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Ke-M4-W2901 Mk.I and II Light Armor Service Rifle

Doshii Jun

Perpetual player
Retired Staff
Ke-M4-W2901 Mk.I and II Light Armor Service Rifle

Designer/Manufacturer: Ketsurui Zaibatsu
(Suggested) Price: 25,000 KS.

Individual Component Costs:

Fabric sling: 25 KS
Ke-M4-W2901 Mk.I 06x AIES-linking scope: 2,500 KS
Ke-M4-W2901 Mk.II 30x Mult-spectrum AIES-linking scope: 4,000 KS
WickedArms GP-1 4x manual scope: 50 KS
WickedArms GP-5B/12A 10x manual scope: 100 KS
Zen Armaments Precision Sniper Rifle 20x manual scope: 400 KS
Emrys Industries Gauss Flechette Rifle 4x red-dot scope: 100 KS
Extra forward grip: 200 KS
Extra M100 magazines: 50 KS
Extra M200 magazines: 100 KS
Attachable under-barrel grenade launcher (Mk.I): 6,000 KS
Buttpad: 100 KS
Replacement foregrip (wraps around part of the barrel): 150 KS
Foregrip/bipod: 300 KS
Bipod alone: 150 KS

Nomenclature Information

Type: Rail gun fired from the shoulder.

Model: Ke-M4-W2901 (Mk.I) comes without scope and 40 cm-long rails housed inside a barrel. Mk.I also can have a grenade launcher attached. Mk.II comes with an adjustable 20x electronically linked scope with 55 cm-long rails, also housed, and a folding bipod.

Role: The LASR's purpose is rather simple -- give M4-suited soldiers a weapon that does not have the overkill of the M2-W2901 Aether Beam Rifle, yet retains some armor-killing punch. The sniper variant acts as an alternative to low-powered aether shots. Combined field systems or external kinetic dampeners can dull its damage. The M4-2901 is standard issue for the Sylph power armor and is often found with the Lamia and Mindy armors as well.

Length: Mk.I is about 70 cm long with stock collapsed; 100 cm extended. Mk.II is 115 cm long with extending stock.
Weight: Mk.I weighs about 30 kg empty, 40 kg loaded; Mk.II about 45 kg empty, 50 kg loaded.

Discharge Information

Projection/ammo type: Magnetically propelled rounds with several variants listed under Ammo Description.

Firing Mechanism: Round is pushed into chamber by the magazine spiral loading system from top-loading helical magazine by pulling a small cocking handle on the left side of the weapon's receiver. Magnetic pulse is charged behind the round by pulling the trigger, similar to a double-action trigger on a conventional rifle. That is for the first round only, however; a capacitor immediately draws off the battery after the first round to provide instant fire after the first shot (single-action pull). The magnetic pulse is then fired behind the round once the trigger breaks, sending the round between the differently charged rails inside the barrel of the weapon. The moment the pulse is fired, it pushes a door above the chamber open, loading the next round. Cycle repeats.

Note: Battery powering the weapon is found in front of the trigger, built into the gun. It is a fairly slim battery that folds into the weapon and under the foregrip, but can power the gun for up to 4,000 rounds (800 for Mk.II).

Caliber: 7x15/20mm boat-tail tapered dart with colored tips.

Effective Range: 4,000m for Mk.I; 13,000m for Mk.II.

Maximum Range: 12,000m for Mk.I; 45,000m for Mk.II.

Muzzle Velocity: 1,500m/s at anti-personnel setting (about 5,000ft/s, which is about 500ft/s faster than a .220 Swift); up to 6,000m/s at anti-armor setting.

Muzzle Blast: A small blip of bluish light.

Firing Mode(s): Mk.I is semi-auto, three-round burst and full auto at 900 rounds/min. Mk.II is semi-automatic only.

Recoil: Heavy. An unarmored non-Neko soldier attempting to fire this weapon on its lowest setting would receive a significant kick to their shoulder. An NH-17R or NH-27 could fire the weapon up to a certain point, but not at full power.

Ammo Description:

Name: Ke-M4-W2901 7x15/20mm LASR.

Visual Description: A plain light or dark-grey boat-tail tapered dart with a colored tip.
  • Standard ball (natural grey):
    Tungsten round, steel jacket.
  • Hollowpoint:
    Soft steel round with hollow tip, thin tungsten half-jacket.
  • Armor Piercing (black):
    Fullerene dart within tungsten-nickel alloy round.
  • Tracer (white):
    Hollow fullerene round, tungsten steel jacket. Packed with slow-burning magnesium. 0.01 second delay on fuse to ignite magnesium.
  • Training rounds:
    A single dummy round is loaded into the chamber; the range master will activate a rifle's training mode for a trainee.
Stored in a simple cylindrical magazine, 4cm wide by 7cm tall by 15cm long (20cm long for Mk.II). A counter is fed directly into the armor, as the weapon is actively linked to AIES. However, a counter is found on the magazine itself.

Ammo: 100 rounds per magazine.

Damage Description: Depends on the round type and target. Standard is issued for most engagements; hollowpoint is usually issued only when unarmored targets are expected in tight quarters; armor piercing is also standard; shield piercing is issued only when shielded targets are expected; tracers are for nighttime fighting; and HE rounds are issued to sniper squads.

Weapon Mechanisms:

Safeties: Located above the trigger on the left side in the form of a pulldown-pushup switch that unattaches the trigger from the magnetic pulse generator. AIES link allows access to magnetic pulse generator safety; essentially shuts the gun down.

Fire mode selectors: AIES link needed. Default is semi-auto, 1,500m/s. See Fire modes above.

Weapon sights: AIES provides main sighting abilities. However, 30x scope on Mk.II is designed to supplement those. The standard 06x scope on the Mk.I provides some extra sighting power. The weapon has no iron sights. A laser sight is built into the rifle's frame below the barrel. It is turned on and off with a small button above the grip.

Attachment hard points: A grenade launcher similar to that of the old WickedArms GP-12a can be attached to the area below the battery and in front of the trigger guard on the Mk.I.

Note: the weapon's stock slides into and out from the receiver to maintain stability. It is like that of an Type 28 SMG.

Maintenance Information:

Field Maintenance Procedure: Weapon requires no major cleaning, as no chemicals are produced. The foregrip under the barrel can be removed by undoing two hidden snaps on the front and back of it, but other than that, there's little else that can be repaired without a workbench. Barrels can be switched if necessary. The magnetic pulse generator's rear end ("the bolt") is exposed and can be tinkered with using simple field tools, but it is a somewhat fragile unit.

Replaceable Parts and components: The Mk.I is serviced fairly easily. The quick-change barrel is the most important part, but the battery, scope, trigger group and stock are the only parts that can be field-stripped. The rails inside the barrel are actually replaced with the Mk.II, instead of just attaching a new barrel as with the Mk.I. The receiver can be removed from the back and includes the magnetic pulse device that propels the rounds, as well as the cocking device that loads new rounds. The recoil pad on the extending stock can also be added.

Visual Description:

Mk.I
1151279689713.png


Mk.II
1151284388315.png


The Light Armor Service Rifle is comprised mostly of a titanium alloy and polymer furnniture. The alloy is a mix of of smooth and checkered blue/grey, the standard Star Army colors, with the polymer a dark grey. The bolt is uncolored and exposed on the right side of the weapon. A modular rail is set on top of the weapon, allowing for a highly versatile rifle without changing the basic components. The magazine actually slides in between the extendable stock's rails and beneath the end of the rail. The barrel fits snugly with the lower portion of the rifle that holds the foregrip and battery. It is not connected, as the barrel is a quick-changer.

LEFT SIDE: The safety is above the trigger. The charging handle is above the main grip.

History:

The infamous design team responsible for mostly failed projects was finally given a task and asked to tailor it. They did just that, creating a rifle usable by soldiers in the new M4 Sylph light power armor and possibly future light armors. In essence, the weapon gives the armor badly needed medium attack power that can be used against unarmored and armored targets alike. Because the old WickedArms weapons are no longer in production, and any other space-borne power armor weapon is overpowered, this weapon suits the light armor well. However, it is primarily designed to face targets inferior to Yamatai's spacy armors. Oddly enough, it is the first design team's actual success. A pistol is in the works.

Edits:
Changed weapon nomenclature to reflect proper naming methodology.
Highlighted stock placement under Weapon Mechanisms.
Replaced "shoulder-mounted" with "fired from the shoulder."
Increased price.
Edited damage description to shrink globe size.
Added magazine cost.
REVAMPED AMMUNITION (Types, speed, etc.)
Changed jackets from Yamataium to tungsten steel.
Added steel bands to certain rounds to make magentic properties work.
Added laser control switch.
Modified ammunition color labels.
Added reference to firing modes.
Added more accessories/parts.
Added folding bipod to Mk.II.
Added recoil pad to stock butt of Mk.I.
Reduced battery power from 20k/15k to 4k/0.9k.
Edited out Zesuaium, replaced it with titanium carbide.
Added polymer coating.
Modified ammunition to remove titanium carbide; replaced with tungsten.
Added capacitor system to allow for rapid firing.
Changed frame composition from Yamataium to titanium alloy.
Modified portions of the weapon to fit the art.
Added scope options to purchaseable items.
 
Zakalwe said:
How do you get around the fact that a round made largely of Zesuaium will have far lower force than other projectiles?

The steel band is actually inset into the round, per DocTomoe's suggestion. I had plotted just enveloping the entire round in steel, but Zesuaium can't bond with other metals properly. But I think I'll just encase the Zesuaium in steel as tight as possible. It's not perfect, but it will have to work. I don't know how else to propel the round.

Yamataium conducts magnetic fields? I'm not so sure it does. It does bond with Zesuaium though ... if Wes gives the okay for it, I can modify the weapon to use Yamataium instead.
 
I'd still like to comment that the velocity of the round is likely to be far lower than other varieties of round, given that the majority of the mass which would otherwise be affected and thus reacted upon in order to supply acceleration and kinetic motion can't be acted upon.
 
Would it be better to have a mostly steel/Yamataium round with a Zesuaium dart? I'd thought about that earlier, but the bigger the AP round the better, as far as I'm concerned.
 
A Zesuaium core might make it so that the less strong materials are anihilated upon shielding, or broken upon armour while the Zesuaium dart goes through both, but retaining the acceleration that is granted to it by effective 'shell' of materials that can be accelerated using magnetic fields around it.

If that was what you were thinking that is.
 
Say, most Star Army ships only have their framework and a thin outer plating made out of zesuaium. The rest is yamataium. Since Zesuaium seems to be nigh invunerable whatever the quantity is in term of solidity (save where anti-matte rand aether is concerned: in this case, how thick your armor is can mean the difference between life and death), why not just coat the edges of the dart itself?

That is, only put Zesuaium around the impact point. The rest can be another metal and the loss in performance should be minimal to negligible.

Also, I'm not positive as to why the fire would not be able to hurt targets with CFS systems. The CFS on the Lamia, Mindy and Kylie bestow absolutely no defensive value on the power armor unless the barrier module is equipped on the Mindy. Furthermore, if Wes intended the shields on the SA ships to be based on the phase distorsion shields as seen in the Martian Successor Nadesico anime, then it's a shield that actually only affects energy discharges by refracting or deflecting them. Actual ordonance would be dealt with by the scalar field the ships expand around themselves and solid ammo would... well, hit the hull (bear in mind I don't consider most ship mounted railguns in this game to fire something that's an actual solid - never heard of positron being a solid *shrugs*).

Okay, so my point of view of KFY shielding could be flawed, but I'm fairly certain they aren't star trek-kind of deflector shielding. Furthermore, I stand by what I said about the CFS systems on power armor: they won't protect the suit... it's not that kind of CFS even for the Mindy unless it has the said module.
 
why not just coat the edges of the dart itself?

That is, only put Zesuaium around the impact point. The rest can be another metal and the loss in performance should be minimal to negligible.

My main reasoning would be because magnetism can not penetrate Zesuaium . This means that anything within a Zesuaium coating will be completely uneffected by magnetism and as such would not be capable of being accelerated in any fashion. Coating the tip, in my opinion, is simply pointless because it won't have enough impact. A Zesuaium core will have far greater impact, or at least this is my belief.
 
But seeing Uso Tasuki's explaination of what Zesuaium is, it being a core wouldn't be all that great, since Zesuaium is supposedly light. It's the solidity and resilience of the material that should be exploited here -projectable mass, seeing the ordonance, should be something else the railgun can push.

Zesuaium should only be on the weapon's tip for penetration purposes, seriously.
 
Yamataium's regenerative properties make it a bad choice for ammunition.
 
Kotori said:
That is, only put Zesuaium around the impact point. The rest can be another metal and the loss in performance should be minimal to negligible.

The problem with putting it only at the impact point -- the tip, essentially -- is that the rest of the round would be useless. The Zesuaium tip would hit the target, but it would not pierce because the rest of the round's force would be expended as it crushed against the tip.

Essentially, a Zesuaium tip would create a "ballistic tip." That makes for a great mushroom effect, but poor AP quality. A dart is the best bet. However, to make sure there's no magnetic problems, I'm making it titanium carbide again.

Wes said:
Yamataium's regenerative properties make it a bad choice for ammunition.

Would it regenerate onto the armor it shot at or something? Or it just wouldn't penetrate well? Maybe that makes it a good hollowpoint round ... but anyway, there's no more Yamataium anyway, except the rifle itself.

I'm also adding what color the damn weapon is. Forgot about that. And note the changes to how many rounds can be fired on one battery.

Anything else?
 
However, to make sure there's no magnetic problems, I'm making it titanium carbide again.
Is using metal-ceramic rounds a good idea?
Would it regenerate onto the armor it shot at or something?
With something that regenerates, it is sometimes hard to make sure it regenerates the way it is supposed to. With Starship armor, there usually isn't a problem, but with ammunition, there's a much greater need for precision. Yamataium ammo exposed to elements over time might become unevenly surfaced or grow/shrink/warp slightly.
 
Metal ceramic I imagine wouldn't be hard enough ... it'd shatter against the armors. That's why they don't load bullets with ceramic tips or AP spikes, because the idea is to shatter or pierce the ceramic armor on the other side. Besides, a little bit of weight to the round couldn't hurt. But if you're adamant about it, I can change it to some kind of metal ceramic.

Ahh, so the Yamataium has shelf-life issues. Fair enough.
 
Doshii Jun said:
Metal ceramic I imagine wouldn't be hard enough ... it'd shatter against the armors. That's why they don't load bullets with ceramic tips or AP spikes, because the idea is to shatter or pierce the ceramic armor on the other side. Besides, a little bit of weight to the round couldn't hurt. But if you're adamant about it, I can change it to some kind of metal ceramic.
Titanium carbide is a metal ceramic! That's why I asked.

Titanium is also fairly expensive since it is has such huge demand. Why expensive metals and not, say, your basic steel or even iron for ball rounds? Shouldn't the main bullet be the cheapest and easiest to make large quantities of?
 
My YIM just died. I'm off to bed. See you tommorow afternoon!
 
I really want to approve this soon. Can we have the rifle made out of something besides Yamataium?

*still thinks this weapon would use as much power as an NSP to fire. >,>*
 
If you give it a battery connection compatible with the battery the aether beam rifle uses, well, it'd allow for a pretty long running time (I mean, the anti-infantry secondary setting on the Mindy armor's newer saber-rifle can probably be used a few hundred times before it even begins to consume the equivalent of one aether beam shot! :D )
 
Yeah, I realized today that the Yamataium was a bit outlandish. I was thinking over the XM8 and realized it used polymers everywhere. I can change it, but it should have a pretty sturdy frame, one that can survive a lot more than polymers or aluminum. Suggestions?

I know about the battery. Wes and I agreed that's the one place to spend a lot of money on the rifle.

Ummmmm ... shit. Gimme some time, would you? I just finished a rather emotional interview. Thanks.
 
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