Liquid ammunition

Liquid ammunition, also known colloquially as "slug juice" or "war slime", referred to any explosive liquid chemical that was used as a charge in explosives or a propellant in projectile weapons. Firearms that used liquid ammunition were often known as "slugthrowers", as the liquid ammunition was typically viscous or "slug-like" in texture, which often coated the projectile after firing. Liquid propellants were often activated through internal heat generations that activated by triggers. Older slugthrowers used cranks and levers to activate the generators, resulting in a pole-shaped weapons that barely resembled modern firearms. Modern slugthrowers, like blasters, utilized a device that generated a hot laser, which would heat up the propellant chamber and cause an explosive reaction. Some slugthrowers were designed with chambers that allowed a single load of propellant to be used for several hundred projectiles, while others required the chamber to be re-filled per shot in a similar fashion to gunpowder muskets.

Simple slugthrowers appeared as early as c. 10,000 BBY, though gunpowder-based weapons were several millennia older.

Ethanol, methane, hydrazine, and nitrous oxide (or various combinations of the four) were the most common chemicals used as liquid ammunition. "Standard Rating Fluid Firearm Propellant" (SRFFP) was the standard slugthrower propellant approved for use by Republic forces and was a combination of lithium, fluorine, and nitrous oxide. Although slugthrowers were phased out of popularity in the Republic military by 300 BBY, certain slugthrower sniper rifles (as well as explosives and artillery cannons that used liquid propellant) remained in use by Republic Judicial Forces, which all used Standard Rating Fluid Firearm Propellant. Improvised explosives using stolen SRFFP were used by numerous insurgent groups.

The oil extract of the jercyk fungus, native to Mandalore, was highly explosive without any artificial processing, and was used by Mandalorian warriors as a firearm propellant for millennia. Jercyk oil became one of the most popular liquid ammunition types across the northern Outer Rim and was one of Mandalore's main exports until the New Mandalorian government banned the production and distribution of jercyk oil during their attempt to eradicate the Mandalorians' war culture.