Weapon Name- M330A
Round Type- .264 Winchester Magnum
Over-all length- 30 inch, 24 inches
Barrel length- 22 inches, 16 inches
Weight- 7.9 lb, 11.2 pounds loaded
Rate of Fire- 600 RPM
Feed Mechanism- Detachable Snail Magazine
Round Capacity- 100, 200
Effective Range- 500 Meters
Range- 1000 Meters
Accuracy- 1 MOA
Accessories- Picatinny Rails
Quick switch firing mechanism- N/A
Scope/Sights- Picatinny Rails
Muzzle Velocity- 965 m/s, 9.25 grams, 4,300 joules
Firing System- Long Stroke Gas Piston
Miscellaneous/electronic information- The weapon is essentially a bullpup XM8 firing the 7mm caseless rounds.
Basic Information
The weapon is essentially an enlarged XM8 bullpup rifle utilizing a modified long-stroke gas piston designed to be compatible with the XM8 frame, firing a caseless round based on the .264 Winchester Magnum. The weapon is essentially designed to be compatible with XM8, although it utilizes a long stroke gas piston instead of a short stroke gas piston. Based on the firing system, it combines aspects of the LSAT with the XM8, to allow the weapon to possess the capability to realistically fire caseless ammunition, primarily the seal on the bolt which seals the round in the chamber. Unlike the XM8, the M330A uses a long stroke gas piston, similiar to the one found in the tavor; this allows for far greater reliability and heat resistance. On top of this, an additional heat sink is present that is attached to the barrel, along with a thicker, heavier barrel. Unlike the XM8, the guiding rails for the bolt are aluminum, however they are polymer reinforced, serving as a composite; all of this effectively makes the weapon heavier, but more durable, somewhat ore reliable and capable of absorbing more heat. Cohesion with accessories and the weapon, to provide greater ergonomics and reduced weight, it lacked standard modularity available from equipment such as picatinny rails. This firearm possesses the option for the same close fitting accessories, however it also possesses optional picatinny rail attachments, with keyhole mounting, that allows the picatinny rails to mounted to the firearm. This opens up the weapon to being able to use a variety of different weapon attachments, such as lasers or scopes. It possess a lower profile top rail, instead of the raised rail found in the traditional XM8, as well as a non-reciprocating, fixed non-folding charging handle.
The system is significantly more reliable than the direct impingement system. The firing system is based off of the Ak-47, which uses a long stroke piston system, similar to that in the M1 Garand, Ak-47, BAR, or M14. In July 2007, the US Army announced a limited competition between the M4 carbine, FN SCAR, HK416, XCR, and the previously-shelved HK XM8. Ten examples of each of the four competitors were involved. Each weapon fired 60,000 rounds in an "extreme dust environment." The purpose of the shoot-off was for assessing future needs, not to select a replacement for the M4. The XM8 scored the best, with only 127 stoppages in 60,000 total rounds, the FN SCAR Light had 226 stoppages, while the HK416 had 233 stoppages. The M4 carbine scored "significantly worse" than the rest of the field with 882 stoppages. However, with the HK416, 117 of the 233 malfunctions were from just one of the 10 weapons. In comparison to this, the Ak-47 jams only approximately once per every 1000 rounds, in all environmental conditions, under rapid, sustained fire, without needing to be cleaned often, even with corrosive ammo, compared to the M16 under ideal conditions. This makes the M330A's operating system far more rugged and reliable than the M16, as well as durable, which allows it to outlast the M16, and be used in a greater range of demanding environments (such as the jungle, arctic, or desert). Fine sands or even water can greatly impact the reliability of direct impingement systems, and it's larger mass and simpler design over short stroke gas pistons gives it a higher degree of reliability than them, despite their similarly increased improvements over Direct impingement systems.
The weapon uses a detachable polygonal cobalt chrome "flow formed" 6 groove 1:9 inch (1 complete turn in 1 in 9 / 228.6mm) 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 20,000 round barrel life, although it is possible to extend this or get use out of the rifle after the minimum is reached. The barrels come in 10, 14.5, and 20 inches.
Based on the .264 Winchester Magnum, the cartridge is designed to fullfill the large rifle role, such as the .308, .30-06 or 7.62mm x 54mmR. Slightly more powerful than these, the round in particular has a much higher ballistic coefficient, and greater terminal ballistics than most rounds of it's class, easily fulfilling the role. Furthermore, it's smaller diameter provides superior penetration at longer ranges, making it more ideal for piercing armor. With a ballistic coefficient of .595 and a starting muzzle energy of of 4300 joules (compared to 3500 to 4,000 for more comparative cartridges), it's ability to reach out to long range targets makes it ideal for it's use in a hybrid marksmen-SAW weapon. Although not actually 7mm, the round is often referenced this way due to being the same size as the smaller, 6.5mm Grendel round. In fact, neither are actually their respective sizes, as both bullet sizes are 6.7mm. This allows them to share bullets, although due to the smaller case of the 6.5mm Grendel, it's almost entirely regulated to utilizing smaller bullets. The differences in names are utilized to differentiate between the rounds more easily, referring to one as the 7mm and the other as the 6.5mm (or in some cases, 6.8mm). Although the smaller bullet size necessitates lighter, smaller bullets than many comparative rifles, it's use against smaller targets and armor has made it the ideal choice by comparison to larger, more powerful rounds, in addition to it's commonality in bullet choice with the 6.5mm Grendel.
The weapon utilizes a 100 round spring assisted rotary magazine, which spins the rotary mechanism with each backwards cycle of the bolt. This is designed to provide additional energy in to pushing forward the follower, clicking the magazine forward, which in turn helps to spin the magazine. Instead of being entirely dependent on the spring of the magazine, which is consequently heavier and less reliable as it enlarges, instead the magazine has an additional device which helps to push the floor plate forwards. The magazine is designed much more like snail drum magazine in construction, and forms a circle around a single axis, however this fits inside the bullpup weapon.
Each barrel possess a muzzle break designed after the surefire muzzlebreak. Though there are numerous ways to measure the energy of a recoil impulse, in general a 10% to 50% reduction can be measured. Besides reducing felt recoil, one of the primary advantages of a muzzle brake is the reduction of muzzle rise. This lets a shooter realign a weapon's sights more quickly. This is relevant for fully automatic weapons. The weapon also possess a hydraulic recoil buffer similiar to that in the M249. The Hydrualic recoil buffer extends all the way back in to the stock, The design of the weapon and it's straight back recoil impulse, as well as the tighter, more steady grip on the weapon, combined with the impact gel recoil pad, makes the weapon very easy to use and relatively comfortable. The weapon uses a Blackbox round counter that can be hooked up to an LCD screen to show the rounds remaining. The magazines are generally color coded, which provides indication of how many rounds are within each magazine, although loading in another magazine that does not meet the criteria can result inaccurate round counting predictions; the round counter mechanism itself, however, will not falter. The weapon is made from composites and polymers similar to the P90 and XM8, to both reduce the cost and weight as of the weapon, as well increase the durability. The weapon fires from a closed bolt for both maximum accuracy and reliability. The weapon has picatinny rails, and thus an array of different sights are available for the weapon.
