The Coil Railgun is an experimental weapon featured in the Enhanced Version of Grand Theft Auto V, and during certain missions in Grand Theft Auto Online. It was made available for purchase in Grand Theft Auto Online during the Gun Van Week, as part of the continuation of the Los Santos Drug Wars update.
Description[]
A railgun is a weapon that fires inert metallic rounds at velocities higher than the speed of sound using an electromagnetic effect. As such, it has incredible range and accuracy in addition to massive kinetic energy. However, at the time the weapon was introduced, railguns are still considered to be prototype phase and due to a myriad of issues, such as power generation and heat dissipation are limited in size and portability to fixed (usually naval) mountings. Portable railguns do not exist outside of theoretical models.
Design[]
Grand Theft Auto V and Online[]
The Railgun is a high-tech military prototype weapon designed for infantry use, adopting a carbine-like appearance. It bears a strong resemblance to the ARC-920 featured in the Halo series.
The weapon features a very linear design easily distinguished by two electrically-powered rails on the front, the vented units on either side of the gun just behind the power source, and a small fixed stock on the rear. The Railgun also has a transparent sight on top with a triangle-shaped reticle on it. A green light is visible when the Railgun is loaded and turns red when fired.
According to the text on the side of the weapon, the Railgun is property of the United States Government.
When equipped, the Railgun emits a low pitch humming sound, which can be more easily heard when in first-person view. When fired, a flash of electric arc can be seen in the barrel, in which it will be followed by a small explosion in the muzzle (a sonic boom) after the rounds are fired. Attempting to fire the weapon without ammunition will produce a unique static sound, as opposed to the standard "click" of conventional weapons. In GTA Online, the Railgun has a higher pitched humming sound and lacks the unload charging sound.
Performance[]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
The Railgun fires Kinetic energy penetrator rounds at the speed of 2000 m/s (7200 KPH), which is the same velocity as most weapons. In real life, the rounds travel much faster than regular firearm bullets due to their supersonic velocity. On impact, the kinetic energy rounds are capable of causing massive damage, which are on par with the RPG. That is, it can destroy any unarmored vehicle in one shot.
However, this weapon requires accurate shooting because of its poor blast radius; any shot that missed deals no damage, especially when one hits a vehicle's window and the projectile can easily pass through both open side doors of a helicopter. Its blast radius is only one meter.
Since it is a single-shot and it takes multiple seconds to recharge, this weapon is good at dealing with enemy vehicles, but is less effective against groups of enemies on foot. It is also an effective backup weapon to be used in missions that involve heavy shootouts, such as Heists. When used from low cover, the gun takes less time to recharge, ideal for taking out enemies from areas where they cannot flank the player easily.
The gun also has a maximum range of 500 meters, being ideal for long-range application (only surpassed by sniper rifles, which have a maximum range of 1,500 meters). However, its lock-on range is very limited, at only 40 meters (compared to assault rifles, which have a lock-on range of 65 meters).
Based on the markings of the gun, it has an energy capacity of 1.21 gigawatts. The Rockstar Games Social Club website also indicates the Railgun is a fully-automatic weapon, yet it is a single-shot weapon in-game. Assuming that the weapon is limited by the single-round magazine, it would mechanically have fully-automatic capabilities.
GTA V Overview[]
| Damage (per shot) [?] |
Fire Rate [?] | Range (m / ft) [?] |
Ammo Specifications/ Capacity |
Reload Mechanism | Reload Speed [?] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 (direct impact) 500 (direct) 50 (edge) |
2 (30 RPM) 0.2 (300 RPM; Tap-fire only) |
40 / 131 (Lock-on) 500 / 1640 (Weapon) |
1 (20) | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Lethal | 20 RPM | 40 / 131 (Lock-on) 500 / 1640 (Weapon) |
1-round standard magazine | Auto-Charging | 3.06 seconds |
 |
Damage | 90% 90% | |||
| Fire Rate/Speed | 25% 25% | ||||
| Accuracy | 20% 20% | ||||
| Range | 70% 70% | ||||
| Clip Size | 15% 15% | ||||
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
Previously only available in select missions and gamemodes, the Railgun becomes freely available in GTA Online as part of the Los Santos Drug Wars update, available for purchase at the Gun Van. However the weapon’s performance have been reduced. The projectile velocity has been lowered from 2000 m/s (7200 KPH) to 750 m/s (2700 KPH), and inflicts less damage to players and vehicles. The Railgun can kill some players with a single round, but those who are at least Rank 100 will survive with only a sliver of health remaining, and after that they are likely to be wasted from fall damage, unless they are equipped with Super Heavy Armor, in which case it would take two shots to take them out. It can also destroy unarmored vehicles in one shot, and may be a effective weapon against maneuverable aircraft, although the projectile is slow and only has a range of 500 meters. The weapon cannot lock-on to enemies or vehicles.
Against vehicles, the Railgun does slightly more damage than explosive rounds fired from the Heavy Sniper Mk II and Pump Shotgun Mk II (12.5% more than the aforementioned weapons). It can instantly destroy an unarmored vehicle even if a player is inside (as opposed to two explosive rounds to blow it up). The damage appears to have 45% of the Rocket Launcher's, requiring 20 shots to destroy a heavily armored Personal Vehicle (namely the Insurgent Pick-Up Custom and Nightshark), and nine shots to destroy the Rhino Tank.
In the files, the updated model appears to have some of its flags removed, namely the ones that allows the original model to lock on most targets and its ability to be used in a vehicle in Grand Theft Auto Online.
GTA Online Overview[]
| Damage (per shot) [?] |
Fire Rate [?] | Range (m / ft) [?] |
Ammo Specifications/ Capacity |
Reload Mechanism | Reload Speed [?] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 (direct impact) 225 (direct) 50 (edge) |
2 (30 RPM) 0.2 (300 RPM; Tap-fire only) |
40 / 131 (Lock-on) 500 / 1640 (Weapon) |
1 (20) | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Lethal | 20 RPM | 500 / 1640 | 1-round standard magazine | Auto-Charging | 3.06 seconds |
 |
Damage | 90% 90% | |||
| Fire Rate/Speed | 15% 15% | ||||
| Accuracy | 20% 20% | ||||
| Range | 70% 70% | ||||
| Clip Size | 15% 15% | ||||
Customizations[]
Grand Theft Auto V and Online[]
| Rounds & magazine | GTA V | GTA Online (Gun Van) Less discount |
|---|---|---|
| Rounds (1) | $100 | $1000 |
| Tints | ||
| Black | Default | Default |
| Army | $4,000 | $5,000 |
| Green | $4,200 | $5,250 |
| Orange | $4,400 | $5,500 |
| LSPD | $4,600 | $5,750 |
| Pink | $6,000 | $7,500 |
| Gold | $8,000 | $10,000 |
| Platinum | $10,000 | $12,500 |
Image Gallery[]
In-game[]
First-Person View[]
Video[]
Locations[]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- Can be bought from Ammu-Nation for $250,000 after completing Minor Turbulence.
- One can be found within the underwater wreckage of the cargo plane from Minor Turbulence, located north of Stab City.
- Alternatively, the Railgun can be obtained if the protagonist commits suicide in the Ammu-Nation Shooting Ranges.
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
- Can be bought from the Gun Van if it is in stock for $730,000, less the applicable discount.
Additionally, the Railgun can be found and used in some Adversary Modes and also a Bunker Supplies/Steal Mission, though they cannot be kept afterward unless the player already owns one.
Adversary Modes[]
- Part of the Assault class loadout in Beast vs. Slasher.
- Part of loadouts two and four in Kill Quota.[1]
- Part of the Juggernaut's loadout in Juggernaut and in Power Mad.
- Available as a pick-up in Motor Wars.
- Found around the playable area in some Occupy maps.
Other[]
- Part of a Bunker Resupply mission where one must be stolen from Humane Labs and Research or Los Santos Naval Port. During this, the player can freely use the Railgun until the mission is complete or the weapon is destroyed.
- Merryweather Security guards in The Doomsday Heist missions and Freemode Business Battles are sometimes armed with Railguns.
- Multiple Railguns can be found inside the bunker during The Data Contract.
Trivia[]
General[]
- The Railgun's power of "1.21 Gigawatts" is a reference to the Back to the Future film trilogy, being the amount of energy required for the DeLorean time machine to time travel.
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- From November 18, 2014, to July 19, 2021, the Railgun was exclusive to returning players, but as of July 20, 2021, it is available for all players to purchase in GTA V.
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
- When using the Railgun during Beast vs. Slasher, the lights on the gun will not be turned on until the power is restored.
- Two Railguns can be seen in the back of the TM-02 Khanjali. However, they are unusable.
Oversights[]
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
- The Arena War update introduced an issue in GTA V whereby legitimately purchased or salvaged Railguns will disappear from the protagonist's inventory whenever switching characters or reloading the game. This may be an unintended impact of an exploit fix for the weapon in GTA Online where it is not supposed to be able to be kept outside the jobs. This bug has been fixed with The Diamond Casino & Resort update.
- In third-person view, the coils of the weapon always remain in red instead of turning to green when the weapon is loaded. In first-person view, however, the coils correctly turn to green or red depending if the weapon is loaded or not.
- The projectile may go through the vehicle without exploding when it hits the windows.