Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-26397825-20170714130723/@comment-26397825-20170724010343

The speed issue was why there is three separate coils spaced out along the barrel; as they fire, the next one pulls them towards it and therefore keeps the acceleration up until they exit the barrel and fly towards the opponent.

And I believe the ball bearings idea was because of shotgun pellets; being round rather than pointed, they're designed to inflict heavy surface damage first and foremost. Add it that the weight of them wouldn't be negligible (ball bearings carry a decent amount of weight despite their size) and they'd embed themselves pretty deeply into whatever they hit. Basically it's ranged blunt force impact with a shotgun's surface damage effect as opposed to a rifles single penetrating shot, which is why it fires three ball bearings at a time - for spread damage.

I did contemplate using smaller ones and firing 6-9 ball bearings at a time, which would be more like a shotgun I guess...