An Introduction to Improved Rifles

Article from Autocannon Enthusiasts Magazine, 3041 Publication

Rifles: From Prominence to Primitive

Rifles, in reference to vehicle and mech mounted weapons, are the precursors to the modern Autocannons. For centuries they dominated the battlefields of humanity, from pre-spaceflight Terra, to well over a century into the First Terran Exodus. They would be slowly phased out by the advent of the first autocannon in 2240, with the first Class-5 prototype autocannons mounted on the Saturn-class patrol dropshuttle.

For the sake of clarity, the term 'Autocannon' was in use long before the modern application, referring to what would be classified today as Mech-scale machine guns. The term simply referred to fully-automatic capable cannons, whereas in the modern era, it refers to mech-scale cannons capable of inflicting significant damage against the various makes of BAR-10 Standard Armor.

Unlike modern autocannons, which can be semi-automatic, burst-fire, or capable of full-automatic fire, rifles were restricted to single fire. Whereas an autocannon could feed from a belt or ammunition block, rifles were, in comparison, single-shot weapons. Not to be confused with semi-automatic autocannons, which ejected the spent cartridges automatically, whether it be through recoil, gas-operated, piston-operated, or electrically driven. Rifles required that the breach be opened by an external command, whether that was by a manual loader or the autoloader. The latter differs from those of autocannons.

The slower rate of fire was but one among many reasons why autocannons replaced rifles. Comparing a Class-5 autocannon to a Medium rifle, the former has greater range, higher ammo density per ton, lower heat generation, and greater efficacy against the armor of the time. Rifles persisted in mercenary, militia, and private security/defense corporations for a time even with the advent of the modern autocannon due to a considerably reduced price and less complex parts and manufacture. However, rifles would be rendered from obsolescent to fully obsolete with the advent of the Mackie Battlemech and its new Standard armor.

Rifles, which could still cleanly pierce through many armor composites at the time, saw their performance drop dramatically against the new armor. Not only did the armor stop their rounds entirely, but rifles also ablated less armor than their autocannon counterparts, to the point where light rifles were rendered entirely ineffective against the new armor. Combined with the proliferation of autocannon technologies and new classes of autocannons, the last of the rifles would be relegated to the scrapyards and museums, with not even the technological decline of the Succession Wars being able to restore even a fraction of their former glory.

Resurgence: Retrotech

Like many old and obsolete designs, rifles were just one among many technologies that found themselves returning to a level of prominence due to Dumassas, the unofficial capital of RetroTech. Kim and Gaul Industries is known as the corporation that reintroduced Rifles to the Inner Sphere, however it was William Eisenfaust that would spearhead their development and their rise to prominence.

Eisenfaust, a native of Dumassas, had a long standing appreciation of Rifles even prior to the founding of K , even acquiring the technical blueprints for several designs and going so far as creating his own iterations and various potential improvements. These designs remained theoretical, even as K came out with their Merkava Mark IX, due to lostech. Many of the designs incorporated the use of endosteel, the data on which still existed on Dumassas, but not its manufacture.

This changed with the arrival of the Terrans and of NeoSteel. Eisenfaust was one of, if not the first on Dumassas to fully take advantage of the new material, and with it, pushed further the definition of RetroTech. Incorporating NeoSteel, he was able to overcome one of the greatest limitations that led to Rifles becoming obsolete: power.

Access to even the low grade structural neosteel allowed Eisenfaust, and K , to make several improvements and reinforcements to the old rifles designs. The new models were a touch heavier and ran slightly hotter, but they could now stand up to much higher levels of shell propellant and could thus leverage their full force against even battlemechs. Making them a viable weapon in the modern day. In simplest terms; the new advances allowed rifles to perform at their peak against Standard Bar 10 Armor.

These new rifles, termed "Improved Rifles", were not only comparable to modern autocannons, but they could be manufactured with a lower tech base. And Dumassas would leverage this ability to great effect.

The question arises, of course, of just why would anyone with the means and opportunity to acquire autocannons consider mounting rifles instead? Rifles, whether they be obsolete or Improved, only come in three major classes: light, medium, and heavy. Each being analogues to Class two, five, and ten autocannons respectively, with the Class-20 standing on its own.

The Improved Rifles of K have their own advantages. They are lighter and smaller than autocannons, with the light rifle being half the tonnage of a Class-2, and the medium and heavy rifles require half the space of a Class-5 and Class-10 respectively. With their new construction, their light and medium rifles are capable of stripping more armor per volley than their autocannon counterparts, while at half the cost on average. But one of their most important attributes is their range.

Rifles are categorized into three major classes: light, medium, and heavy, being analogues and replaced by Class two, five, and ten autocannons respectively. The Class-20 autocannon was in a league of its own, devastating firepower but with a crippling short range. As it is well known, as Autocannons rise in class, weight, and size, they gain greater firepower, stripping more armor per volley. Rifles, whether they be primitive or Improved, gain range at the cost of some firepower as their rise in size and weight. The Improved Heavy Rifle possesses the same range as a Class-5 autocannon, with only two additional tons.

However, there are still drawbacks to rifles. Autocannons still possess much greater ammunition density, and possess a greater rate of fire. Due to the propellants used, rifles also generate more heat, necessitating more heat-sinks than autocannons when mounted on battlemechs.

K and Eisenfaust himself have come out to say that the Improved Rifle is not meant to be a replacement for autocannons, simply an alternative. Yet the savings in weight, space, and C-bills have made the RetroTech weapons systems very appealing to many militias and mercenaries, leading to their slow but sure proliferation beyond the world of Dumassas. Leading the charge of their reintroduction was the flagship platform for Improved Rifles: the K MM-CNC Mammoth Tank.

The data on the attributes and performance of EndoSteel remains wide-spread and public knowledge, however at the time, this data was only sufficient for educational and theoretical purposes. It was wholly insufficient for the reverse-engineering or rediscovery of the means to produce EndoSteel.

A/N: Credit to knolden for collaborating and honestly being the bigger part behind this, including the Mammoth tank.

Stat sheets of the Improved Rifles and Mammoth will be dropped in the future when the relevant chapters appear.