M240 Beta- EH8
Weapon Name- M240 Beta- EH8
Round Type- 7.62mm Caseless
Over-all length- 43.2 inches
Barrel length- 23.6 inches
Weight- 19.8 lb (9 KG)
Rate of Fire- 650, 750, 850, 950
Feed Mechanism- Belt Fed
Round Capacity- 100, 200, 300, 400, or Belt Fed
Effective Range- 600m AP, 800m Standard
Range- 3,725 m (4,073 yd)
Accuracy- 2 MOA single fire, 4 MOA fully automatic
Accessories- Picanty Rail
Quick switch firing mechanism- N/A
Scope/Sights- Picanty Rail
Muzzle Velocity- 860 m/s (regular), 905 m/s AP
Firing System- M240 Machine gun
Miscellaneous/electronic information- Essentially an M240 refitted to fire caseless rounds and use lighter weight, but still strong and effective materials
Basic Information
The weapon is essentially a large, refitted M240 E6, designed to be lighter weight and fire caseless rounds. As with all caseless weapons, the breech had to be changed around a little in order to compensate for the increased pressure; and the rounds offer less pressure than in their previous state, operating at 50,000 psi or 345 MPA, compared to the original 60,000 PSI. Still, the increased reliance on the breech and receiver tends to reduce the weapon's service life- which was already extraordinarily high to begin with. Ironically, the weapon has a greatly reduced service life being needing major parts to be replaced after roughly 50,000-60,000 rounds have been fired. This well over 6-8 times the service life of a standard M16.
The weapons framed is made out of cheap, composite materials. Rather than using expensive over-lapping carbon fibers, titanium, or weaker aluminum for the frame, the weapon instead settled for a somewhat simpler and cheaper approach. The weapon utilizes the same kind of material used in the P90, that is composites of lightweight plastic and alloys. While somewhat harder to manufacture, the material itself is rather cheap to make, when compared to wood or steel. The reason behind this can be easily deduced, as synthetic materials made in a laboratory only require two steps to be created, compared to the several in finding, retrieving, shaping, and eventually piecing together the wood or steel with the weapon intended; combined with all the man-power and shipping required to travel from place to place. Another example and good source of comparison between synthetic and found materials is to compare the price of diamonds that are mined to the price of synthetic made diamonds.
Like the original M240, the weapon has variable firing rates, only this time is has slightly more control, being capable of being triggered, purely mechanically, to fire at 650, 750, 850, or 950 rpm, by the same selector present on the M240 series of weapons.
