Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-27447621-20180223225208/@comment-25396609-20180317184744

You could also use canisters of powder (though it would still be risky considering how volatile that form is; a wayward sneeze can set it off.)

The cylinders can be decorative in addition to functional, if they serve as storage for the crystals providing power; I'm sure you need some sort of internal system to funnel the energy from them into the part of the weapon that actually fires.