Shatter guns launched metal alloy projectiles using advanced magnetic fields. They were nearly silent, had excellent range and accuracy, and inflicted extremely large amounts of kinetic damage. Verpine shatter guns were easy to use, and an inexperienced gunman could do massive damage with a single projectile. As such they were sometimes favored by assassins who wished to kill their target in one shot without giving away their position. Custom versions of the weapon also had the ability to fire nearly any kind of small (less than an inch in diameter) projectile, due to a very expensive feature: multicaliber magazine and bore. Kal Skirata, who owned several of these custom shatter guns, once joked that one could fire rocks out of them if they had to. The weapon's projectiles were nearly impossible to block with a lightsaber due to their small size and extreme speed.
The Verpine sniper rifle was an expensive, top-of-the-line sniper rifle based on the Verpine shatter gun design. The Mandalorian bounty hunter Kal Skirata favored Verpine sniper rifles, personally owning several expensive models. Omega Squad used Verpine sniper rifles during an anti-terrorism mission on Coruscant to eliminate several Separatist terrorist cells who had infiltrated the capital. The original variant of the Verpine weapon, the Shatter Gun, used magnetic coils to launch their projectiles, and according to Kal Skirata, could "even be loaded with rocks, if necessary". The weapons use gravity coils to accelerate projectiles at extremely high velocities, allowing it to be capable of inflicting heavy damage even on armored targets. The commandos used the rifles to tag suspect terrorists with Dust in order to track them.
Raymond Ramirez's Verpine Sniper Rifle model.
Raymond Ramirez, a U.S. soldier and fan with a special connection to Karen Traviss, made a custom-made Verpine Sniper Rifle with a bipod at Traviss' request, which she posted on her website. Ramirez's blog has been featured on StarWars.com, where a smaller image of the Verpine sniper rifle with bipod can be found. One of his blog entries goes deep into the weapon's functions.
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