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[Maxim_inc]

Glass bullets do not play with rifling of modern guns. Checked with a quick search, and those grooves cause the glass to compress and crack.

What grooves? The Piorun has polygonal rifling . And for conventional rifling, the problem is easily solved with a sabot.

Yeah the Piorun only works because its using unjacketed lead, good luck making a gun that perfectly inserts polygonal bullets into the chamber in the correct orientation every time at a rapid rate of fire. You'd need a completely controlled feed 100% of the way until the gun is fired or casings that aren't cylindrical which compromises the structural integrity of it.

Actually, polygonal rifling also works with normal bullets. Glock pistols, the MG 3 and several modern H&K rifles use polygonal rifling.

Uhuh, with nice malleable copper jacketed rounds that under massive pressures of firing deform to the grooves of the rifling.

Polygonal rifling doesn't have any grooves, that's its entire point. It also leaves next to no deformations on the bullet to the point of making forensics more difficult.

And this discussion is kinda pointless anyways now that I think about it, as the soultion to the problem of a glass bullet not playing nice with rifling is to put a sabot that does around it.

And at the point you're firing a subcaliber shot why not just use a normal bullet.

[FallacyofUrist]

Clearly what we need are bullets so small and so sharp that they can slice through armor trivially. Micro-flechette rounds, basically.

[IronyOwl]

We'll combine that with our air-powered idea to create... a fire hose!

[Man of Paper]

Preliminary Turn 2 Design Phase - Summer 1912

Proposal: Piorun Automatic Fowling Piece
Difficulty: Hard
Result: (6+5)-1=10, Superior

With a global interest in hard-hitting automatic weaponry growing, most nations have reasonably decided to base their designs around a rifle round. This is not the case in the Kingdom of the Southern Star, whose engineers have instead decided to fuse aspects of the rifle and shotgun together in order to create a machine gun.

And much to the surprise of just about everybody, it works pretty damn well.

Starting from the least interesting parts, a wheeled tripod mount gives the crew easy means of repositioning rapidly in their immediate area. Small levers on each leg lock the wheels in place, and a pin can be pulled from each wheel to rapidly remove them if necessary. The mount is heavy, weighing in at 31kg, but is designed with absorbing the substantial kick of the Piorun in mind. A basket can be hooked onto the mount in order to hold the belt-fed 16.5x95mm shells and reduce downtime for reloading.

Belts of 10 shells link together, with the basket holding up to 30 shells at a time. The belts feed into the Piorun itself, and can be unleashed at a fire rate of around 45 rounds per minute thanks to the system's recoil operation (although small bursts are preferred to limit heating). Ammunition comes in three types: an anti-personnel shot that unleashes a couple dozen loosely clustered .28cal lead balls (Blue Shell), a hexagonal steel-cored lead slug for medium range engagement (Green Shell), and Pęknięcie slugs (Red Shell) for explosive splash damage. The hexagonal rifling of the Piorun's barrel allows it to fire shot without compromising on range for the slugs or damaging the weapon. The Red Shells were the biggest hurdle in the Piorun's developmental period since the difficulties of production from the chemical and handling end were left unaddressed, but hard work and perseverance paid off. While fulminated mercury becomes more likely to "catastrophically interact" with its surrounding in higher concentrations, the rest of the Red Shell's manufacturing process became easier with the increased size of the delivery method. While other weapons won't benefit from the work going into making Pęknięcie work for Piorun, the Piorun will see itself receiving Red Shells at a rate one level cheaper than the cost of Pęknięcie Ammunition. With shot for engaging within 80m, slugs accurate out to 400m and capable of delivering a wallop at twice that range, and Pęknięcie shells effectively turning the Piorun into a grenade launcher, the Piorun is a highly versatile crewed weapon for holding the line.

A team of three (gunner and gunner assistant (splitting the load of the gun when positioning), ammo bearers) operate the weapon to provide plentiful coverage of the front line, as the Piorun Automatic Fowling Piece is considered Cheap. Red Shells are currently considered Very Expensive, so a somewhat limited number are available for most guns.

----------------

It is now the Revision Phase. You are free to modify weapons and equipment that appear in your armory.

Spoiler: Armory (click to show/hide)

Arms and Equipment
Gryf's Szybki Rifle: A self-loading 105cm long, 3.3kg rifle firing 9.5x35mmR rounds from a tube magazine with a 10+1 capacity. Captured gas is used to cycle the weapon, and the system can be disconnected in the event of a malfunction to allow manual bolt action operation. Tangent sights match the rifle's 600m effective range, and mild recoil provides an improved ability to maintain accuracy with a higher rate of fire. Comes with a 50cm bayonet. Cheap

Piorun Automatic Fowling Piece: A recoil-operated automatic 16-Gauge heavy shotgun with a wheeled tripod firing 16.5x95mm shells (Blue Shot, Green Steel-core Slug, Red Pęknięcie). 10-round linkable belts feed the 45 rpm fire rate. Very versatile. Weighs 31kg, but knocks recoil down noticeably. Effective range of 80m(Blue)/400-800m(Red+Green). Red Shells are provided at a level cheaper than Pęknięcie Ammunition, making it sparsely available a Very Expensive. Weapon system itself is Cheap

Pęknięcie Ammunition: Spitzer-shaped bullets with copper jackets that carry a small payload of mercury fulminate. Tip of the bullet houses a spring and rod assembly that that strikes the fulminate to detonate it. Rounds detonate shortly after striking targets, causing some explosive damage, fragmentation of the copper jacket, and a slight chance of collateral injuries. Some might say slightly over-engineered. National Effort

Spoiler: Territories (click to show/hide)

Capital
Kingdom of The Southern Star: 2/0

Western Lane
Southern Star Mountains: 2/0
Southern Plain: 3/0
NO MAN'S LAND: NEUTRAL
Northern Plain: 0/3
Administrative Forest: 0/2

Central Lane
Southern Star Mountains: 2/0
Southern Plain: 3/0
NO MAN'S LAND: NEUTRAL
Northern Plain: 0/3
Administrative Forest: 0/2

Eastern Lane
Southern Star Mountains: 2/0
Southern Plain: 3/0
NO MAN'S LAND: NEUTRAL
Northern Plain: 0/3
Administrative Forest: 0/2

Capital
Northern States Administration: 0/2

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

TURNTURNTURN

[FallacyofUrist]

It's worth noting that while making the Red Shells didn't cheapen our explosive ammunition in general, it could reasonably be implied to be the case that revising the explosive ammunition to be cheaper would cheapen the Red Shells as well.

Say, if we managed (with some luck) to get the ammunition (I refuse to use a name that I cannot pronounce or remember, so it's 'the ammunition') down to Expensive, then we'd get Cheap Red Shells.

I don't know what would let the Northern scum survive that.

[IronyOwl]

Utterly magnificent. I can think of nothing to improve.

Say, if we managed (with some luck) to get the ammunition (I refuse to use a name that I cannot pronounce or remember, so it's 'the ammunition') down to Expensive, then we'd get Cheap Red Shells.

I don't know what would let the Northern scum survive that.

Objectively correct. If I understood anything about how they worked, I'd write up a revision to make them do that better. Or, well, cheaper.

[FallacyofUrist]

Hmm, the Red Shell design description lists them as Expensive, but the armory lists them as Very Expensive.

I'm inclined to think that it's the design description that was incorrect, accidentally dropping the 'Very'.

[Kashyyk]

Considering the design calls out the Piorun's Pęknięcie rounds as one rarityless than standard (ie National Effort), I'm inclined to agree.

Anyway. The only thing that seems to have not worked so far is said Pęknięcie ammo, so we should probably put a revision into that. Although we could probably modify our Gryf's Szybki into a Marksman Rifle, to start contesting in the Sniper game.

Let's review the design for the round. Mercury Fulminate. Check. Spitzer Round. Check. Crumple Nose. Wait a minute.

The original Design wanted the round to deform on impact, driving the charging rod into the Mercury Fulminate. Let's replace the current spring mechanism, and consider alternatives that are easier to machine.

The Dokładny Rifle is a derivative of the Szybki, using the same housing, ammunition, and working parts. The changes consist of a more precise machining of the barrel and its rifling to ensure precise shooting characteristics, and the additional of a top-rail and 4x magnification scope, with adjustable positioning so that the user can refine the weapon in the field. The scope lens includes range drop markings all the way to 1,000m, and a "distance estimation gauge", consisting of three vertical silhouettes, each the size an Administration soldier would appear in the scope at 250m, 500m, and 750m. All in all, this should be an effective Marksman weapon at the squad level.

[TricMagic]

A major issue with the ammunition is the difficulty of production. By using a hardened glass shell with the tip covered by the striker, this can then be encased in copper. Glass is quite resistant to to most acid types, meaning that it can be mass produced with a mold, then filled. The copper sheathe protects the glass casing from fracture when fired and provides the area of effect we've come to know, now with glass shards added into the mix. A rubber seal is also added to the back of the glass so the firing doesn't break the containment prematurely.

It was an idea in my head to use a core to ease production. Hardened Glass is cheap and "shouldn't" react to the acid.

Not a fan of sniper rifles, given we can use a design on that later?

[Kashyyk]

We need some form of "screw that specific guy way over there" single-person weapon, which is classically a sniper rifle. We don't have anything else we could revise into that role other than the rifle at present.

And Designs are a hot Commodity for introducing new stuff. I'm not a fan of using them for basic improvements on anything until we've filled all the gaps in the armoury. If we want to spend a Design on it, it'd better be more interesting than just slapping a scope on a rifle.

[TricMagic]

I'm hoping it's more interesting too. Just that it's probably better to spend a design than try to revise a rifle.

[Maxim_inc]

I mean we could always increase the fire rate tad for the Piorun, 45rpm isn't a lot (unless that's a typo) and increasing the burst time might be prudent.

An alternative is we could scrap the exploding ammunition for the rifles entirely and instead turn the exploding shotgun slugs into rifle grenades to simplify production. It should be easy since the slug is much lighter than a normal rifle grenade and the ability of the GSR to disable its gas system means it can safely fire overpressure rounds, overpressure rounds which wouldn't need to be as high pressure compared to other rifle grenades due to the lightness of the parcel its projecting.

Rifle grenades are a way to deliver soldiers the ability to "fuck that guy in particular" and it can be deployed from any area a soldier can take a knee or brace a rifle.

[force200]

Here's my ideas for possible revisions:

To Increase the Piorun's effective range, new additional ammunition is to be developed. To achive the higher range, a redesigned and more aerodnamic projectile consisting of either one large or multiple small finned steel darts held in a paper-maché expanding cup sabot is introduced. The slightly ligher weight and larger sectional desity of the flechette slug is also expected to result in higher muzzle velocities and better performance against armoured targets.
The new ammunition is to serve as an alternative to both the blue shot shell and the green slug and is to be distingushed from its non-aerodynamic counterparts with the addition of a black stripe.
As an additional offshoot, the project also introduces a new black armour-piercing slug, which consists of a needle-like hardened steel penetrator core surrounded by a layer of packed ferrocerium powder held inside a brass jacket shaped to resemble a spitzer bullet.

As one of the major obstacles for the ammunition is the potential for interaction between the mercury fuminate explosive and the metals of the projectile, the solution to the problem is to replace it with a new explosive mixture conisiting of picric acid and potassium chlorate encased in wax.

Not sure about the second one, as I'm not 100% sure if the proposed mxiture would be sensetive enough for the intended purpose.

[Maxim_inc]

Here's my ideas for possible revisions:

To Increase the Piorun's effective range, new additional ammunition is to be developed. To achive the higher range, a redesigned and more aerodnamic projectile consisting of either one large or multiple small finned steel darts held in a paper-maché expanding cup sabot is introduced. The slightly ligher weight and larger sectional desity of the flechette slug is also expected to result in higher muzzle velocities and better performance against armoured targets.
The new ammunition is to serve as an alternative to both the blue shot shell and the green slug and is to be distingushed from its non-aerodynamic counterparts with the addition of a black stripe.
As an additional offshoot, the project also introduces a new black armour-piercing slug, which consists of a needle-like hardened steel penetrator core surrounded by a layer of packed ferrocerium powder held inside a brass jacket shaped to resemble a spitzer bullet.

As one of the major obstacles for the ammunition is the potential for interaction between the mercury fuminate explosive and the metals of the projectile, the solution to the problem is to replace it with a new explosive mixture conisiting of picric acid and potassium chlorate encased in wax.

Not sure about the second one, as I'm not 100% sure if the proposed mxiture would be sensetive enough for the intended purpose.

The basic lead slug is already steel cored so I'm not sure a second armor piercing shell is needed.

Also yeah the problem is targeting soft bodied targets is that you need something sensetive enough to be delivered in a small package that will explode on contact with enough force to be effective. Hence my suggestion to just ditch it in favor of rifle grenades.

[TricMagic]

More genericizing, remove all uniqueness. Add salt to flavor.