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Andorian commando at P'Jem

Andorians with plasma rifles

A plasma rifle was the rifle version of a hand-held plasma weapon used by many species. These weapons were used by Humans during the mid-22nd century. They were carried on Earth starships even after the advent of phase weapons. While not particularly high-yield, they were capable of killing a target. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Vox Sola", "Regeneration")

Coridanite rebels likewise used plasma rifles during the mid-22nd century. (ENT: "Shadows of P'Jem") The Andorians also made use of hand-held plasma rifles. The Andorian rifles utilized by the Andorian Imperial Guard in the 22nd century fired plasma bursts and had no stun setting. (ENT: "Cease Fire") The Jem'Hadar and the Na'kuhl made use of more advanced high-yield plasma rifles several centuries later. (ENT: "Storm Front"; DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind")

The energy discharges fired by an Andorian rifle were identified as plasma bursts in the script of "Cease Fire".
According to the novelization of Star Trek Into Darkness, the Starfleet phaser rifles used in the alternate reality in 2259 were called pulse rifles, the same alternative term associated with 22nd century plasma rifles used by Humans in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Civilian plasma rifle[]

Plasma rifle, 2151

Farmer Moore holding a plasma rifle

Shotgun-style plasma rifles were used by Human civilians in the mid-22nd century. A farmer named Moore owned one, which he carried to defend his property in Broken Bow, Oklahoma during a shootout between a Klingon and two Suliban. In the fracas, Moore used the weapon to incapacitate, and severely wound, the Klingon courier Klaang. This was the first recorded contact between a Human and a Klingon. (ENT: "Broken Bow")

This weapon was also referred to as a "plasma shotgun" in the script of Broken Bow. [1]

Coridan plasma rifle[]

In the mid-22nd century, Coridanite rebels on the planet Coridan used plasma rifles. They fired red-colored bolts. (ENT: "Shadows of P'Jem")

In the final draft script for "Shadows of P'Jem", these weapons are initially once described as "particle-beam rifles." However, two subsequent references in that script call them plasma rifles. They are not, though, identified as such on screen.
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ECS/Starfleet plasma rifle[]

Plasma rifle, 2152

A Starfleet rifle in 2152

Fortunate rifle

A plasma rifle used on the ECS Fortunate

EnterpriseNX operations security 8

A Starfleet rifle with scope

Weapons locker, 2153

Plasma rifles in a weapons locker

Plasma rifles, also known as pulse rifles, were the standard-issue carbine weapons on Starfleet and Earth Cargo Authority starships, and carried by personnel of the Earth Sciences Institute in the mid-22nd century. Enterprise NX-01 and the ECS Fortunate were equipped with these weapons. The pulse rifles had the capability of firing both plasma bullets, essentially bolt or pulses of energy (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Fortunate Son", "Regeneration", "Marauders", "The Council") and a beam with an adjustable level from stun to kill. (ENT: "Vox Sola", "Regeneration") The rifle was powered by a rechargeable sarium microcell. (ENT: "Cogenitor")

In 2151, a Starfleet security officer stood watch in sickbay with a plasma rifle when wounded Klingon courier Klaang was abducted by the Cabal. Captain Archer managed to kill one of the invading Suliban with plasma bullets. (ENT: "Broken Bow")

By 2151, Ensign Hoshi Sato had cleared training on the class-3 pulse rifles. (ENT: "Fight or Flight") Starfleet security officers on Enterprise, including Lieutenant Reed, carried pulse rifles on several occasions from 2151 to 2154. A selection of rifles was stored in the ship's armory. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Marauders", "The Council", "Zero Hour")

In 2151, a Starfleet security officer with a pulse rifle investigated the presence of a symbiotic lifeform in cargo bay 2 with Captain Archer and Commander Tucker aboard Enterprise. The security officer attempted to use his rifle, set on stun, to fend off the creature when it began to attack them, but was distressed to find out that the weapon had no measurable effect on it. (ENT: "Vox Sola")

In 2152, pulse rifles were used by a team of three Starfleet security officers who prepared to prevent a Tholian invasion of Enterprise that never happened. As a result of the Tholians instead departing, the weapons weren't fired. (ENT: "Future Tense")

In 2153, two security officers accompanying Lieutenant Reed attempted to use pulse rifles to fend off two Tarkaleans who had been assimilated by the Borg, but were unable to penetrate the Tarkaleans' personal force fields. Before intercepting the Borg-assimilated ship, Reed upgraded several rifles to emit a beam with the particle yield of ten megajoules. (ENT: "Regeneration")

The rifles were stored in weapons lockers inside the armory. (ENT: "Regeneration")

Later in 2153, a case of plasma rifles were stolen from Enterprise by Osaarian pirates. (ENT: "Anomaly (ENT)") Later the same year, an EV team was able to dislodge and retrieve a sample of nucleonic particles accumulating on the hull with multiple hits from a plasma rifle. (ENT: "Similitude")

In 2154, Reed attempted to destroy a defense armature inside a Delphic Expanse sphere with a plasma rifle on a mission to retrieve the redundant memory core of the sphere. The armature appeared to be impervious to the plasma bullets fired by Reed. It required the more powerful ship-mounted weapons of a shuttlepod to destroy the armature. (ENT: "The Council")

When Captain James T. Kirk recreated his old house from 2284, inside the Nexus, a wall display of weapons and memorabilia there included a plasma rifle among other weapons. (Star Trek Generations [2])

This type of rifle was never clearly identified on screen in dialogue. According to the script of "Broken Bow", the Starfleet rifle was a plasma rifle and fired plasma bullets. [3] It was also called a plasma rifle in the final draft scripts of "Chosen Realm", "Stratagem", "Damage" and "Countdown". However, it is referred to as a pulse rifle on StarTrek.com and was also called that in the final draft scripts of "Future Tense", "Cogenitor", "Anomaly", "Rajiin" and "The Council". [4] These various examples suggest the terms are synonymous. In fact, the script of "Regeneration" used both terms.
A weapons locker where the rifles were stored on Enterprise was sold in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction. The label above the rifles read "UNIT G95-34942U" and identifies the "UNIT TYPE" as "0094-07". [5] There were two slightly different variants of this rifle prop; both were called energy carbines in the It's a Wrap! auction. [6] [7]
The effects in "Broken Bow", "Fortunate Son", "Marauders", and "The Council" suggest the weapon is the rifle version of the EM-33 pistol, while effects in "Vox Sola" suggest the weapon to be the rifle-version of the Starfleet phase-pistol. In "Regeneration", both plasma bullet fire from the rifles used by the A-6 excavation team and beam fire from the rifles used by Enterprise security personnel were depicted.
The Starfleet rifle was a "touched up and duplicated" version of "an old generic alien rifle" used in several Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes to represent the Hunters' crossbows, Nol-Ennis rifles, the Albino's guards' rifles, Kellerun phaser rifles and, most frequently, Jem'Hadar plasma rifles. Prop Master Craig Binkley referred to this weapon as a "phase rifle." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 138, p. 36)

Jem'Hadar plasma rifle[]

Jem'Hadar plasma rifle, Tacking into the wind

Jem'Hadar plasma rifle (2375)

In addition to a pistol variant, the Jem'Hadar of the Dominion used plasma rifles in the 24th century. Upgraded rifles were distributed in 2375. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind") The rifle was capable of firing lethal disruptor bursts with anti-coagulants that were designed to slowly kill their enemies if the burst itself did not. The weapons had at least two other settings: they were able to stun, and fire a more powerful burst capable of vaporizing a humanoid target. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind", "The Search, Part I", "The Ship", "Change of Heart", "By Inferno's Light")

In the script of DS9: "Rocks and Shoals", the rifle was identified as a "Dominion disruptor rifle". [8]
According to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual (p. 90), the Jem'Hadar rifles were not plasma weapons, as the prop was identified in "Tacking Into the Wind", instead they fire phased polaron beams. According to the book, they have only a single setting, the lethal pulse. This would be inconsistent with "The Search, Part I", where Major Kira takes a direct hit to the chest from a Jem'Hadar rifle set on stun. Lethal to semi-lethal disruptor bursts that leave behind anti-coagulants have been seen in episodes such as "The Ship", "Change of Heart" and "The Siege of AR-558". Both pistol and rifle variants were seen to have the higher setting to vaporize humanoid targets, such as Jem'Hadar and Breen, in "By Inferno's Light".

Na'kuhl plasma rifle[]

In an alternate 1944, Vosk planned to deploy the soldiers of the Na'kuhl / Nazi alliance with plasma rifles based on their 29th century technology.

The weapons fired a powerful modulating plasma pulse capable of devastating buildings and destroying an American tank with a single shot. Although they were powerful, they were also somewhat difficult to maneuver and required considerable amounts of energy. (ENT: "Storm Front")

Tandaran plasma rifle[]

Tandaran guards at Detention Complex 26 were armed with plasma rifles that fired light green streaks of energy. Three of the facility's guards used these weapons during a prison break in circa 2152. (ENT: "Detained")

These weapons were referred to as plasma rifles in the final draft script of "Detained" but are unnamed in the episode itself.

Tessic's species' plasma-rifles[]

In the colony of Tessic's species, several colonists were armed with plasma-rifles. They fired blue streaks of energy. (ENT: "Marauders")

These weapons are not given a name on screen; their designation comes from the final draft script of "Marauders".

External links[]

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