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In the films it's obvious that whatever the blasters and turbolasers are firing, they aren't lasers. The bolts travel way slower than the speed of light. So slow in fact that people with preternaturally high reflexes are able to block and dodge the shots.

This question Do (weaponized) lasers exist in the Star Wars universe? mentions a number of these quandaries but doesn't actually answer them, instead wondering if actual lasers exist in the EU.

So what are they firing? And is there any in-universe reason as to why people don't use projectile firearms as a way of taking down these annoying Jedi who seem able to deflect all their blaster bolts?

I am aware that the out of universe reason is "because it looks cool". Which is fine. Just wondering if anyone's ever tried to explain this discrepancy in canon.

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    They fire plasma beams. And here is the question about projectile firearms. Also here.
    – Null ♦
    Commented Oct 12, 2015 at 17:18
  • "preternaturally high reflexes" - I would say they're not reflexes. In Episode IV Luke parried before the training droid shot him. It's some kind of supernatural thing.
    – Muhammad Nizami
    Commented Feb 21, 2016 at 2:34

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According to Wookieepedia blasters are :

a ranged weapon that fired bursts of particle beam energy called blaster bolts from a replaceable power pack.

On that same page for blasters, under Blast Mechanics:

Instead of firing a coherent beam of light like the archaic laser, the blaster fired a compressed, focused, high-energy particle-beam that was very destructive, commonly referred to as a "bolt." Generating the bolt relied on two components: a gas cartridge filled with an energy-rich blaster gas (typically Tibanna) and a power pack. When the blaster was fired, a small amount of gas moved from the cartridge through the Heter valve into the gas conversion enabler chamber, commonly called the "XCiter". In this chamber, the power pack energized the gas, before it passed into the actuating blaster module, where the now extremely high-energy gas was transformed into a compressed beam of intense energy particles, coupled with intense light. The particle beam was then focused through a prismatic crystal or a similar device, which generated a deadly high-energy particle beam, fired from the emitter nozzle as a bolt of glowing energy. The color of the bolt depended on the gas used and the type of focusing device, and could vary from red to blue to orange to white.

As for why people don't use projectile fire arms on a normal basis:

If you think of the pure size of the galaxy far far away, with trillions of residents on each of millions of planets (my numbers are probably too small here) the probability of running into a Jedi who could reflect your shots is so small as to be not worth planning for. However there are some instances in the EU where projectile launching fire arms, called slug-throwers, are preferred. From the story Shatterpoint:

"Slugthrowers. I hate 'em. But they're easy to maintain. Day or two in the jungle and your blaster'll never fire again. A good slug rifle, keep 'em wiped and oiled, they last forever. The guerrillas have pretty good luck with them, even though they take a lot of practice—slugs are ballistic, y'know? You have to plot the trajectory in your head. Shee, gimme a blaster anytime."

Taking place on the jungle planet of Haruun Kal where a local fungus would destroy a blaster quickly, most of the ULF used slug-thrower rifles.

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    TL;DR - Blasters fire charged gas particles, and they are better than slug throwers because they require less skill to shoot (just point and pull). Additional benefits may include reduced recurring firearm maintenance.
    – Xantec
    Commented Oct 12, 2015 at 17:11
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    The quote about slug throwers makes me think that travel time and drop rate of actual bullets makes a slug thrower harder to use. Also consider that a blaster bolt has much less or near zero mass, and therefore will not be affected (or not as much) by gravity. That's a big deal for a fighting force that may want to use the same weapon on many different planets and/or low-g or free-fall environments.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Oct 12, 2015 at 19:29
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    So, a blaster focuses gas with a prism? So much of this stuff is better left unexplained - or explained with at least a secondary school level understanding of science... : )
    – Grimm The Opiner
    Commented Jan 3, 2018 at 8:14

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