Weapon Name- AR-1 Irodian
Round Type- 6.5mm Grendel or 6mm SAW
Over-all length- 28 inch
Barrel length- 20 inch
Weight- 7.1 lb
Rate of Fire- 600 RPM
Feed Mechanism- Detachable Box magazine
Round Capacity- 30, 40, 100
Effective Range- 600 yards
Range- 1000 meters
Accuracy- 1 MOA
Accessories- Picatinny Rails
Quick switch firing mechanism-
Scope/Sights- 1-4 x 40mm Red Dot
Muzzle Velocity- 785 m/s (9.1 grams) - 850 m/s (7.15 grams)
Firing System- Short Stroke gas piston
Miscellaneous/electronic information- The weapon is essentially a bullpup firearm possessing an HK416 style short stroke gas piston, with similarities to the XM8.
Basic Information
The weapon is essentially a highly modified bullpup Hk416 chambered in .25-45 Sharp. Based on the Hk416 platform and using the extremely reliable short stroke gas piston, it's light recoil, combined with it's incredible reliability, has allowed it to become one of the most effective assault rifles in existence. By being bullpup the weapon shaves off approximately 6.5 inches to it's overall length and moves the center of gravity to the rear, making it more controllable and easy to point down range. Furthermore the trigger being moved forward gives the weapon more support compared to a traditionally laid out rifle, requiring only one hand to stabilize and balance the rifle. The weapon fires from a closed bolt until it overheats and switches to an open bolt, a design feature copied from the FN HAMR. In addition, it possesses a counter balance system that helps to reduce the felt recoil of the weapon, by mitigating the forward recoil. The weapon also sports a muzzle break and dual-spring hydraulic recoil buffer, to help reduce recoil, and a polygonal cobalt chrome barrel.
The firearm utilizes a counter balance recoiling mass system, similar to the AEK-971 and Ak-108 series of weapons, which help to counteract the weapon's felt recoil and muzzle rise which help to counteract the weapon's felt recoil and muzzle rise by using a forward reciprocating counter balancing mass. According to Newton's third law of physics, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When the propellant of a cartridge is ignited it produces backwards momentum, which combined with the backwards motion of the piston, is predominately responsible for the recoil of the weapon. By having a piston of a slightly larger mass move forward at the same time, it applies the same momentum forward, effectively canceling out the felt recoil. This makes the weapon more controllable under fully automatic fire, and thus more accurate. This is achieved by a gear or sprocket which the forward piston is attached to; when the piston of the weapon moves by normally, such as in a conventional long stroke piston, it spins the sprocket, which in turns spins the additional counter mass forward. In this manner, the normal operation of the weapon can push both the piston backwards and forwards in the weapon. The weapon is designed for both accuracy and controllability under fully automatic fire, but the light recoil makes it easier to manage in general.
The weapon also utilizes a dualspring hydraulic recoil buffer, which helps to smooth out the recoil of the weapon and makes it approximately 30% less than a standard firearm. Based on the HK USP series of weapons, it has been adapted to rifle use in much the same way, and has an additional hydraulic function. The muzzlebreak further reduces recoil by an additional 30%, which makes the weapon has very little recoil, which significantly reduces the size needed by the counter balancing recoil mass and makes the operation smoother. The bolt has been nitrided, which significantly reduces it's friction on the receiver, increasing both the life of the weapon and making the action even smoother. The bolt also borrows an element from the FN SCAR's HAMR design, which converts to an open bolt firing system after the weapon overheats. This allows the weapon to maintain higher accuracy and ease of use during it's initial use, and in rapid fire can quickly convert to an open bolt firing system to allow for it to reduce it's heat quickly.
The weapon uses a detachable polygonal cobalt chrome "flow formed" 5 groove 1:8.75 inch (1 complete turn in 1 in 8 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 barrel, in use with the Hk416 rifle is extremely durable, and has a minimum 30,000 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, 16, and 20 inches.
The magazine capacity is approximately 30 rounds with a standard magazine, sporting .25-45 sharp rounds. The magazine is based off of the magpul magazines, and similiar to the XM8's magazines, which are significantly more reliable than standard STANAG magazines. The ak-47 is capable of holding 30 18.5 gram rounds, or being reliable with approximately 550 grams, with the limitations largely due to the magazine shape and spring strength. The M16, theoretically, using 12.5 grams, could carry up to 45 rounds; however, even though this was the maximum reliability limit for the 5.56mm, it was still too unreliable to be adopted for wide spread use, especially compared to the Ak-47, and instead the 30 round magazine was adopted. Utilizing a better feeding method, with a slightly differently shaped round, and an inherently better magazine and feeding design, with a shorter magazine well, the reliability can be increased considerably. The XM8 magazine scored considerably higher than the M16 in terms of reliability. Thus, this increase in reliability allows the use of 30 6.5mm grendel rounds, instead of 26, and generally aids in reliability.
The firing system is based off of the Hk416, which a short stroke gas piston system, similiar to that in the AR-18, FN SCAR, or XM8. The firing similiar to the XM8, which has proven to be an extremely reliable weapon platform, with an extremely reliable firing system; it should be noted that the weapon and bolt has an extra seal on it, however, as the weapon is caseless (much like in the LSAT). The weapon was noted as being able to fire over 400 rounds from drum magazines without a single failure within 5 minutes. It is reported to be capable of firing 15,000 rounds without cleaning or lubrication, although the weapon is expected to be cleaned often. Moreover, 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. Even in extremely dusty and dirty environments, without cleaning the weapon is expected to fire be able to fire 472 rounds without any jams or stoppages. However, with the HK416, 117 of the 233 malfunctions were from just one of the 10 weapons. Over-all this gives the weapon comparable reliability to the XM8 (which it is based off of) and 8 times higher reliability than the M4 carbine or similar firearms, with a variety of operating conditions being less hazardous to the over-all functioning of the firearm, including sandy or wet conditions, which can directly impede the gases.
Each barrel possess a muzzle break designed after the surefire muzzlebreak. The muzzle break can reduce the recoil of weapon by nearly 50%. In conjunction with the hydraulic recoil buffer, similiar to the M240 recoil buffer, the recoil is less than a quarter of what it would be without it. The muzzle break is incorporated into a large silencer, similiar to that of the Knights Armament SR-25 suppressor, which wraps over the barrel, in order to reduce the over-all length of the weapon; as a result of the suppressor, no additional flash suppressor is required. This not only reduces the noise of the weapon, enough to not require hearing protection, but also makes it difficult to hear the weapon at all past 200 yards, and reduces the recoil of the weapon, while not increasing the length of weapon considerably like with an ordinary suppressor. As well, 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.
In addition, the weapon is designed to be used with the XM25 airburst firing scope and platform, enabling the weapon to have an "integrated" airburst function. While the electronic equipment is not integrated, it can be added with relatively little ease, and be used much in the same way that it was designed to be used on the XM29. This also allows for grenades to be fired easier, as the firing controls are next to the trigger and pistol grip for ease of reach.
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. While picatinny rails are integrated into the weapon, many attachments are expected to be used with the weapon, regardless of the versatility of the system.
