[gurps] Rifles as melee weapons

[Roger Burton West]

On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 07:38:51AM -0700, Captain Joy wrote:
>In a recent game, one of my players wanted use his phaser rifle to  
>conk a bad guy on the head.
[...]

>Can anybody point me to the official ruling on this?

High-Tech p.198 under Clubs:

Rifle Butt (TL4). Striking end-on with the butt of a shoulder arm uses
the Staff skill and inflicts thr+2 crushing. Holding the gun by the
barrel and swinging it like a baseball bat requires the Two-Handed
Axe/Mace skill, does sw+3 crushing, and is only advisable with TL4-5
single-shot muskets and rifles (which are built for it) ­ the GM may
require a HT roll to avoid breakage for other firearms. In general,
TL4-6 long arms have Reach 1, 2*, while TL7-8 models are Reach 1.
Sidearms use Pistol Whipping (p. 93).

R