Type 3 phaser A type - 3 phaser ( often simply referred to as a phaser rifle ) was the Federation classification for the more powerful rifle variant of the standard Starfleet handheld phaser . 24th century phaser rifles had sixteen power settings , fully - autonomous recharge capability , multiple - target acquisition , and gyro - stabilization . They were slightly less powerful but much more sophisticated than Cardassian phase - disruptor rifle s ; some , such as Major Kira Nerys , considered them less effective in the field as their complexity made them less robust . ( ) History . In 2256 , phaser rifles had at least two settings : stun and kill . Although both settings fired single blasts , these weapons could also be utilized to fire a yellow - colored cutting beam . ( ) In 2256 , Captain Philippa Georgiou discharged a type 3 phaser into a water well on the Crepusculan homeworld , shifting the water table and allowing water to reemerge from the well in a large geyser . ( ) Type 3 phasers were also occasionally used by officers aboard the . For example , in 2256 , a couple of officers in the ship ' s mess hall were equipped with phaser rifles ; one of these officers was even about to use his when Michael Burnham began attacking and Psycho using " Suus Mahna " , though he was stopped by Commander Ellen Landry , who instead brandished a type 2 phaser to persuade Burnham to cease and desist . Phaser rifles were also carried by Landry herself and Kowski when they were part of a boarding party that traveled to the . There , Landry and Kowski used theirs , switching the weapons to the kill setting , to repeatedly fire at a creature which survived the phaser fire and chased the group , causing them to hurry to refuge in engineering and killing Kowski . In engineering , Landry fired a cutting beam from her phaser rifle to cut through a door that was otherwise jammed closed . ( ) " In 2259 of the alternate reality , phaser rifles were issued to Starfleet security personnel on Earth after the terrorist bombing of the Kelvin Memorial Archive . used a phaser rifle to try to take out ' s jumpship 208 when it was firing on the Daystrom Conference Room at Starfleet Headquarters . When fired , this rifle only had a bright muzzle flash and recoil and did not appear to fire a visible phaser beam or a phaser burst . Security personnel on the also carried phaser rifles during the subsequent mission to apprehend Khan . " ( ) " Also , in 2259 of the alternate reality , Section 31 of Starfleet used rapid - fire phaser rifles that fired red phaser bolts . Khan brought one of these rifles along with him to Qo ' noS and used it to defend himself and Kirk ' s away team from Klingon soldiers . One of the Section 31 security personnel on the also carried one of these rifles . " ( ) In the 2260s , phaser rifles were not standard landing party equipment aboard Starfleet vessel s . Typically , rifles were equipped only when firepower heavier than that of the type 2 phaser was required . Spock , for example , had to file a special requisition for one to be brought down to Delta Vega in 2265 . ( ) Facsimile phaser rifles were created by the Romulan Star Empire in 2367 and given to rebels on the Klingon planet Krios , in an attempt to destabilize relationships between the Federation and the Klingon Empire . Both the facsimile and Federation rifles had an output of 1 . 05 MW . The only physical difference to the standard Federation rifle was an emission crystal efficiency of 94 . 1 % . This was eight percent above the standard model . Another difference was that the initial output spike of the phaser beam was inverted , a sign that the power cell had been charged with a forced pulse in the terahertz range – a method used in Romulan disruptor s . ( ) The 2360s version of the rifle could be modified with the use of a tracking light mounted on the central body , as well as a shoulder strap designed for ease of carrying . ( ) A phaser rifle could be set to fire an expanding energy pulse . The pulse could be set low enough to avoid damaging equipment , but high enough to affect changeling s . It also heated up the air it was fired through . ( ) In the early 2370s , the compression phaser rifle began to be distributed to , , and other starships , including the and . ( ) More advanced phaser rifles capable of firing phaser bolts as well as the standard beam were also used in the 2370s . These rifles had a pistol grip in back and either an underbarrel grip or a second vertical grip underneath the barrel ( similar to conventional firearms of times past ) , and were capable of being modified with various types of scopes , barrels and power cells . The rifle variant with the underbarrel grip was used during zero - gravity EVA - operations in the Borg incident of 2373 / 2063 . This variant was also able to be magnetized against a surface , further proving its usefulness in zero - gravity environments . ( ; ) When Worf ' s rifle ran out of power on the Ba ' ku planet , he improvised and swung it , like a club , at a Son ' a drone that was firing transporter tag s at Ba ' ku villagers and Starfleet crew . ( ) Structure . Starfleet phaser rifles of the 24th century were characterized by several components : ( ; ) Appendices . Background information . Matt Jefferies is accredited with drawings for the original series type 1 and 2 sidearms which fitted together in a modular fashion . The said drawings also mention a mysterious " UNIT 4 " for which no drawing or design was ever made public nor featured in the original series . Possibly this UNIT 4 was meant to be a phaser rifle , but was never used on the show . ( " " , pp . 92 - 93 ) Rick Sternbach designed the phaser rifle introduced in . He explains its apparent lack of trigger as follows : My Type III rifle blueprints don ’ t show an obvious button on either the fore or aft grips . One of the postings [ on TrekBBS ] talks about buttons being hit at the wrong times , which I do recall as being an issue during production . Made for slight VFX headaches . Perhaps that affected how I drew the thing . My in - universe rationale for the grips having no obvious buttons is that ( also similar to one posting ) the actual firing studs are buried under the ribbed poly - elasto - squishy grip material . ( TrekBBS ) The modified phaser rifle that first appeared in was designed by Jim Martin . A new feature was the addition of triggers , although on the prop they were buttons . Joe Longo commented : " " Ira [ Steven Behr ] said that when he was watching people shoot , they hadn ' t been activating anything , so we made them more realistic . It gives the actors something to do " " . ( " " ) While " Voyager " originally only used compression rifles , they later also used the " First Contact " variant – indicating that weapon had been part of the ship ' s stores since they left DS9 in 2371 . This seems anachronistic since that weapon was not introduced in other productions until around 2373 , after " Voyager " departed . Even so , " Deep Space Nine " used two designs ( the TNG rifle and the " First Contact " rifle ) concurrently , indicating that no one design was " replaced " , establishing that Federation postings could use two types simultaneously . According to the " It ' s A Wrap ! " sale and auction , the version of the phaser rifle ( with flashlight ) uses " a pair of C123 3 - volt batteries . . . the bulb housing is inscribed ' 6v Lamp , Laser Products , P60 ' . " A Surefire brand P60 designation lamp is capable of outputting 65 lumens of light . A stunt version from " Star Trek : Nemesis " was sold off on the " It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction " on eBay . The term " type 3 phaser " was first referenced in , and later again in . The " Original Series " phaser rifle . In the final revised draft of the script for ( dated ) ( scenes 134 and onward ) , this type of phaser was referred to as " heavy , " " large , " " lethal - appearing , " and " lethal . " Also , its discharge was described as " a deep , fiery - red beam . " The rifle , while carried by Kirk , was said to be " slung across his shoulder . " However , this is not shown in the episode ' s final version , the weapon instead being carried by hand . For the actual construction of the rifle prop itself , Gene Roddenberry turned to an outside contractor , toy manufacturer and inventor Reuben Klamer , who was already renowned at the time for the Milton Bradley Company ' s now - classic board game , " The Game Of Life " . Roddenberry became aware of Klamer ' s work , as he spotted a prop gun in use at another television production , " The Man from U . N . C . L . E . " Contacted by Roddenberry , Klamer agreed upon designing the prop , the final version of 28 June 1965 being the version which Roddenberry approved . ( " " ) Upon approval of the design , Klamer was given the go - ahead by Roddenberry to proceed with manufacture of the prop , admonishing him that time was of the essence as shooting was already scheduled to begin in July . In a video , shot for the below mentioned auction , Klamer recalled that he initially was only given a mere two weeks to come up with both the design and the prop . Already facing a deadline that he found nearly impossible to meet , Klamer , upon additional urging by William Shatner , who desperately wanted the prop , needed an additional staff of three , including employee Ab Kander , to complete the prop on time . Working around the clock , the weapon was constructed out of wood and finished with a blue / green metallic paint . Additional detailing included the hand - tooled aluminum barrel and spring - loaded trigger , a sliding switch to adjust the force setting , three plastic non - functional domed indicator lights , and inset plastic panels , as well as a telescoping antenna mounted to the top . Moveable pieces on the weapon included three acrylic turret tubes cylinders with what appeared to be copper painted metal conduit with ends painted to match the three force settings . The entire turret unit turned on a center axis . The black shoulder butt also rotated to be used as a handle or shoulder stock . According to Klamer , in the video , Roddenberry took possession of the prop in person , which measured 34×14×4 . 5 inches , in the second week of July , and was very excited about its end - result , reportedly exclaiming , " " This is it ! This does the job ! Those guys at NBC will be surprised that we have this in the show . " " ( " " ) In " Where No Man Has Gone Before " , the phaser rifle ' s beam was reused animation from the impact of the laser cannon in . ( " Where No Man Has Gone Before " text commentary , TOS Season 1 DVD special features ) When it was announced – during the of – that the rioters were about to move to Desilu ' s production base of Culver City , California , the original phaser rifle from " Where No Man Has Gone Before " was one weapon that Herbert F . Solow suggested to Gene Roddenberry as a means of protection . ( " " , p . 89 ) Apart from its use in the episode and its proposed anti - riot use , the phaser rifle prop was most notably re - utilized for well known official publicity shots , which featured William Shatner , in the guise of Kirk , holding the phaser rifle . ( " " , pp . 117 , 106 , 190 ; " et al . " ) Roddenberry obviously reverted his initial enthusiastic stance on the phaser rifle , and it was retired from TOS after he decided that , in common with smoking , guns were not to be shown on the series , either . Regarding the TOS phaser rifle design , Bjo Trimble remarked , " " The gun was just a little too lethal - looking for Gene ' s taste and he just didn ' t like it . " " ( TOS Season 1 Blu - ray special features , " Starfleet Access " : " Where No Man Has Gone Before " . ) The phaser rifle prop was returned to creator Klamer , who kept it in pristine condition in his possession for the next half century . This made " Where No Man Has Gone Before " the only canon appearance of the design in the " Star Trek " franchise . But the TOS phaser rifle became somewhat of an iconic piece in the " Star Trek " fan community , drawing the reference of " The Holy Grail " from " Star Trek " - archivist Alec Peters ; this prompted CBS Consumer Products to commission the manufacture of at least one copy for inclusion as a display piece in exhibitions , such as " " and " Star Trek The Exhibition " . These copies turned up in later ( un ) official publicity photographs and imagery of Dave Rossi and Elizabeth Dehner actress Sally Kellerman individually posing with the prop . ( TOS Season 1 Blu - ray special features , " Starfleet Access " : " Where No Man Has Gone Before " ; " et al . " ) Apparently , a phaser rifle prop copy even ended up in Kellerman ' s possession after the " 2010 Official Star Trek Convention " in Las Vegas . Michael and Denise Okuda were both somewhat critical of the TOS - era phaser rifle . Although Michael Okuda found it " a cool concept " and particularly liked how some of the weapon ' s components moved , he also believed the phaser rifle had " kind of a funky design . " He concluded , " " I think they were right to retire it after [ ' Where No Man Has Gone Before ' ] . " " Dave Rossi remarked on the opinions that the Okudas , who Rossi worked with on Remastered TOS , had about the weapon : " " I ' m told that my learned colleagues thought that the phaser rifle was a bit hokey - looking . " " Rossi ' s own thoughts on the TOS - era phaser rifle , however , differed substantially from those of the Okudas . " " I love the phaser rifle , " " he raved . " " The phaser rifle kicks butt ! And I ' m bummed that it only appears in [ ' Where No Man Has Gone Before ' ] , because to have a phaser gun that can , you know , take the top of a mountain off , " what did the phaser rifle do ? ! " You know what I mean ? I really wanted to see this thing in future episodes . I didn ' t think it looked hokey at all ; I thought it was cool . It was bulky and it was mean and looked good in Kirk ' s hands a lot . " " ( TOS Season 1 Blu - ray special features , " Starfleet Access " : " Where No Man Has Gone Before " ) Creator Klamer eventually offered up the actual original phaser rifle itself , with the accompanying period studio paperwork , for auction in the Julien ' s Auctions firm ' s " Hollywood Legends Auction " on 5 April 2013 . As lot 120 it had an estimate of US $ 50 , 000 - $ 70 , 000 , selling for over three times the high estimate at US $ 231 , 000 , in the process becoming the most expensive " Star Trek " hand - held prop ever sold at auction to date , affirming Alec Peters ' assessment .