NationStates Jolt Archive

The Empire of Cotland are today announcing its wish for a new snipers rifle for the Imperial Cottish Army. The rifle must be

lightweight (not more then 6 kg)

lethal (plenty of stopping power)

use a caliber of either 7,62 x 51 mm OR 12,7 x 99 mm

not too costly ($ 8000,- per rifle max)


The Empire intends to purchase at least 100 000 units, giving this contract a value of 800 billion USD. We await the first bids.

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=352824

Cottonmouth's Place.

Look in the Custom design section, under my name.

VG-12
Caliber: 7.62mm NATO
Operation: rotating bolt, manually operated
Barrel: 586 mm
Weight: 5.55 kg empty without scope
Length: 1165 mm
Feed Mechanism: 5 rounds detachable box mag
VG-12E
Caliber: 7.62 x 51mm
Operation: rotating bolt, manually operated
Overall Length: 1180 mm
Barrel Length: 610 mm
Weight (w/o scope): 5.4kg (w/ Hendsoldt 1.5-6x42mm): 6.2kg
Mag. Capacity: 5

We are offering either of these models, should you be interested we can provide any additional details wanted.

Mauser-Faverien 05
-------------------

Ammunition Caliber is 12,7 x 99 mm.
Weight 5.4kg.

The MF05 is the newest addition to the Martens Kaiserreich Infanterie.
It is done mostly in our own plastic which uses the same material that
we use for rockets - its formula a secret - excepting some of the parts
like the inner side of the cannon that have another space age alloy to
make it even more resistent. It is designed so that it will work in either
deserts or mountains, or if it fell into the mud, it comes with an electronic
scope which is also capable of Infrared, Heat Detection, Night Vision, with
a minimum requirement of energy from it's NiCd reloadable high standard batteries, which can function for many hours and can be reloaded with
any 180-240 socket - plug in included. The ammunition comes in two varieties, there are "chaingun style" strings of it so that the sniper won't need to reload at all, it can be set to Automatic or Single and it is low noise compared to standards, though it does have a silencer included for better performance. It's recoil is slightly average than most rifles, but it is nothing that cannot be coped with by any mildly experienced marksman. The other ammo mode is using clips which come with 8 or 16 shots, 8 being the common choice.

Then, a heavier variant of the rifle, 5.8kg has our Doppelschuss Technology, which means that with one press of a trigger and only one "Fire" part of the cannon moved back, minimizing recoil almost comparable to a common handgun, and in that single shot, two bullets being fired (It is not like semi automatic, it is different).

The latter DS one comes for 8000 for we wish not to just give that tool away to anyone, the other one's price can be discussed via telegram.

Six kilos... okay, so about fifteen and some change pounds.
7.62x51 would probably be more practical in that weight-class (Felt recoil on a 12.7x99 or .50 BMG would be a killer on something that lightweight.)
Now, presuming you want optics with that, the base-rifle weight should probably come in around three to four kilogrammes minus bipods, optics, and ammo.
Since you made no specific references to action-type, I presume you're more interested in "Tack-driver" than "Follow up shots", so a small magazine capacity probably isn't a handicap.

Using a fluted bull-barrel with button-rifling is probably a good first-step. While hammer-forged barrels are durable, they're not particularly accurate (too many stresses are imparted into the metal in the manufacturing process, and stress-relief doesn't help much since the stresses are both lateral, and longitudinal), and cut-rifling has a high risk of small defects (and doesn't work-harden the interior of the bore the way button-rifling does.)

Presumably, you want a very ergonomic stock arrangement, this because it both helps hold the weapon 'on-target', and because a sniper often has to wait long periods before he gets a shot, while not moving.

Using only Moderntech, and using RL pricing, a good sniper/tactical on a bolt-action reciever should only run around a max of two thousand dollars, three if you buy 'reputation' premium name gear (Shilen barrels, for instance).
There are a few specs you neglected to mention:

Feed type- the Remington 700 and derived rifles use a 'push-feed' arrangement. The '98 Mauser, pre-'64 Winchester 70, and Ruger 77 use an external claw-extractor that provides positive feed from the magazine to the chamber.
Both approaches have their advantages/disadvantages-the push-feed handles single-loading better, and often shows somewhat better gas-containment in the event of case-head ruptures, while the claw extractor tends to feed from the magazine more reliably.
This is with bolt-guns, mind.

Anticipated Range of Engagement: How far is your 'baseline' set? With a good scope, bull-barrel, and in competent hands, the 7.62 Nato can reliably kill a man with accuracy out to 850/900 meters using good ammunition. (most military rifles post-1960 are sighted to a reliable engagement range of 400 as a margin of safety.)
Urban snipers (Think "Police Type Sniper rifles") are usually scoped for shorter ranges.

Tactical Doctrine: This really determines what you are going to use-a Soviet-derived doctrine doesn't require as much accuracy (see: the Dragunov, which is barely as accurate as an M-14 or Garand) as it does ammunition capacity and control-similarity to your infantry weapon.
NATO, Brit, and Yank doctrines tend to focus more on 'limited engagement' scale use-instead of having a 'sharpshooter' in each platoon, Snipers are deployed in pairs and operate as distinct elements with their own mission profile. Accuracy trumps follow-up fire, because NATO style snipers are "Shoot, then move to another location before shooting again".
Casings ejected from semiautos are good for "Target Marking" the shooter, bolt-guns you can control where your brass goes a bit more easily.
(i.e. into the pocket instead of into the weeds, or clattering onto the floor and giving you away.)

So, you have to decide if your sniper is a "Ninja" or a "Gross Combatant" element.

OOC: Good point Cadillac-Gage. Let me adress them.

Feed type - I don't really know. I tend to lean to the external claw-extractor though. So go with that one.


Anticipated Range of Engagement - Probably somewhere between 100 and 1000 meters. They will be used by soldiers in all kinds of scenarios. Urban, desert, woods, etc.


Tactical Doctrine - The Cottish military generally follows NATO doctrine. Therefore accuracy is vital.

I hope that this has answered your questions.

IC: The Empire have noted your suggestions, and will evaluate them carefully. Thank you.

The only thing more I have to add is that the accuracy is excellent, unless you choose to use it in the automatic mode, because of the logical recoil.

(Mh, this is the first time I post about weapons like this, I guess it wasn't *that* bad for my first attempt)

I know its not 7.62 but I can offer a conversion to that caliber if you like the rest of the design:

SG-12 SR

Weight: 4.5 kg
Round: 7mm Caseless
Length: 860mm
Mode of Fire: Semi-Automatic
Max eff. Range: 1400 meters
Magazine; 30 rounds
Price; $3000 (includes 4 loaded magazines), $10 per additional magazine
Accuracy: .3 MOA
Features: Integral bipod, 10x precision scope calibrated for the M1125 round
The SG-12 is a caseless precision long rifle featuring a free-floating
barrel and an electrical cartridge firing system powered by two
batteries good for 3000 firings. The rifle also features an
uninterrupted p-rail along the upper surface and railed hand
guards for attaching accessories .

Optional Equipment:

- High grade stock, adjustable for length of pull and height: $150 per unit
- Light intensification scope (non-magnifying), can be attached to the
standard scope for night operations $700 per unit
- Thermal Imaging Weapon Sight: identifies targets using heat, Can ‘see through’ most light cover, can be
used as an attachment for the standard scope. $6500 per unit
- Sound Suppressor: reduces acoustic signature by 30 dB without a
negative effect upon accuracy, $250 per unit.

Ammunition:
M1125 7mm Caseless Match: High quality match ammunition with a steel
penetrator, suitable for use against lightly armored targets
M1126 7mm Caseless Subsonic: Decreases weapon report, should be used
in conjunction with the sound suppressor for full effectiveness.
M1127 7mm Caseless APS: For use against armored targets, accuracy
decreases to 1 MOA and effective range is reduced by 200m.

I went with caseless because of the lighter weight and smaller size (the bullet isn't smaller but the over all package is smaller than a round of similiar caliber). electrical firing in conjuction with caseless amunition means that the breech never opens during normal operation, this means lees chance of foreign objects jamming the gun (also, electrical actions don't jam or have the same mushy trigger problems assosciated with most bullpup designs)

the high magazine capacity, low profile bullpup configuaration and lightweight ammunition (that also has a superb stopping ability) combine with the ergonomic layout of key features and the durability of the materials and construcion combine to make this an excelent anti personel sniper rifle.