Weapon Name- M42 "Helghast"- Caseless
Round Type- 6.5mm Grendel- Caseless
Over-all length- 32 inches (813mm), 28 inches, 24 inches
Barrel length- 24 inches, 20 inches, 16 inches
Weight- 7.5 lb (3.4 KG) unloaded , 14.5 (6.6 KG) with 100 rounds, 14.5 lb (6.6 KG) 200 rounds
Rate of Fire- 600 RPM
Feed Mechanism- Helical Transparent Gear Magazine
Round Capacity- 100 rounds (Standard), 50 Round short, 200 Rounds High-Cap magazine
Effective Range- 600 m
Range- 1200 m (Supersonic, Velocity 375 m/s, 548 Joules)
Accuracy- 1 MOA at 600 meters
Accessories- Picanty Rail (Comes with Iron Sight)
Quick switch firing mechanism- Extra Trigger (For Accessory)
Scope/Sights- Picanty Rail
Muzzle Velocity- 820 m/s- 7.8 Gram Projectile
Firing System- Long stroke gas piston
Miscellaneous/electronic information- The weapon is essentially a long stroke bullpup caseless 6.5mm grendel firearm fed by a modified helical magazine.
Basic Information
The weapon is essentially a long stroke bullpup assault rifle chambered in 6.5mm grendel and designed to utilize caseless rounds, fed by a twisting helical spring-fed magazine, assisted by the backwards action of the bolt during firing. The weapon possesses translucent magazines, which are essentially spring-assisted, but do not rely on the notoriously low reliability of low capacity magazines. The long stroke gas piston is essentially based on that of the Ak-47, but is more similiar to the Tavor-21 (also in regards to the fact that it is bullpup). Despite the ordinarily high recoil associated with this form of firing system, the improved ergonomics, muzzlebreak, and recoil counter balance system (which is based off of the Ak-108) help to make the weapon more manageable, particularly in automatic fire. The weapon is designed to be easy to utilize in sustained automatic fire, to provide the equivalent of an LMG or infantry automatic rifle to the average soldier. As a result it has an emphasis on light weight materials, recoil reduction, and abrasion resistance parts. The use of the 6.5mm grendel cartridge provides numerous advantages, including in firepower, accuracy and range, and the cartridge is also similarly sized compared to a 5.56mm, making it possess similiar low recoil and weight.
The firing system is based on the Tavor-21, and is essentially a long stroke gas piston. The weapon is gas assisted, siphoning off a small portion of the gases to push back a heavy piston, which moves all the way to the back of the length of the rifle. From the M1 Garand, to the M14, to the Ak-47, the weapon is known for it's high reliability and durability to the exposed elements. Well designed long stroke gas pistons rarely jam, and their raw mass can displace contaminants or obstacles, such as mud or rocks which might get inside the system, which make them more effective at combating the elements. The weapon differs from this system however by utilizing a forward reciprocating countermass (borrowed from the Ak-108 design), which serves to eliminate much of the backwards felt recoil by sending a mass forward, as well. Newton's third law of matter state's that for every action there is an equal and opposite, reaction. When a gun fires, it produces backwards recoil force, which is directly dependent on the power of the bullet itself. This limits the size and power of the bullet to what a person could ordinarily carry, as well as their rate of power, to their level of strength or balance when firing such a weapon. This is more or less regulates such weapon's to incredibly experienced or strong individuals, however with the counter mass, this particularly problem can be removed, making it more suitable for the average shooter. Being easier to control, similiar weapon's, such as the Ak-108, from which the weapon's are based on, report 1.5-2 times the improvement in accuracy, especially in sustained automatic fire. Furthermore, despite the weapon's usually high recoil using the long stroke gas piston, the weapon's recoil is instead lowered significantly. The system works by imparting force to the forward reciprocating bolt via a star shaped sprocket, or gear; when the piston moves backwards, as a result of the recoil of the bullet and the gas assist, it moves the counteracting mass forward simultaneously, which helps to cancel out the recoil. While ordinarily very precise timing is required, the weapon compensates via a muzzlebreak and hydraulic recoil buffer, which also help to lower the recoil of the weapon. This same system also spins a gear inside the magazine, which is responsible for loading for the next cartridge into the weapon. The overall length of the weapon is shorter than most full length long stroke gas pistons; this is achieved in part by the shorter cartridge, at 1.6 inches, compared to the 2.25 inch cartridge of the Ak-47. Long stroke gas pistons have over 50% clearance than is necessary for a weapon to function, and because the cartridge is shorter, less clearance is required. This allows the weapon to possess an overall longer barrel length to length ratio than a standard firearm, but much of this is lost by the use of a muzzlebreak, adjustable recoil pad, and an integral flash and noise suppressor. While it is not as effective as a standard sound suppressor, it's oversized muzzlebreak/flash suppressor helps to reduce noise by nearly 90%, over the standard 60-70%, although it is still super sonic and easy to detect, which also requires hearing protection.
As a weight saving measure, the weapon's construction extensively utilizes high strength polymers and aluminum (such as in the XM8 or P90), as well as ribbed materials and weight saving measures such as dimples which simply remove portions of the firearm that are unnecessary. Because of the excessive weight of the magazine's, and the forward reciprocating bolt mass, both of which are more or less difficult if not impossible to realistically reduce, the weapon attempts to save weight by reducing the weight of the frame as much as possible. The contact rails in which the bolt slides against are on the surface melonited steel, but the rest of the frame is made up of aluminum or polymers. Rather than the entire weapon being made up of incredibly high strength and abrasion resistant materials, only the surface in which the bolt, piston, and other moving parts make contact with, are. The weapon even utilizes titanium pieces that are nitrided in some cases, to help reduce the weight, in order to get the weapon to the desired weight limit. While the original Ak-108 series of weapon's are nearly 8.4 pounds, the Mk. 42 is nearly 7.5 pounds, or close to that of an AKM. While still heavy, it is substantially lighter than a standard Ak-108. In this way, it is more similiar to an AEK-971 in terms of weight. It is also more similiar to an AEK-971 in that it has a shorter length of action, which also reduces it's overall length, somewhat.
The weapon uses a detachable polygonal cobalt chrome "flow formed" 5 groove 1:8.75 (1 complete turn in 1 in 8.75 inches / 222.5mm) 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 16, 20, and 24 inches.
The weapon's magazines are one of the most unique aspects of the weapon. While a traditional spring fed magazine, it differs in it's helical construction, that is that is uses a spiraling feeder, rather than a standard straight box magazine. In general, these types of magazines are known for their high capacity, but poor reliability, and ease of malfunctions, in part due to the required spring strength. Similar drum magazines also possesses these issues, but tend to be substantially heavier than standard magazines, as well, such as the Beta-C (which is 4.6 pounds loaded with 100 rounds, compared to 3.3 with standard magazines). The magazine partially compensates for this with an assisted feeding from the reciprocating bolt. When it moves backwards, it spins a gear, which pushes the spiral forward, thus pushing the floor plate of the magazine forward, and thus helps to load another round into the weapon. In essence, the backwards motion of the bolt spins a mechanism which pushes the floor plate, or base plate which pushes the rounds forward, one more click forwards. In this manner, the weapon receives additional forces from the bolt of the weapon to help load each round into the chamber, instead of relying on the spring strength alone. This considerably increases it's reliability, and also helps to serve to lower the necessary weight of the magazine. The weapon utilizes translucent magazines, similiar in material construction to the XM8 or G36, which allow the user to see into the magazine and see how many cartridges are left. They are also very light weight. The primary advantage of such a system over a belt fed weapon (of similiar capacity) is that the weapon can fire from a closed bolt, which typical belt fed weapon's cannot, as the link needs to be attached with an open bolt, which increases accuracy. In addition to this, the magazine has a lower profile, which makes it more suitable when firing from a prone position. Each 100 round magazine is nearly 3 pounds, and a 200 round magazine is approximately twice this weight.
The weapon is inherently designed to use a number of accessories, most important a hydraulic recoil buffer in the rear of the weapon, and a muzzlebreak. The hydraulic recoil buffer is similar to that of an M249, which reduces felt recoil and spreads out the recoil of the weapon over time, making it more controllable. In addition, it uses a surefire muzzlebreak, which reduces the recoil of the weapon by diverting the expanding gases at the muzzle rearword (and slightly up), which counteracts the recoil of the backwards impulse of the weapon, and in addition helps compensates for muzzle rise. This makes the weapon more controllable under rapid fire, as well as more comfortable to fire, and reduces the felt recoil by nearly 40%. Combined with the hydraulic recoil buffer, the weapon has approximately 60% less felt recoil from these aspects alone, and is much more smooth and easier to handle, with nearly all the recoil going straight back into the user's shoulder, keeping the weapon on the target, thus increasing the accuracy and comfort. 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 uses an extendable stock in a similar manner to sniper stocks. Despite being a bull-pup, several multiple point guiding stocks are used to allow the user to adjust the pull of the stock up to three inches. While extendable, the stock adjustments must be made by loosening and tightening multiple facets, making extending or retracting the stock take a relatively large amount of time, losing the "quick" adjustable ability.
The weapon is designed to meet a certain number of criteria, in order to be practically usable by the average soldier. Designed initially to mirror the M16 in terms of weight, but be substantially smaller in size and overall length, the weapon fails to meet this level by approximately 1.45 pounds, although it is equal to the M16 with a scope attached. A fully loaded U.S. military M16, with 30 rounds, is 8.8 pounds, or 7.8 pounds unloaded. The M42 is 9.55 pounds, or a approximately .75 pound heavier. It partially compensates by being shorter than the M16, however, and while a standard M16 with a 20 inch barrel is nearly 40 inches long, the M42 with a 24 inch barrel is 32 inches long, or shorter than an M4 carbine with it's stock extended. Using a much shorter barrel, at 16 inches, the weapon can be as short as 24 inches, which makes the weapon far easier to use in close quarters combat. The weapon is also designed to sport a number of accessories, including a 3 round 25mm grenade launcher, and a thermal scope, which is embedded beneath the rail sights of the weapon. The thermal scope is nearly 1.5 pounds, and the grenade launcher itself is 2.25 pounds, unloaded, or 2.6 pounds loaded. A U.S. M16 is 12.8 pounds fully loaded with an M203 grenade launcher, and this weapon meets that with a 3 round grenade launcher attached, or fully loaded with 200 rounds; while it is 1.5 pounds heavier, the weapon of an M16 with fully loaded with a grenade luancher and a scope is virtually identical to the weight of the M42 "Helghast". The purpose was to make the secondary positions, or the grenadier and LMG positions, match what a standard U.S. soldier could carry in those positions (I.E. 12.8 pounds), while the standard rifle would match what a riflemen could carry. The weapon using a much smaller magazine would also be useful in the carbine position, allowing it fulfill all the desired roles of a soldier may need. Fully equipped, the weapon is nearly 13.65 pounds. While a little heavier than a fully loaded M16, it is much lighter weight with a scope attached.
The weapon thus matches the weight that an average soldier could carry, albeit still being heavier than a standard M16 rifle. What this does allow for is the soldier's weapon to fullfill almost every single weapon role available. The natural high reliability, cool operating mechanism and heat tolerance of the long-stroke gas piston makes it capable of shooting much more rapidly than most similiar assault rifles without failure, meaning despite being only 7.5 pounds, it can easily replace the M249 for the squad automatic role, when the rate of automatic fire required (60 to 80 RPM) is considered. Because it can hold 100 to 200 rounds, it can easily supplement the M249's role in this regard, as well, which is largely helped by the use of the much lighter caselss rounds. The reduced recoil from the caseless rounds, use of a muzzle break and counterbalance recoil system also make the weapon substantially more controllable, giving the weapon the controllability and accuracy of a machine gun, despite being the size of a rifle.
The weapon utilizes a number of accessories designed specifically for it, including a thermal scope, laser sight, and semiautomatic grenade launcher. the thermal scope is a 2-6x magnification, 32mm aperture scope, being dual purpose. It possesses not only the ability to provide optional thermal or normal daylight imaging for the user, but can also be used to help program the 25mm airburst grenades. Thermal vision is generally considered superior to night vision, as it will work in all light settings equally, day or not, picks up on warm targets such as people or vehicles far better, and can see through fog and other obstacles better. It is possible with the right tuning to see through certain walls, particularly metals, that are infrared translucent, which are normally invisible to the naked eye, all while providing the same degree of visibility. The scope can switch to night vision or day vision, with a slight infrared assistance on it. This is useful in being able to see the laser, which is an infrared laser range finder. It not only can use this information to provide the user with accurate readings of the range of the target within half a meter, but also can be utilized to program when the explosives should burst in mid air. The grenades can be preprogrammed to blow up at a specified range, which can be calculated by using the infrared laser range finder. Because it is infrared, it is also visible to the thermal infrared cameras, and provides a form of laser sight to the user, potentially increasing accuracy. The scope comes with adjustable MIL dots and lines, but largely is meant for use with the 6.5mm grendel or 7.62mm x 51mm NATO. These lines can help the user identify where they should aim in relation to the target based on bullet drop and drift, and the reticle is also illuminated, providing the same advantage as a red dot scope. The grenade launcher is essentially a 3GL using lightweight polymers instead of heavy metals and utilizing 25mm grenades. The grenades are smaller, which afford the launcher being smaller, although they possess a higher pressure. The design utilizes ribbed polymer siding to increase the strength, on top of the steel composite barrel.
