NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm a new RPer (even though I've been here for a matter of months and have appeared on II every so often, I haven't RPed much yet).

I'm looking to produce a main infantry firearm for my military, but I have no clue to go about it. As far as I know, there's no sticky in Consolidated Threads for designing firearms, giving tips, templates for beginners, etc..

If I missed one, could you please direct me to it?

If there is no such tutorial, are there any experianced designers out there who could give me tips on creating a rifle?

Another question: How feasable is reverse engineering? I.e., buying a decent/good rifle from a storefront, studying it, and basing a new rifle off of it, as long as it isn't specifically reserved or specially designed. I'm talking about weapons in the real world, such as an M16, Ak-74, XM-29, etc..etc..

I'm no expert my self, but if you want to base your designs on Real life ones go ahead, no one can stop you, but if you take someones elses design then you've crossed the line.

Good luck.

I would suggest you do this before designing your gun:

1) What type of gun will it be?
2) What ammo type will it use (5.56 x 45 mm, 7.62 x 51 mm, etc)? You can even create your own ammo, just tell some basic information on what's the diameter and length (blank x blank mm), what is the velocity, etc....
3) Begin designing the layout of your weapon. Make sure that it isn't too bulky that a soldier can't carry it without a hassle or too light that it won't be effective at killing people or putting much power on a bullet. As a beginner, I suggest you do some research on gun parts. Then go to some real-life gun and modifiy its stats so that it fits your needs. That's what I did.

If you follow this you should be alright. Also don't over create the velocity of the gun, the rate of fire, or the magazine load. Balance is the key.

But I'm no expert. I have only one gun on the market, so maybe an expert could give you better tips :)

I would suggest you do this before designing your gun:

1) What type of gun will it be?
2) What ammo type will it use (5.56 x 45 mm, 7.62 x 51 mm, etc)? You can even create your own ammo, just tell some basic information on what's the diameter and length (blank x blank mm), what is the velocity, etc....
3) Begin designing the layout of your weapon. Make sure that it isn't too bulky that a soldier can't carry it without a hassle or too light that it won't be effective at killing people or putting much power on a bullet. As a beginner, I suggest you do some research on gun parts. Then go to some real-life gun and modifiy its stats so that it fits your needs. That's what I did.

If you follow this you should be alright. Also don't over create the velocity of the gun, the rate of fire, or the magazine load. Balance is the key.

But I'm no expert. I have only one gun on the market, so maybe an expert could give you better tips

I'll be sure to do that, thanks. :)

I'm not sure what you mean by no. 1, though. Are you talking about combat role? Or the design characteristics or what?

I was planning to make a general purpose weapon. The main version would be designed for all around combat use, while various smaller and/or lighter versions would be designed for tank crews, civil protection, etc..etc..

If I may suggest something, you'll want to make you gun have a stronger punch then both a 5.56 x 45 mm and a 7.62 x 51 mm(aka. 5.56 NATO, 7.62 NATO), most NS nations have body armor capable of with stand repeated hits in the chest from round, I suggest you use either a bigger round (8.65 x 55mm (.34 calibre) round or smaller), or a smaller round with a faster velocity (7.62 NATO rounds made of blended metal, or a gun with caseless ammo), either way is good, if you look in my sig you can see my infantry arms storefront, I use a 8.65 x 55mm round, although its stronger then the 7.62mm recoil is stronger and accuracy on full-auto is worse then the M-16 or XM-8.

If I may suggest something, you'll want to make you gun have a stronger punch then both a 5.56 x 45 mm and a 7.62 x 51 mm(aka. 5.56 NATO, 7.62 NATO), most NS nations have body armor capable of with stand repeated hits in the chest from round, I suggest you use either a bigger round (8.65 x 55mm (.34 calibre) round or smaller), or a smaller round with a faster velocity (7.62 NATO rounds made of blended metal, or a gun with caseless ammo), either way is good, if you look in my sig you can see my infantry arms storefront, I use a 8.65 x 55mm round, although its stronger then the 7.62mm recoil is stronger and accuracy on full-auto is worse then the M-16 or XM-8.

I'm not worrying so much about full-auto, I'm planning to design the rifle without it for the time being, and incorporating it with only single shot or semi-automatic three shot capability. Maybe if I really need to, I could figure out a third, longer burst mode, but I'm trying to stay away from full-auto. Or would you suggest full-auto, and if so, why?

Is there any way The Silver Sky and the Empire of Emmitia can come to an agreement on the production of .34 caliber rounds, by the way? How has it worked out for the Silver Sky military? Otherwise, I'll probably go with 7.62 or 5.56 caseless higher velocity rounds.

I wouldn't suggest that. Using a 5.56 x 45 mm, should do you fine. Any bigger would be too strong. Any bigger would be so heavy and would be liimited in capabilities. You wouldn't be able to carry many of those compared to the 5.56 or even the 7.62 mms. But I'm no expert :)

I'm not worrying so much about full-auto, I'm planning to design the rifle without it for the time being, and incorporating it with only single shot or semi-automatic three shot capability. Maybe if I really need to, I could figure out a third, longer burst mode, but I'm trying to stay away from full-auto. Or would you suggest full-auto, and if so, why?

Is there any way The Silver Sky and the Empire of Emmitia can come to an agreement on the production of .34 caliber rounds, by the way? How has it worked out for the Silver Sky military? Otherwise, I'll probably go with 7.62 or 5.56 caseless higher velocity rounds.

You don't need auto. Leave that to support infantry. Its really a waste. Most people fight in close-courters and auto wouldn't do you much. Also you'll run out of bullets faster especially with a hunker like the .34 caliber rounds. Semi-auto and 3 burst should be fine. :)

You don't need auto. Leave that to support infantry. Its really a waste. Most people fight in close-courters and auto wouldn't do you much. Also you'll run out of bullets faster especially with a hunker like the .34 caliber rounds. Semi-auto and 3 burst should be fine. :)

That's what I thought. Right now I'm leaning towards a smaller, though higher-velocity caseless. From what I hear, they're lighter and generally more of them can be carried than small arms munitions with cases. In that case, it'd probably lighten the load on my supply lines.

Ok, thanks for the help, guys. If you have any more suggestions on the rifle design, I'd be more than glad to hear them.

Here is the finished product:

RAU-05

Role: Multi-role Infantry Combat Rifle
Name: RAU-05 Combat Rifle
Weapon type: Caseless bullpup design.
Fire modes: Semi-automatic, three shot burst.
Round: 7.62x51mm Caseless
Rifle composition: Fiber reinforced composite exterior and structure, cold forged steel internal mechanisms and barrel.
Barrel length: 420 mm
Complete length: 711mm
Magazine configuration: Located behind trigger.
Operation: Gas Operated
Magazine Capacity: 30 rounds.
Cyclic Rate of Fire:
------Burst: 1,400 RPM
------Automatic: N/A
Muzzle Velocity: 3,690 ft/sec
Range:
------Unarmored opponent: 520m
------Opponent w/ body armor: 440m
------Maximum: 885m
Sight: Optical sight mounted on Picatinny Rail
Basic weight (KE weapon only, w/o
magazine): 7.2 lbs
Full combat weight (w/o ammunition): 8.8 lbs
Mass w/ magazine (KE weapon only): 9 lbs
Mass w/ ammunition (Full combat load): 11.4 lbs
Total armament:
------KE Weapon
------20mm Grenade (optional)
Available modifications:

RAU-05-CP: Civil Protection model. No stock, shorter barrel and overall weapon length. Cheaper and constructed with an aluminum alloy instead of composites. No grenade launcher.

RAU-05-PM: Paramilitary version. Issued to militiamen and non-professional Emmitian military units. No grenade launcher.

RAU-05-SMG: Significantly smaller design; 9mm cased round w/ needed modifications to the original design. Included with stock, but no grenade launcher.

RAU-05-SF: Special forces model. Shorter all-around length, but same barrel. Collapsable stock.

*RAU-05-LMG: Light machine gun. 20mm Grenade launcher replaced with bipod. Clip-designed magazine replaced with design to support 75 round drum. Barrel elongated to 450 mm.

*RAU-05-HMG: Heavy machine gun. 20mm Grenade launcher replaced with bipod. Clip-designed magazine replaced with design to support 225 round box. Barrel elongated to 450mm. Stock cushioned to cut down on wear on infantryman's shoulder.

*Asteriked ideas suggested and thanks to Leafanistan.

Please, feel free to comment and give me pointers on how to make it a more realistic weapon. Remember - this is my first rifle. :)

I suggest a Light Machine Gun version. Give it a 45 round or a 75 round drum and you'll be fine. Also a Heavy Machine Gun variant may be in order, belt fed from a 250 round box, with a bipod, and the heavier ammo.

OOC: For your first rifle its remarkable well designed, though I suggest switching to composites for lighter rifles. I have yet to design a native rifle, I'm still using AK-104s with the 7.62, though prototype KF7 rifles with 9.33*33mm are starting to appear amoung special forces.. ;)

I suggest a Light Machine Gun version. Give it a 45 round or a 75 round drum and you'll be fine. Also a Heavy Machine Gun variant may be in order, belt fed from a 250 round box, with a bipod, and the heavier ammo.

OOC: For your first rifle its remarkable well designed, though I suggest switching to composites for lighter rifles. I have yet to design a native rifle, I'm still using AK-104s with the 7.62, though prototype KF7 rifles with 9.33*33mm are starting to appear amoung special forces.. ;)

Thanks for the suggestion, it's being added as we speak. :) Thanks for the compliment. Good luck with your own rifle! (I'm assuming the KF7 is your own design?)

About the composites: I've replaced the plastics with composite materials, more specifically fiber reinforced composites, the type used in the new XM8 US military rifle.