Post by Latus on Sept 8, 2009 19:54:48 GMT -5
Official Weapon Name: SM82 Bullpup Assault Rifle, Airborne Config.
Faction/Affiliation: Republic Military
Manufacturer: Kurrion Arms Tech
Classification: Slug thrower
Stock/Custom: Stock with single customizable option
Options:
Dimensions:
Bulk Assembly Model SM82
SM82 with undeslung grenade launcher and ACOG scope
Height: 250mm (w/o clip), 350mm (with clip)
Length: 790mm (stock retracted), 889mm (extended stock)
Width: 35mm
Weapon weight: 3.44 kg (empty), 3.8 kg (with 70 rounds), approx 3.9 – 4.2 kg (with 70 rounds and loaded underslung launcher)
Magazine Capacity:
Standard: 40 Rounds
Extended: 70 rounds
Underslung Launcher: 1 round
Underslung Shotgun: 4 rounds
RPM: 600 (at full-auto) with semi-auto option
Projectile:
Rifle
Bullet dimensions:
Width: 5.56 mm
(Case) Length: 45 mm
Projectile Speed: 920 m/s
Projectile Types:
Features:
Rifle
Secondary/Underslung
Additional
Description:
sound clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dlAmBkr10
A Tall Order
The SM-82 Bullpup was built as a high-powered, highly effective, multi-role assault rifle. With the need for such a weapon, the Republic Army turned to the Corellia-based Kurrion Arms Tech designers.
Known for their versatile, accurate and reliable weapons such as the V5-Hawker sidearm, Kurrion Tech seemed to be the perfect team to approach in the face of a rising demand for weapons that could stand up to just about any situation with outstanding ability. While this wasn’t the first time the Army had approached them for a weapon, it was certainly the tallest order that they’d yet been faced with. In the growing confrontations between both the Empire and the Mandalorians, the Republic Army was swiftly finding itself in need of a weapon that could swiftly and easily switch from accurate single-fire, to powerful cover fire, and also give members of fire-teams a personal touch that would assist in their particular duties out in the field.
Over the course of several months the design teams of Kurrion Tech was stumped on how to fulfill the request, going through design after design, making and remaking old, new, and current weapons in their programs…but nothing seemed to fit the bill. The problem with having a fully-automatic weapon that could switch to an accurate semi-auto one was in the heat build up and, while they understood this, it wasn’t simple finding a solution. The easiest way to keep a fully automatic weapon cool was to keep the bolt open while the rounds were being fed through, but the most accuracy in single fire was with a closed bolt. Back and forth, round and round the teams went until, finally, they looked through the history books. Literally.
It was already decided that they’d need a rotating bolt, but what they hadn’t considered (until a clever history buff from one of the armor teams had come poking around) was the piston action of old engines. It still took them a few weeks to put two and two together fully, but steadily they made progress on how to combine the two ideas until they finally reached a point where the chamber would not only be kept cool, but clear of any rounds that might ‘cook off’. The bullpup configuration allows for similar muzzle velocity without wasting stock space. While the average 5.56 rounds do diminish the kick from each shot, a mechanism mounted in the stock as well as gas feed tandem to the barrel helps steady the firers aim even further. That didn’t, however, solve the problem of how to make the weapon any more ‘personal’ for the men and women who would be using them.
Surprisingly, the idea came from one of the youngest members of the team who had stood looking at the weapon one day and suddenly proclaimed that “it looks like it needs a grenade launcher.” The only reply he got that day was a simple “out of the mouths of babes” from the eldest man in the room, who had simply chuckled and gotten immediately to work. The next day was a comprehensive list of all the possibilities possible for an underslung launcher…and even a shotgun. A few more days of debate and the options (narrowed down to the four that seemed like they would be most useful out in the field) were settled on.
Production of test models began immediately.
A ‘Lucky’ Start
When all was finally said and done…all the tests completed…all the metal shavings, empty casings, and dust from field tests blown away, the Kurrion Tech teams emerged from the numerous piles of scrapped ideas and the wreckage of dismal failures with a weapon even they were amazed by. With pride they’d presented it to the ranking officers of the Republic Army for their own tests and within a month the order was being pushed through for the first wave of SM82s. It was a smaller order than the KAT executives had hoped for, but the Republic rarely ordered large numbers of weapons the first time around. They wanted an extended field test first…before they made up their minds.
So it was that the first shipments of SM82s arrived on Corellia and the small number of them distributed to the ‘Lucky Sevens’ in a sort of “give it to Mikey, he’ll try anything” act. With the first wave of experimental jet fighters, what better place to dump more experimental weapons? It was, however, a very lucky start for the SM82s.
Seeing much use in the Sevens, the SM82s in use saw no end of action, proving themselves time and again as good mid-range and close range weapons. While they were, admittedly, heavier than most standard rifles…and used the more costly slugs as opposed to being blaster-based…they were far from unwieldy, providing exactly the sort of versatility they were meant to have. With the addition of the options in underslung ‘secondary’ weapon, the Army air division saw remarkable success on the ground with the ability to be prepared for just about any event with one weapon….if you had a fire-team of four, each man with a different secondary, you were set.
The Army immediately started putting in more orders, distributing the weapons to their best trained teams…the posts that held the highest success records in conflict…and the ones that saw, or expected, the most action with the Empire or the Mandalorians. With the high price of the weapons and the slightly longer distribution time of them due to the secondary weapons and the price of the slugs that they shot, SM82s still remain fairly rare and a sort of status symbol amongst Army members since receiving one was either a privilege earned by being considered one of the ‘elite’ teams, or by extended time on the most heated front lines of the war.
** notes: GLIMPS (Grenade-Launched Imaging Modular Projectile System). This is a projectile that contains a small camera which transmits images of what it sees.
www.gizmag.com/go/4419/ and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_gun#Ammunition (only mentioned here, but this is where I first saw it.)
Based off of IAR (Infantry Automatic Rifle) for a number of the stats, and the M41-A pulse rifle (from Aliens) for the sound clip for firing both the rifle and the grenade launcher. I have no clue what game the image is from.
IAR video link - www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YzGzeLh3mc
Faction/Affiliation: Republic Military
Manufacturer: Kurrion Arms Tech
Classification: Slug thrower
Stock/Custom: Stock with single customizable option
Options:
- Underslung Combat Grenade launcher (40mm grenade. 40mm incendiary round and other 40mm rounds)
- Underslung Support launcher (flare canister, signal smoke canister, teargas cartridge or GLIMPS round**)
- Underslung Riot Control launcher (teargas cartridge, net-launch capability, bean-bag round)
- Underslung Pump Shotgun (single barrel, holds four rounds at a time, 12 gauge)
- Secondary underslung railing with handgrip
Dimensions:
Bulk Assembly Model SM82
SM82 with undeslung grenade launcher and ACOG scope
Height: 250mm (w/o clip), 350mm (with clip)
Length: 790mm (stock retracted), 889mm (extended stock)
Width: 35mm
Weapon weight: 3.44 kg (empty), 3.8 kg (with 70 rounds), approx 3.9 – 4.2 kg (with 70 rounds and loaded underslung launcher)
Magazine Capacity:
Standard: 40 Rounds
Extended: 70 rounds
Underslung Launcher: 1 round
Underslung Shotgun: 4 rounds
RPM: 600 (at full-auto) with semi-auto option
Projectile:
Rifle
Bullet dimensions:
Width: 5.56 mm
(Case) Length: 45 mm
Projectile Speed: 920 m/s
Projectile Types:
- Caseless Tungsten Armor Piercing
- Lead Core/steel Hollow points
- Barium/Aluminum Incendiary Rounds
Features:
Rifle
- Semi-automatic and fully automatic selective fire options
- magazine fed
- gas-operated short-stroke piston action with rotating bolt
Secondary/Underslung
- Once the launcher, shotgun or grip-rail is chosen, there will likely be no time to change it until the following mission.
- Pump action
- Single rounds
- Uses secondary trigger
- Secondary Railing with handgrip for additional mounts (only if railing/grip option is chosen over launcher or shotgun)
Additional
- Standard Red-dot sight
- Optional ACOG Scope
- Single top rail for scope, laser sight, or tactical light
- Bayonet lug
Description:
sound clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dlAmBkr10
A Tall Order
The SM-82 Bullpup was built as a high-powered, highly effective, multi-role assault rifle. With the need for such a weapon, the Republic Army turned to the Corellia-based Kurrion Arms Tech designers.
Known for their versatile, accurate and reliable weapons such as the V5-Hawker sidearm, Kurrion Tech seemed to be the perfect team to approach in the face of a rising demand for weapons that could stand up to just about any situation with outstanding ability. While this wasn’t the first time the Army had approached them for a weapon, it was certainly the tallest order that they’d yet been faced with. In the growing confrontations between both the Empire and the Mandalorians, the Republic Army was swiftly finding itself in need of a weapon that could swiftly and easily switch from accurate single-fire, to powerful cover fire, and also give members of fire-teams a personal touch that would assist in their particular duties out in the field.
Over the course of several months the design teams of Kurrion Tech was stumped on how to fulfill the request, going through design after design, making and remaking old, new, and current weapons in their programs…but nothing seemed to fit the bill. The problem with having a fully-automatic weapon that could switch to an accurate semi-auto one was in the heat build up and, while they understood this, it wasn’t simple finding a solution. The easiest way to keep a fully automatic weapon cool was to keep the bolt open while the rounds were being fed through, but the most accuracy in single fire was with a closed bolt. Back and forth, round and round the teams went until, finally, they looked through the history books. Literally.
It was already decided that they’d need a rotating bolt, but what they hadn’t considered (until a clever history buff from one of the armor teams had come poking around) was the piston action of old engines. It still took them a few weeks to put two and two together fully, but steadily they made progress on how to combine the two ideas until they finally reached a point where the chamber would not only be kept cool, but clear of any rounds that might ‘cook off’. The bullpup configuration allows for similar muzzle velocity without wasting stock space. While the average 5.56 rounds do diminish the kick from each shot, a mechanism mounted in the stock as well as gas feed tandem to the barrel helps steady the firers aim even further. That didn’t, however, solve the problem of how to make the weapon any more ‘personal’ for the men and women who would be using them.
Surprisingly, the idea came from one of the youngest members of the team who had stood looking at the weapon one day and suddenly proclaimed that “it looks like it needs a grenade launcher.” The only reply he got that day was a simple “out of the mouths of babes” from the eldest man in the room, who had simply chuckled and gotten immediately to work. The next day was a comprehensive list of all the possibilities possible for an underslung launcher…and even a shotgun. A few more days of debate and the options (narrowed down to the four that seemed like they would be most useful out in the field) were settled on.
Production of test models began immediately.
A ‘Lucky’ Start
When all was finally said and done…all the tests completed…all the metal shavings, empty casings, and dust from field tests blown away, the Kurrion Tech teams emerged from the numerous piles of scrapped ideas and the wreckage of dismal failures with a weapon even they were amazed by. With pride they’d presented it to the ranking officers of the Republic Army for their own tests and within a month the order was being pushed through for the first wave of SM82s. It was a smaller order than the KAT executives had hoped for, but the Republic rarely ordered large numbers of weapons the first time around. They wanted an extended field test first…before they made up their minds.
So it was that the first shipments of SM82s arrived on Corellia and the small number of them distributed to the ‘Lucky Sevens’ in a sort of “give it to Mikey, he’ll try anything” act. With the first wave of experimental jet fighters, what better place to dump more experimental weapons? It was, however, a very lucky start for the SM82s.
Seeing much use in the Sevens, the SM82s in use saw no end of action, proving themselves time and again as good mid-range and close range weapons. While they were, admittedly, heavier than most standard rifles…and used the more costly slugs as opposed to being blaster-based…they were far from unwieldy, providing exactly the sort of versatility they were meant to have. With the addition of the options in underslung ‘secondary’ weapon, the Army air division saw remarkable success on the ground with the ability to be prepared for just about any event with one weapon….if you had a fire-team of four, each man with a different secondary, you were set.
The Army immediately started putting in more orders, distributing the weapons to their best trained teams…the posts that held the highest success records in conflict…and the ones that saw, or expected, the most action with the Empire or the Mandalorians. With the high price of the weapons and the slightly longer distribution time of them due to the secondary weapons and the price of the slugs that they shot, SM82s still remain fairly rare and a sort of status symbol amongst Army members since receiving one was either a privilege earned by being considered one of the ‘elite’ teams, or by extended time on the most heated front lines of the war.
** notes: GLIMPS (Grenade-Launched Imaging Modular Projectile System). This is a projectile that contains a small camera which transmits images of what it sees.
www.gizmag.com/go/4419/ and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_gun#Ammunition (only mentioned here, but this is where I first saw it.)
Based off of IAR (Infantry Automatic Rifle) for a number of the stats, and the M41-A pulse rifle (from Aliens) for the sound clip for firing both the rifle and the grenade launcher. I have no clue what game the image is from.
IAR video link - www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YzGzeLh3mc
