
Weapon Name- M132 LMG - Mod 2
Round Type- 25mm x 59mm LMG, 12.7mm x 99mm Caseless
Over-all length- 45 inches
Barrel length- 32 inches
Weight- 36 lb
Rate of Fire- 300 RPM, 600 RPM
Feed Mechanism- Belt Fed
Round Capacity- 100+
Effective Range- 2000 meters
Range- 4000 meters
Accuracy- 1 MOA, .8 MOA, .6 MOA
Accessories- Picatinny Rail
Quick switch firing mechanism- N/A
Scope/Sights- Picatinny Rail
Muzzle Velocity- 120 grams, 450 m/s - 50 grams, 895 m/s
Firing System- Chain gun Metal Storm
Miscellaneous/electronic information- Essentially a caseless double barreled machine gun chambered in either the .50 caliber round or 25mm grenade, designed for sustained, accurate fire from a light machine gun, providing a mix between a marksmen weapon and machine gun.
Basic Information
The weapon is essentially a caseless double barreled machine gun chambered in either the .50 caliber round or 25mm grenade, designed for sustained, accurate fire from a light machine gun, a mix between a marksmen weapon and machine gun. In the original Metal Storm weapon designs, the weapons functioned much differently than in the current configuration. The propellant immediately behind the projectile closest to the muzzle of the gun barrel was ignited by an electronically fired primer, the projectile was set in motion, and at the same time a reactive force acted on the remaining stacked projectiles in the barrel, pushing them backwards. By design, the remaining projectiles would distort under this load, expanding radially against the gun barrel wall. However, in the newer design, the electronic firing mechanism and caseless powder merely serve as a method to ignite the powder, and the rounds themselves are loaded like a traditionally semiautomatic weapon, albeit powered by an electric motor like a chain gun. Being electronically controlled, the fire and control mechanism of the weapon is substantially easier to operate (and thus the safety mechanics as well) and the propellant is easier to ignite without fear of overheating or cook offs due to the heat and impact sensitive propellants used in traditional firearm. Like most chain gun, the weapon rarely jams, jamming only approximately once every 30,000 rounds, and clears them immediately. With an externally powered mechanism, the reliability increases dramatically, by eliminating the problems that result from the poor consistency of gunpowder. In this way, the weapon operates on battery power, which while more reliable and accurate, requires an external power source.
There is not only an emphasis on reliability with the machine gun, but accuracy and a short overall length. The M132 LMG bolt is like a Mac-10 in that it partially encapsulates the chamber, which helps to seal the round when firing. This significantly shortens the overall length of the weapon, but still requires enough length to allow the round in, feed in to the chamber, and pass the belt fed mechanism. As the weapon is powered by an electric motor and is not powered by the force of the bullet, it is significantly more reliable and has substantially less recoil. This also gives the weapon somewhat enhanced accuracy, as without reciprocating parts while the gun fires, it functions similarly to a bolt action in that it reduces the impact on the barrel harmonics by reducing the vibrations that a traditional semiautomatic otherwise would have. The weapon bolt locking mechanism functions similarly to a bolt action, being locked firmly in place while firing, and openly opening after the round has left the barrel. The weapon could be thought of as a straight pull bolt action, similar to the Swiss k31, powered by an "electronic arm" to help cycle the weapon automatically. With a rear and front helical bolt locking mechanism that helps to enhance accuracy, similar to the lee-enfield or the FR-F1, and a muzzle break that not only helps to dampen barrel vibrations and that's muzzle ports matches the grooves the rifling in the barrel which helps limit distortion to the projectile as it's leaving the barrel, the accuracy is enhanced further. The barrel is free floating to help diminish any outside vibrations, and has no hole drilled where a gas port would normally be or gas piston which also helps to increase accuracy again. The weapon typically fires from a closed bolt, which improves the accuracy as the expense of increasing the temperature of the weapon substantially as it is unable to vent it through the open chamber. However, the dual barrel design along with the thermal sleave and fluted barrel allows it to more easily dissipate and absorb the heat generated by the weapon, and the weapon automatically switches to an open bolt when it reaches a critical temperature to prevent overheating, similar to the FN HAMR. With all of this combined, the weapon achieves an incredibly high level of accuracy, although due to it's higher rate of fire, this is diminished somewhat.
The weapon uses a quick detachable polygonal cobalt chrome gain twist "flow formed" The common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 1 in 15 in (380 mm), 8 groove right hand turn barrel; the barrel is made of an alloy that contains more than 50 percent cobalt. The barrel is roughly 13% heavier than standard steel barrels, but is more erosion and corrosion-resistant and is designed to retain high strength during long-term exposure to high temperatures. Cobalt alloys are frequently used in the aerospace industry, such as the hot-gas section of turbine engines. A proof of concept M240 7.62mm x 51mm NATO barrel, in practice, had 24,000 rounds test-fired through it, causing it to reach temperatures of 1,100 degrees, without failure. A steel barrel would have failed under such treatment. The barrel itself, combined with polygonal rifling, is extremely durable, and has a minimum 30,000 round life, with even greater life expectancy given it's other features, at the cost of slightly reduced accuracy. The gain twist in particular not only enhances the accuracy of the weapon, but also dramatically increases it's life. As the first 4 inches and last 4 inches of the barrel receive the greatest wear, the gain twist allows a more gradual application of the rifling, thus providing less friction to the bullet and the barrel, which both increases accuracy and durability, as well as the velocity of the bullet. The barrels come in 24, 28, and 32 inch length variations.
Firing the 25mm x 59mm round or .50 BMG round, the weapon possesses a number of unique properties. Approximately 132 grams per grenade or 70 grams per .50 BMG round after including the weight of the belt, these weapons are extremely powerful in comparison to ordinary rifle rounds, reaching around 12,000 joules and 20,000 rounds respectively. However, the general mass and ballistic coefficient of the round gives them an effective range of more than 2000 meters and a maximum effective range of nearly 3200 meters; in fully automatic fire or burst fire, the weapon is capable of reaching well over 4000 meters, with the air bursting capability dropping off at this range due to the curvature of the projectile. The 25mm round firs primarily explosive cartridges, contains twice the explosive of a 40mm grenade launcher, capable of destroying lightly armored vehicles, and being particularly effective against unarmored ones. In addition, it's air bursting function gives it increased capabilities against soft targets well past that of the 40mm, and it's NLOS capability is unique to almost any to nearly any weapon fielded by infantry. Thus, the weapon's long range and accuracy, rapid rate of fire, high explosive cartridges, air bursting capability, and relatively light weight gives it a particular blend of capabilities not found in most weapons, especially of it's class. However, it's extremely high power, carrying over 64 grams of explosive per cartridge, and it's armor piercing abilities, gives it more than enough power to compensate for it's somewhat reduced rate of fire.
With a muzzlebreak and extensive recoil buffer system, extending out to the stock, the weapon experiences little to any functional recoil on the user. It's air cooling barrel shroud and thermal sleave additionally functions as a suppressor, which helps to mask the report of the weapon. Being extremely large, and mixed with the weapons low rate of fire, it can help reduce the firing signature of the weapon when firing, thus allowing the individuals to remain in their position and levy heavy fire for longer periods of time, without being noticed. The weapon is almost impossible to hear past 200 yards, and creates very little kickback of surrounding material such as sand or dust, making it harder to spot the individual; this effect is magnified against thermal scopes, as the suppressor also helps reduce the muzzle flash that would ordinarily be present with most weapon. Like a bullpup, the FG42 or the M60, the mechanism extends fully in to the stock, reducing it's overall length dramatically, although it appears to be a regular rifle and possess a folding stock that must be extended for the weapon to fire. The weapon typically is outfitted with a thermal scope and infrared laser. Given it's cost and complexity, this scope has been paired with the infrared laser range finder, which gives the weapon targeting capabilities explaining the direction of the barrel in relation to the target; visible only by the thermal vision camera, the laser provides the ability to detect the range of the target, improved night and day targeting capabilities, and the ability for the weapon to automatically aim for the user. While the user still is required to generally aim and fire the weapon, various automatic calculation inputs of the weapon allow it to generally aim for the user. While very slow to operate, it's automatic tracking capabilities and general ability to aim gives the user a general base from which to choose to operate, and additionally can align shots for the user. This can be useful if planning an ambush or in a prolonged conflict where several seconds were available. If minutes were available, the weapon could provide nearly 100% reliable accuracy despite the soldier's skill level, thus removing questionable aspects of the operation. It also provided general guidance to the user, thus allowing them to retain their bearings and generally get a fix on the target.
The weapon uses a blackbox round counter, similar to the one produced by FN, that's capable of being display by the scope ordinarily used by the weapon, or an additional pop up screen. The magazines utilize magnetic strips to allow them to be differentiated from each other easily; each magazine comes preloaded with a set amount of rounds, and as the spring moves forward after each round is loaded into the weapon, the blackbox is able to record how many rounds are left in the magazine, in addition to recording each time a round is fired by the weapon, and remembering it in relation to the magazine. While the amount of rounds can be preloaded in each magazine to a specified amount, and this number can be entered into the weapon, it additionally can roughly gauge the amount of rounds in each magazine by it's spring placement, indicating how many rounds are left. Like most weapons of it's type, it is made of high strength polymer coated composites. This is similar to that found on the magpul series of accessories, the glock, the P90, and the XM8. The material is more or less high strength steel and aluminum coated in the composite polymers. The polymers provide greater temperature and corrosion resistance than most metals, and a harder to warp and scratch than metals, making them a more ideal material to be exposed to the world than metal.