Alternate Weapons of War thread...

Undeadmuffin

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GWEN MK III: The Gauss Weapon ENfield, model 3 is the main weapon of the Commonwealth Union. A coil assault rifle, it fire metal flechette accelerated by electromagnetic coils powered by a battery. In a standart test environnment, the battery can fire 600 rounds, around 20 magazine, before its charge drop below the ''balistic limit'', in that case the rifle stop firing and the charging LED flare up in red, indicating that the user need to change the battery. In the worst environment, the battery was observed to drop around 450 rounds, 15 magazines, before being discharged. This was due to the limited shielding of the power source from the detrimental effect of outside environment on battery life. The magazine are simple straight, detachable box magazine connected on the left side of the weapon, spring loaded with 30 rounds of metallic, usually steel, balanced flechette.
A simple, cheap but effective weapon, the ''Gwen'' have however both propponents and opponents. Those in favor if it tend to highlight its cheap cost, its simple mechanics, sturdiness, reliability and overall effectiveness as reasons to keep it in active service. Those against it present its lack of adaptability, difficulty of modernisation, short battery life, low rate of fire and limited penetration compared to modern weapons as flaws that cant be overcome and thus, the need for a entire new weapon.

But despite where they stand on the replacement issue, the Commonwealth soldiers on the ground all agrees that the Gwen gave outstanding service and was for three decades the most advanced and powerfull assault rifle of the human sphere, and it was them who wield it.

EDIT: With a folding stock
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CharlesTheFrenchman

CharlesTheFrenchman

Undeadmuffin said:
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GWEN MK III: The Gauss Weapon ENfield, model 3 is the main weapon of the Commonwealth Union. A coil assault rifle, it fire metal flechette accelerated by electromagnetic coils powered by a battery. In a standart test environnment, the battery can fire 600 rounds, around 20 magazine, before its charge drop below the ''balistic limit'', in that case the rifle stop firing and the charging LED flare up in red, indicating that the user need to change the battery. In the worst environment, the battery was observed to drop around 450 rounds, 15 magazines, before being discharged. This was due to the limited shielding of the power source from the detrimental effect of outside environment on battery life. The magazine are simple straight, detachable box magazine connected on the left side of the weapon, spring loaded with 30 rounds of metallic, usually steel, balanced flechette.
A simple, cheap but effective weapon, the ''Gwen'' have however both propponents and opponents. Those in favor if it tend to highlight its cheap cost, its simple mechanics, sturdiness, reliability and overall effectiveness as reasons to keep it in active service. Those against it present its lack of adaptability, difficulty of modernisation, short battery life, low rate of fire and limited penetration compared to modern weapons as flaws that cant be overcome and thus, the need for a entire new weapon.

But despite where they stand on the replacement issue, the Commonwealth soldiers on the ground all agrees that the Gwen gave outstanding service and was for three decades the most advanced and powerfull assault rifle of the human sphere, and it was them who wield it.

EDIT: With a folding stock
skOSoZG.png
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So basically it's a STEN but actually functionnal and a railgun?
 
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Undeadmuffin

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M18A1: Also called CRR-m2, for Colt Rail Rifle model 2, it was presented to the United States Alliance as their next generation rifle, where it received its new designation as M18. Contrary to the Commonwealth which was fine with its soldiers carrying numerous batteries, the Alliance was adamant about sharing battery life and rifle life to avoid having to burden their soldiers with the extra weight. Finnaly it was the rail endurence that set the battery life, as the rails would drop bellow the acceptable accuracy due to wearing after 3000 rounds. To fit that goal, the battery was much larger and powerfull then the smaller GWEN power source. At first the gunsmiths wanted to have the battery isolated within the rifle, since it would be exhausted once the rifle would be cycled for rail and general maintenance and be changed in factory. But many military advisors were sceptical of this design as in case of battery failure, the soldier would be stuck with a non-fonctionning weapon, needed to be sent in factory. In addition, it prevented an independant way to charge the power source if sending it to repair was impossible. To remedy those issues, the engineers at Colt designed a way to insert the battery in the stock. Thanks to the high quality of the battery componants and the extra shielding, the battery was able to keep its peek performance even in hostile environment.
The munition is a fin-stabilized 0.45 inch flechette accelerated by a electromagnetical rail, this was a much less energy-intensive way to fire the metallic dart compared to the coil acceleration. They are loaded in straight bloc magazine capable of containning 30 rounds. While arriving latter then other nations, the M18A1 was slightly more powerfull and accurate then older model but many decried its heavy weight, around 17.5 pounds (or 8Kg fully loaded), and high cost.
 
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cortz#9

Undeadmuffin said:
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M18A1: Also called CRR-m2, for Colt Rail Rifle model 2, it was presented to the United States Alliance as their next generation rifle, where it received its new designation as M18. Contrary to the Commonwealth which was fine with its soldiers carrying numerous batteries, the Alliance was adamant about sharing battery life and rifle life to avoid having to burden their soldiers with the extra weight. Finnaly it was the rail endurence that set the battery life, as the rails would drop bellow the acceptable accuracy due to wearing after 3000 rounds. To fit that goal, the battery was much larger and powerfull then the smaller GWEN power source. At first the gunsmiths wanted to have the battery isolated within the rifle, since it would be exhausted once the rifle would be cycled for rail and general maintenance and be changed in factory. But many military advisors were sceptical of this design as in case of battery failure, the soldier would be stuck with a non-fonctionning weapon, needed to be sent in factory. In addition, it prevented an independant way to charge the power source if sending it to repair was impossible. To remedy those issues, the engineers at Colt designed a way to insert the battery in the stock. Thanks to the high quality of the battery componants and the extra shielding, the battery was able to keep its peek performance even in hostile environment.
The munition is a fin-stabilized 0.45 inch flechette accelerated by a electromagnetical rail, this was a much less energy-intensive way to fire the metallic dart compared to the coil acceleration. They are loaded in straight bloc magazine capable of containning 30 rounds. While arriving latter then other nations, the M18A1 was slightly more powerfull and accurate then older model but many decried its heavy weight, around 17.5 pounds (or 8Kg fully loaded), and high cost.
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Really like your design it inspired me to re-work one of my old designs, a helical feed Thompson, now a helical feed "rail" Thompson.
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cortz#9

Undeadmuffin said:
Nice ! Just a question, is the magazine the box at the bottom or the one horizontal at the back ?
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The box on top is the magazine, hence the description of "helical (although it seems to me the term should be "vertical feed" but what do I know) feed",
the box on the bottom is the power-pack or battery.
 

Undeadmuffin

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M18A2: Just a few years after the M18 was released and distributed to the armies of the United States Alliance, a board from the armed forces demanded a series of modifications ''of the utmost importance''. One of the first demand was the implementation of attachments for various additions such as forward handle, flashlight, laser sight, grenade launcher, scopes etc. Having been used to/spoiled by the M16A6, which was basically a barrel, firing mechanism and an absurd amount of picatiny rails and attachments, having a simple rifle was seen as a downgrade, no matter how powerfull the rifle. This was done by modifying the hand guard, slightly enlarging it to fit attachment points and adding those same points to a modified aim rail. The advantage to those attachment points was that they were much more sturdy and reliable then rails and for critical item like scopes, it provided a reliable and stable attachments that (technically) negated the need to re-ajustments since it would always fit at the exact same place.
The second demand was to reinforce the battery cover as it was observed to crack or go loose. This last demand really confused the engineers at Colt since the battery cover was made of the same polymer then the rest of the gun and only the battery cover was showing that kind of wear. It was finnaly discovered the cause of this unusual damage; the soldiers. Unlike the testers who simply slided the battery firmly into place until it secured, the soldiers were observed to put the battery in place and then slam it down by punching it with their fist to secure it. Since the cover was made pretty thin to fit elegantly into the gun, it would crack at the bottom where it met the rifle butt due to the repeated violent pounding. Since it could be removed, the soldiers were trained to not only reload the munition but also trainning to change the battery, bringing an unforseen level of usage that only compounded the problem. They finnaly thicken the battery cover, making it out of dense polymer instead of the hollowed-out shell, recquiring to change the previous securing system of plastic clip to a sturdier system of polymer rails and screws tightning a metal band to secure the battery to the cover.
These adjustments did nothing to fix the rifle weight, increasing it from 17.5 pounds to 18 pounds (8,12Kg) but it gave the brand new M18A2 the wanted flexibility and grunt-proofing.
 

cortz#9

Undeadmuffin said:
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<>
The second demand was to reinforce the battery cover as it was observed to crack or go loose. This last demand really confused the engineers at Colt since the battery cover was made of the same polymer then the rest of the gun and only the battery cover was showing that kind of wear. It was finnaly discovered the cause of this unusual damage; the soldiers. Unlike the testers who simply slided the battery firmly into place until it secured, the soldiers were observed to put the battery in place and then slam it down by punching it with their fist to secure it. Since the cover was made pretty thin to fit elegantly into the gun, it would crack at the bottom where it met the rifle butt due to the repeated violent pounding. Since it could be removed, the soldiers were trained to not only reload the munition but also trainning to change the battery, bringing an unforseen level of usage that only compounded the problem. They finnaly thicken the battery cover, making it out of dense polymer instead of the hollowed-out shell, recquiring to change the previous securing system of plastic clip to a sturdier system of polymer rails and screws tightning a metal band to secure the battery to the cover.
These adjustments did nothing to fix the rifle weight, increasing it from 17.5 pounds to 18 pounds (8,12Kg) but it gave the brand new M18A2 the wanted flexibility and grunt-proofing.
Click to expand...
I could so see infantrymen treating the battery like an ammo mag and being overly rough with it.
Very plausible IMO.
 

cortz#9

Plasma Gewehr 1942 PG-I for short, developed from Jaffa staff weapons captured by the Germans in their Off-World explorations (conquests).
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The weapon was designed for use by the Himmelssäulenjägers, German paratroopers re-trained for combat on foreign worlds and alien space vessels but would eventually be issued to all elite German units.

Like the staff weapon the PG-I used an energy cel and a Naquadam capsule to emit a high beam energy blast but PG-I was designed to be a more practical, compact (for fight in the close interiors of spaceships) and accurate.
The PG-I was equipped with ten round magazines that each carried ten energy cels, each cel was capable of ten shots giving a loaded weapon a total of one hundred shots.
The PG-I was a powerful and advanced weapon but initially suffered reliability issues that took time to be corrected and improved.

I made the PG-I for CountofDooku's TL "Himmelsportal: a Nazi Stargate" - https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/himmelsportal-a-nazi-stargate.473981/
 
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Undeadmuffin

With the lightning fall of France in 1940, the Canadian navy found itself catapulted at the forefront of the war way sooner then they expected. Their Converter-class project, hampered by the lack of funding and adequate ships, fell short of its goal of five converted carriers, with only the HMCS Protector being finished, supplied and combat-ready. The next in line, the HMCS Defender, was still in Halifax's shipyard, stripping the old SS Beaverford from its structure and modifying it into an escort carrier. With the British Isles alone in Europe, they needed all the resources available to continue the fight, and that meant bringing and protecting the vital Atlantic supply line, to keep it open. The HMCS Defender conversion's was accelerated, with the main structure kept and simply strengthen to save time and its crew beginning to train in a ship still in construction.
In mid-october, the ship left its slip, with workers still in board to complete the last details, for a shake-down and practicing its pilots. Around Newfoundland, they spent a week making mock attack on buoy before being recalled in emergency in Halifax. They were to protect the convoy SC-6 from Sydney, Nova-Scotia toward Liverpool. They only had time to refuel and drop the workers before meeting the rest of the escort. Desperately short on escort ship, the Royal Canadian Navy did not had the luxury of keeping one of its rare carriers on sea trial, no matter how vital they were.
All through its career the HMCS Defender would suffer from this, needing no less then three refits, one to modify and strengthen its watertight compartments (that were supposed to also serve as anti-torpedo protection), install dampeners to reduce its engine vibrations (known to affect the fuel lines for the planes, many of their screws and joints suffered) and even ballast to compensate for its top-heavy structure.

Nonetheless, like the HMCS Protector, the HMCS Defender would prove, with its Hurricane/Swordfish mix, to be a deadly opponents for the German u-boats. So vital to the safety of convoy, Converter-class carriers were often reserved for the most important cargo, such as fuel and foods.

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