See: Torpedo
Hand-held
- .45 automatic
- Colt .45
- Isomagnetic disintegrator
- Photon grenade
- Pressure grenade
- Stun grenade
- Tetryon pulse launcher
- TR-116 rifle
- Ultritium concussion shell
- M16 assault rifle