The Macabees
27-04-2007, 02:27
Hali-53 Multi-Service Assault Rifle [Five-Three M-SAR]
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Hardware/Macsriflenew-2.png
[Drawn by Cravan]
Saga of the .221 Orchomenos
The .221 was introduced as the principle round of the Ejermacht with the release of relatively unconventional Hali-42 assault rifle. In fact, the entire package had spiraled away from prior rifle convention (the Hali-21). This rifle completely replaced the Ejermacht's rifle by 2014 and saw wide export. Ultimately, the rifle would see service in the War of Golden Succession (May 2016 - May 2018) in which several of its faults would be revealed - most of these faults were relevant to the .221 Orchomenos, not surprisingly. Almost immediately after the Treaty of Aurillac a general review of the rifle was funded by the Fuermak (armed forces). This review was tasked with pinpointing the problems of the Hali-42 and assisting the Ejermacht in providing a number of requirements for a future assault rifle. The task force operated between August 2018 and November 2019, with a white paper prepared for the government by January 2020.
Generally, all criticism of the .221 suggested that the round was by far too small for successful application as an assault rifle caliber. It was found that there were literally tens of thousands of complaints that in close quarter battles the .221 round was far too fast, and far too small, and would normally end in a through-and-through hit of the enemy soldier. Even though the round used a barbette in order to increase the damage inside the body, the barbette was not large enough to slow down the bullet, or damage the man enough to take him down in one shot. Consequently, it was found that many times it would take three to four bullets to bring down a man, ending in many more Imperial deaths - given that the enemy had more time to fire back, between the time of the first shot and the time he was taken down. Moreover, there were examples of wounded Havenic soldiers being tended to and being sent right into battle after they had been shot once or twice.
At longer ranges the .221 was found to be far more successful, as the bullet had time to slow down prior to impact. In fact, during the war there was an attempt to supply new .221 ammunition to troops destined to fight in Havenic cities during the Second Empire's advance south. It was found that logistically this was all but impossible, and not entirely feasible.
The task force also noted that the rifle within itself was far too complicated. For example, troops in the field found it hard to fix small problems and most of the time the rifle had to be exchanged for a brand new rifle, while the old rifle was sent back to the factory to be rebuilt. Ultimately this meant time and money - money that was not necessarily available. The main problem was the fact that the rifle used a binary liquid propellant with a caseless round. This meant that the liquid had to be stored in the rifle (making it less ergonomic) and pumped into the combustion chamber. Frequent problems with the pumps plagued early production versions of the rifle, and although the problem was tended to over the years the system was never liked by the personnel on the ground. Furthermore, despite the fact that the rifle fully armed was lighter due to the use of a liquid propellant, the fact remained that the storage cells in the rifle were bulky, making the rifle less ergonomic and harder to handle. In fact, it took a lot of experience and training to work around the poor physical design of the rifle.
The principle problems found in the Hali-42 soon found themselves as key points for the requirements outlined by the Ejermacht.
New requirements for a future rifle
Between January and March 2020 the Ejermacht outlined a series of requirements for various small-arms companies. These included:
- A new rifle caliber, superior in performance to the .221 Orchomenos and to existing 5.56mm assault rifle ammunitions.
- No more than 4.5kg empty.
- Solid propellant.
- Low recoil.
- Suppressed muzzle flash.
Two foreign companies and four indigenous companies offered their prototypes to the Ejermacht by February 2021. The two foreign companies were Izistan's Robertson Arms and Spizania's Confederate Armaments Incorporated. Despite the purchase of four X-4 (X denotes that the rifles were prototypes. Each of the three indigenous rifles were named X-1 through X-3, and Spizania's the X-5) rifles from Robertson Arms and fairly successful testing between March and July 2022 it was decided not to purchase the X-4 due to inferior ballistic performance of the Izistani round to the 6.64x51mm round used by the X-2 and X-3. Furthermore, the X-4 used a caseless round which after the experiences with the Hali-42 were not favored. The same remained true for Confederate Arms Incorporated's X-5, as well as the fact that it was far too unconventional for the taste of the Ejermacht - especially after the experience of using the Hali-42.
Ultimately, it was found that the best rifle with the best balance of old and new technologies was the X-2.
Birth of the Hali-5X project
In August 2021 the Ejermacht signed a contract in which it was stated that the government would fund the remainder of the development of the X-2 and would promise to purchase at least 100,000 rifles upon completion of the prototype. It was also agreed upon that the company designing the rifle (Gíert et Ber) would make substantial changes to the prototype. These included:
- Changing several materials in rifle construction to lighten its weight.
- Changing the standard cased round for a cased telescopic round to decrease weight further.
- Development of at least three separate rounds for the rifle.
- The rifle would have to be complete for production by January 2022.
The new rifle was given the name of Hali-5X and by September 2021 a new prototype had been delivered to the Ejermacht. In early October a further ten rifles were produced for testing, which continued until the end of the month. Minor modifications were made to the rifle between late October and December 2021, in preparation for production in January, unfortunately several glitches were found. The most important was the fact that the cased telescopic round designed for the rifle did not fully extend during flight, severely limiting the effectiveness of the round. Furthermore, the round was using an older solid propellant as opposed to the new solid propellant which had been offered to Gíert et Ber for modification into the ammunition. Fortunately, the contract was extended for another four months.
Modifications and testing continued and the round was finally ready for production by June 2022. Upon production the rifle was dubbed the Hali-53.
A new caliber is chosen
The Ejermacht ultimately chose the 6.64x51mm cased round as its next small-arms caliber, with the idea of equaling the power of a larger round in order to increase lethality. Ultimately, the increase in weight and the decrease in the amount of rounds in each magazine was solved with the use of cased telescoping ammunition which saved around 30% of the volume in comparison to a magazine holding conventional rounds of the same caliber. To further decrease weight each round uses a new polymer case which reduced individual round weight by over 20%.
The new case is manufactured out of two separate polymers. A 60% glass fiber filled polymer is the principle component, injected by the low-core technique. This polymer is reinforced by minor metallic inserts. A more ductile polymer is subsequently injected to fill the shoulder, mouth and neck areas of the round. This system solves several problems of existing polymer cases, including poor reliability. Furthermore, the system is not more expensive than using a brass case and saves more weight.
Ultimately, the use of both polymer casings and CTA technology allow the rifle to save a lot of weight in regards to its ammunition. Most importantly, it allows the rifle to be just as effective as other contemporaries (or more effective, even).
Three rounds were introduced along with the Hali-53. The first is the 6.64x51mm Orchomenos. This round is designed as the general use all-around bullet to be supplied in the most quantities. It is designed for penetration of the majority of existing infantry armors protecting the troops of foreign threats. The round is a tungsten-cored. copper jacketed round. The purpose of the round is speed and penetration. The round weighs ~7.8 grams and uses a 2 gram propellant. The second round is the 6.64x51mm PELE, which is designed with a high density jacket and a low density core. The idea is during impact the jacket bursts due to the low-compressibility of the core's material. The end result is a large amount of fragments bursting into the body, increasing the lethality of the weapon. This round is specifically designed for use against unarmored opponents. The third major round is the armor piercing 6.64x60mm flechette designed for penetration of thicker battle suits and power armor.
Several other rounds were also designed, including:
-6.64mm grenade
-6.64mm tracer
-6.64mm NL (non-lethal)
All combat rounds use a newly designed solid propellant to decrease weight and increase power. The best solid propellant for small arms use was found to be one composed of 25% nitrocellulose (NC), 45% cyclotrimethylenetrinitrimine (RDX) and 6% Glycidyl Azide Polymer (GAP), with other components. Originally a substance called TAGN had been included, but a low flame temperature was found not to be suitable for assault rifle application to avoid cook-offs. The main purpose was to find a highly dense solid propellant with high energy and a high rate of expansion - in other words, more velocity.
Rifle Operation
The Hali-42's operation was delayed blowback, and the original X-2 prototype by Gíert and Ber used the same system. However, in an effort to reduce recoil and improve accuracy it was decided to change the rifle operation to what is regarded as 'balanced automatics'. Balanced automatics is an extension of the short-stroke gas-operated, rotating-bolt mechanism of the AK-47. Instead of having just one gas-piston, balanced automatics uses two gas-pistons moving in opposite directions, meaning that the operator only feels the recoil created by the momentum of the forward moving bullet. The addition of this new system was a factor to the run over costs of the rifle program and to the retardation of the date for initial production. However, testing in early 2022 proved the value of 'balanced automatics'.
The Hali-5X was tested against the Hali-42 and the original Hali-5X using the same operating mechanism as the Hali-42. All three rifles were tested with a thirty-round mag of their respective calibers and were all tested on automatic fire. The Hali-42 managed to put three out of thirty rounds on target, while the original prototype of the Hali-5X put five out of thirty rounds on target. However, the new Hali-5X using balanced automatics successfully trained nineteen out of thirty bullets on target (all at 100 meters).
The ejection port of the rifle is located at the front of the weapon, and empty cases are ejected forward, allowing the rifle to be ambidextrous.
Scope
When the Ejermacht offered its requirements for a brand new assault rifle to several armaments companies, foreign and indigenous, it offered a separate list of requirements for new optic system for the rifle. The only company able to meet up to the Ejermacht's expectations proved to be Eldíen Electro-Optical Works. Eldíen had existed under the Kriegzimmer Conglomerate and then had become an independent company post-break up. It had worked on much of the electro-optics used on Kriegzimmer battleships and super dreadnoughts. A series of six different optics were offered, the differences dependent on cost. These competed against a total of thirty-nine other optics systems, including sixteen which were designed by foreign companies.
Eldíen's optics, which were ultimately chosen for contract, included a 1X red dot mode for close quarter combat (CQB), with the option to switch to up to 4X magnification using a cased reticule with adjustable brightness. The sight also included bullet drop compensation for ranges beyond 700 meters. The sights can be used with both eyes open, and is completely shock proof. Furthermore, even if part of the lens is covered with mud, or is shattered, the shooter can still accurately use the system if he/she can see through any surviving piece of the lens. The rifle operator can see this because a laser diode projects the target as a hologram image onto a hardened, three layer laminated glass window. This optical sights measures ~156mm in length and weighs ~390 grams.
For greater tactical flexibility an off-axis viewing device (OAVD) is also standard with the rifle. The system works by using two oval-shaped mirros to reflect the image from the rifle's optical sight to the soldier. This allows the soldier to literally look around corners. OAVDs within the Ejermacht are normally issued only during urban operations to provide soldiers with greater protection. Each OAVD extension measures 150mm and weighs 500 grams and can be clipped to the existing sight.
Rifle Construction
The rifle is relatively light due to the increased usage of plastics as construction material. The barrel, however, remains of steel construction, although the bolt and bolt carrier are manufactured out of titanium. The receiver is built out of composite polymer. The ultimate aim was to construct a rifle with the least weight possible for greater ergonomics.
Specifications
Rifle Dimensions
Length: 980mm Length of Barrel: 718mm
Weight [Empty]: 3.4kg Weight [Loaded]: 3.56kg Weight [With Optic Sight & Sling]: 3.93kg
Configuration: Bullpup
Armament Specifications
Caliber: 6.64x51mm Principle Round: 6.64mm Orchomenos Cased Weight: 7.82 grams Propellant Weight: 2 grams
Round Velocity: 1,070 m/s
Firing Modes: Safe, Single and Automatic Rate of Fire: 800 to 1050 per minute
Operating Mechanism: Gas-Operated Balanced Automatics, Rotating Bolt Feed System: 28-round curved detachable box magazine Effective Range: 800m
Other Information
Main Contractor: Gíert and Ber Electronics Contractor: Eldíen Electro-Optics Export Contractor: Kriegzimmer
Unit Cost: $3,600 (to decrease depending on the amount of exports)
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i291/Macabees/Hardware/Macsriflenew-2.png
[Drawn by Cravan]
Saga of the .221 Orchomenos
The .221 was introduced as the principle round of the Ejermacht with the release of relatively unconventional Hali-42 assault rifle. In fact, the entire package had spiraled away from prior rifle convention (the Hali-21). This rifle completely replaced the Ejermacht's rifle by 2014 and saw wide export. Ultimately, the rifle would see service in the War of Golden Succession (May 2016 - May 2018) in which several of its faults would be revealed - most of these faults were relevant to the .221 Orchomenos, not surprisingly. Almost immediately after the Treaty of Aurillac a general review of the rifle was funded by the Fuermak (armed forces). This review was tasked with pinpointing the problems of the Hali-42 and assisting the Ejermacht in providing a number of requirements for a future assault rifle. The task force operated between August 2018 and November 2019, with a white paper prepared for the government by January 2020.
Generally, all criticism of the .221 suggested that the round was by far too small for successful application as an assault rifle caliber. It was found that there were literally tens of thousands of complaints that in close quarter battles the .221 round was far too fast, and far too small, and would normally end in a through-and-through hit of the enemy soldier. Even though the round used a barbette in order to increase the damage inside the body, the barbette was not large enough to slow down the bullet, or damage the man enough to take him down in one shot. Consequently, it was found that many times it would take three to four bullets to bring down a man, ending in many more Imperial deaths - given that the enemy had more time to fire back, between the time of the first shot and the time he was taken down. Moreover, there were examples of wounded Havenic soldiers being tended to and being sent right into battle after they had been shot once or twice.
At longer ranges the .221 was found to be far more successful, as the bullet had time to slow down prior to impact. In fact, during the war there was an attempt to supply new .221 ammunition to troops destined to fight in Havenic cities during the Second Empire's advance south. It was found that logistically this was all but impossible, and not entirely feasible.
The task force also noted that the rifle within itself was far too complicated. For example, troops in the field found it hard to fix small problems and most of the time the rifle had to be exchanged for a brand new rifle, while the old rifle was sent back to the factory to be rebuilt. Ultimately this meant time and money - money that was not necessarily available. The main problem was the fact that the rifle used a binary liquid propellant with a caseless round. This meant that the liquid had to be stored in the rifle (making it less ergonomic) and pumped into the combustion chamber. Frequent problems with the pumps plagued early production versions of the rifle, and although the problem was tended to over the years the system was never liked by the personnel on the ground. Furthermore, despite the fact that the rifle fully armed was lighter due to the use of a liquid propellant, the fact remained that the storage cells in the rifle were bulky, making the rifle less ergonomic and harder to handle. In fact, it took a lot of experience and training to work around the poor physical design of the rifle.
The principle problems found in the Hali-42 soon found themselves as key points for the requirements outlined by the Ejermacht.
New requirements for a future rifle
Between January and March 2020 the Ejermacht outlined a series of requirements for various small-arms companies. These included:
- A new rifle caliber, superior in performance to the .221 Orchomenos and to existing 5.56mm assault rifle ammunitions.
- No more than 4.5kg empty.
- Solid propellant.
- Low recoil.
- Suppressed muzzle flash.
Two foreign companies and four indigenous companies offered their prototypes to the Ejermacht by February 2021. The two foreign companies were Izistan's Robertson Arms and Spizania's Confederate Armaments Incorporated. Despite the purchase of four X-4 (X denotes that the rifles were prototypes. Each of the three indigenous rifles were named X-1 through X-3, and Spizania's the X-5) rifles from Robertson Arms and fairly successful testing between March and July 2022 it was decided not to purchase the X-4 due to inferior ballistic performance of the Izistani round to the 6.64x51mm round used by the X-2 and X-3. Furthermore, the X-4 used a caseless round which after the experiences with the Hali-42 were not favored. The same remained true for Confederate Arms Incorporated's X-5, as well as the fact that it was far too unconventional for the taste of the Ejermacht - especially after the experience of using the Hali-42.
Ultimately, it was found that the best rifle with the best balance of old and new technologies was the X-2.
Birth of the Hali-5X project
In August 2021 the Ejermacht signed a contract in which it was stated that the government would fund the remainder of the development of the X-2 and would promise to purchase at least 100,000 rifles upon completion of the prototype. It was also agreed upon that the company designing the rifle (Gíert et Ber) would make substantial changes to the prototype. These included:
- Changing several materials in rifle construction to lighten its weight.
- Changing the standard cased round for a cased telescopic round to decrease weight further.
- Development of at least three separate rounds for the rifle.
- The rifle would have to be complete for production by January 2022.
The new rifle was given the name of Hali-5X and by September 2021 a new prototype had been delivered to the Ejermacht. In early October a further ten rifles were produced for testing, which continued until the end of the month. Minor modifications were made to the rifle between late October and December 2021, in preparation for production in January, unfortunately several glitches were found. The most important was the fact that the cased telescopic round designed for the rifle did not fully extend during flight, severely limiting the effectiveness of the round. Furthermore, the round was using an older solid propellant as opposed to the new solid propellant which had been offered to Gíert et Ber for modification into the ammunition. Fortunately, the contract was extended for another four months.
Modifications and testing continued and the round was finally ready for production by June 2022. Upon production the rifle was dubbed the Hali-53.
A new caliber is chosen
The Ejermacht ultimately chose the 6.64x51mm cased round as its next small-arms caliber, with the idea of equaling the power of a larger round in order to increase lethality. Ultimately, the increase in weight and the decrease in the amount of rounds in each magazine was solved with the use of cased telescoping ammunition which saved around 30% of the volume in comparison to a magazine holding conventional rounds of the same caliber. To further decrease weight each round uses a new polymer case which reduced individual round weight by over 20%.
The new case is manufactured out of two separate polymers. A 60% glass fiber filled polymer is the principle component, injected by the low-core technique. This polymer is reinforced by minor metallic inserts. A more ductile polymer is subsequently injected to fill the shoulder, mouth and neck areas of the round. This system solves several problems of existing polymer cases, including poor reliability. Furthermore, the system is not more expensive than using a brass case and saves more weight.
Ultimately, the use of both polymer casings and CTA technology allow the rifle to save a lot of weight in regards to its ammunition. Most importantly, it allows the rifle to be just as effective as other contemporaries (or more effective, even).
Three rounds were introduced along with the Hali-53. The first is the 6.64x51mm Orchomenos. This round is designed as the general use all-around bullet to be supplied in the most quantities. It is designed for penetration of the majority of existing infantry armors protecting the troops of foreign threats. The round is a tungsten-cored. copper jacketed round. The purpose of the round is speed and penetration. The round weighs ~7.8 grams and uses a 2 gram propellant. The second round is the 6.64x51mm PELE, which is designed with a high density jacket and a low density core. The idea is during impact the jacket bursts due to the low-compressibility of the core's material. The end result is a large amount of fragments bursting into the body, increasing the lethality of the weapon. This round is specifically designed for use against unarmored opponents. The third major round is the armor piercing 6.64x60mm flechette designed for penetration of thicker battle suits and power armor.
Several other rounds were also designed, including:
-6.64mm grenade
-6.64mm tracer
-6.64mm NL (non-lethal)
All combat rounds use a newly designed solid propellant to decrease weight and increase power. The best solid propellant for small arms use was found to be one composed of 25% nitrocellulose (NC), 45% cyclotrimethylenetrinitrimine (RDX) and 6% Glycidyl Azide Polymer (GAP), with other components. Originally a substance called TAGN had been included, but a low flame temperature was found not to be suitable for assault rifle application to avoid cook-offs. The main purpose was to find a highly dense solid propellant with high energy and a high rate of expansion - in other words, more velocity.
Rifle Operation
The Hali-42's operation was delayed blowback, and the original X-2 prototype by Gíert and Ber used the same system. However, in an effort to reduce recoil and improve accuracy it was decided to change the rifle operation to what is regarded as 'balanced automatics'. Balanced automatics is an extension of the short-stroke gas-operated, rotating-bolt mechanism of the AK-47. Instead of having just one gas-piston, balanced automatics uses two gas-pistons moving in opposite directions, meaning that the operator only feels the recoil created by the momentum of the forward moving bullet. The addition of this new system was a factor to the run over costs of the rifle program and to the retardation of the date for initial production. However, testing in early 2022 proved the value of 'balanced automatics'.
The Hali-5X was tested against the Hali-42 and the original Hali-5X using the same operating mechanism as the Hali-42. All three rifles were tested with a thirty-round mag of their respective calibers and were all tested on automatic fire. The Hali-42 managed to put three out of thirty rounds on target, while the original prototype of the Hali-5X put five out of thirty rounds on target. However, the new Hali-5X using balanced automatics successfully trained nineteen out of thirty bullets on target (all at 100 meters).
The ejection port of the rifle is located at the front of the weapon, and empty cases are ejected forward, allowing the rifle to be ambidextrous.
Scope
When the Ejermacht offered its requirements for a brand new assault rifle to several armaments companies, foreign and indigenous, it offered a separate list of requirements for new optic system for the rifle. The only company able to meet up to the Ejermacht's expectations proved to be Eldíen Electro-Optical Works. Eldíen had existed under the Kriegzimmer Conglomerate and then had become an independent company post-break up. It had worked on much of the electro-optics used on Kriegzimmer battleships and super dreadnoughts. A series of six different optics were offered, the differences dependent on cost. These competed against a total of thirty-nine other optics systems, including sixteen which were designed by foreign companies.
Eldíen's optics, which were ultimately chosen for contract, included a 1X red dot mode for close quarter combat (CQB), with the option to switch to up to 4X magnification using a cased reticule with adjustable brightness. The sight also included bullet drop compensation for ranges beyond 700 meters. The sights can be used with both eyes open, and is completely shock proof. Furthermore, even if part of the lens is covered with mud, or is shattered, the shooter can still accurately use the system if he/she can see through any surviving piece of the lens. The rifle operator can see this because a laser diode projects the target as a hologram image onto a hardened, three layer laminated glass window. This optical sights measures ~156mm in length and weighs ~390 grams.
For greater tactical flexibility an off-axis viewing device (OAVD) is also standard with the rifle. The system works by using two oval-shaped mirros to reflect the image from the rifle's optical sight to the soldier. This allows the soldier to literally look around corners. OAVDs within the Ejermacht are normally issued only during urban operations to provide soldiers with greater protection. Each OAVD extension measures 150mm and weighs 500 grams and can be clipped to the existing sight.
Rifle Construction
The rifle is relatively light due to the increased usage of plastics as construction material. The barrel, however, remains of steel construction, although the bolt and bolt carrier are manufactured out of titanium. The receiver is built out of composite polymer. The ultimate aim was to construct a rifle with the least weight possible for greater ergonomics.
Specifications
Rifle Dimensions
Length: 980mm Length of Barrel: 718mm
Weight [Empty]: 3.4kg Weight [Loaded]: 3.56kg Weight [With Optic Sight & Sling]: 3.93kg
Configuration: Bullpup
Armament Specifications
Caliber: 6.64x51mm Principle Round: 6.64mm Orchomenos Cased Weight: 7.82 grams Propellant Weight: 2 grams
Round Velocity: 1,070 m/s
Firing Modes: Safe, Single and Automatic Rate of Fire: 800 to 1050 per minute
Operating Mechanism: Gas-Operated Balanced Automatics, Rotating Bolt Feed System: 28-round curved detachable box magazine Effective Range: 800m
Other Information
Main Contractor: Gíert and Ber Electronics Contractor: Eldíen Electro-Optics Export Contractor: Kriegzimmer
Unit Cost: $3,600 (to decrease depending on the amount of exports)