Next Rifle Upgrade Possibility

I've been thinking seriously about the next rifle upgrade once they go to metallic cartridges. I believe I've come up with a perfect solution. It's about the simplest easy to mass produce rifle that can be made and still have great accuracy as well as punch when hitting a target at distances.

The Russian Mosin Nagant 91/30. It is a 7.62X54Rmm caliber, bolt action, internal magazine fed (5 rds). It is very easy to take apart for cleaning. As a matter of fact, it has very few moving parts.

The round has a steel core which makes it possible to punch through light armor. Ballistically the round has the same flat characteristics as the 30.06 round so instead of having it in metric as 7.62X54Rmm just have it in 30.06. The R after 54 stands for Rimmed.

For sights, it has a very easy mechanical sight adjustment rear sight out to a 1000 meters. Scopes were used by the Russian snipers with great accuracy. Thousands of enemy troops were killed by the snipers alone in WWII.

Plus, on the later Mosins, the bayonet sits alongside the barrel and can easily be placed into position by a quick pull down to release it, swing around, and it locks into position. Since it is mounted on the end of the barrel, it can't be lost in the heat of battle and it can be put into play quickly and easily.

What do y'all think? For those not familiar with the Russian Mosin Nagant, just google it and/or check it out on youtube. There are quite a few videos about this firearm there.

I am 99% sure that any bolt action rifle introduced by Merlin will be based on the Lee Enfield rather than the Mosin or Mauser bolts.

Twice the magazine capacity and a faster action combined with a strong tendency on the part of RFC to base things on the Brits make it a more likely choice.

If people come up with the idea independantly of Merlin/Owl we are more likely to see a Dreyse needle gun concept or lever action as historically they both predate a full bolt action such as the Lee/Mosin/Mauser

I am 99% sure that any bolt action rifle introduced by Merlin will be based on the Lee Enfield rather than the Mosin or Mauser bolts.

Err, there a bolt action introduced in the series: the M96 Mahndrayan. I'm not familiar with the specifics of the action, but it was first used in LAMA.

Duckk wrote:

I am 99% sure that any bolt action rifle introduced by Merlin will be based on the Lee Enfield rather than the Mosin or Mauser bolts.

Err, there a bolt action introduced in the series: the M96 Mahndrayan. I'm not familiar with the specifics of the action, but it was first used in LAMA.

Good point - that's what happens when you post late at night.

But my vague memory of the action as described is that it is not easily converted to magazine feed which is the real next step being discussed. Guess we will have to wait find out if RFC is in the Mauser camp of accuracy first over the Lee-enfield camp of best in battlefield conditions with larger magazine and more rapid reloading.

Some bright spark will also have to invent the strip charger as well.

Duckk wrote:

I am 99% sure that any bolt action rifle introduced by Merlin will be based on the Lee Enfield rather than the Mosin or Mauser bolts.

My vote would be a lever action for the dragoons. I don't think many of them are going to be able to handle the 5 shot revolvers employing rifle ammo. Plus pistol accuracy sucks compared to carbines with mere humans as opposed to PICAs.

As I understand it, Charis already has bolt action rifles with box magazines on the way.

But you know what would be a REALLY EASY upgrade? Telescopic scopes. They're already making binoculars, so telescopic scopes should be easy for them.

Of course, telescopic scopes for specialized use, not the general battlefield. But hey, Charis already has this unit they call Scout-SNIPERS.

Wide aperture, low magnification, low parallax scopes. Makes an epileptic at a strobe light convention able to tag a man with ease at a respectable distance from the standing with a minimum acquisition time. That's the kind of upgrade that causes congressional investigations into why so many enemies are suddenly being killed with head shots when a generation ago it was taking 10k rounds per kill.

evilauthor wrote:As I understand it, Charis already has bolt action rifles with box magazines on the way.

But you know what would be a REALLY EASY upgrade? Telescopic scopes. They're already making binoculars, so telescopic scopes should be easy for them.

Of course, telescopic scopes for specialized use, not the general battlefield. But hey, Charis already has this unit they call Scout-SNIPERS.

jgnfld wrote:My vote would be a lever action for the dragoons. I don't think many of them are going to be able to handle the 5 shot revolvers employing rifle ammo. Plus pistol accuracy sucks compared to carbines with mere humans as opposed to PICAs.

I had the impression that the 5 shot system was reserved for Merlin?

The dragoons seemed to use the 6 shot revolver quite efficiently in that small action around Roymark and in the battle in Kyplingor Forest.

Wysiwyg101 wrote:The Russian Mosin Nagant 91/30. It is a 7.62X54Rmm caliber, bolt action, internal magazine fed (5 rds). It is very easy to take apart for cleaning. As a matter of fact, it has very few moving parts.

The round has a steel core which makes it possible to punch through light armor. Ballistically the round has the same flat characteristics as the 30.06 round so instead of having it in metric as 7.62X54Rmm just have it in 30.06. The R after 54 stands for Rimmed.

For sights, it has a very easy mechanical sight adjustment rear sight out to a 1000 meters. Scopes were used by the Russian snipers with great accuracy. Thousands of enemy troops were killed by the snipers alone in WWII.

Plus, on the later Mosins, the bayonet sits alongside the barrel and can easily be placed into position by a quick pull down to release it, swing around, and it locks into position. Since it is mounted on the end of the barrel, it can't be lost in the heat of battle and it can be put into play quickly and easily.

Reading this made me smile. I have an Czech made M91/30 with attached bayonet at home. It is rugged and easy to clean as well easy to sight with the included mechanical sights. Now I want to go shooting.

Rail attachments! Easily doable with Safehold tech as long as someone gets the idea (and that there's enough useful attachments to be worth adding rails). Swap your bayonet out for your own personal underslung angle gun! Use the scope of your choice!

Bullpup configurations. Shorten the over all length of the rifle without shortening the barrel by setting the barrel into the stock. Very useful when fighting CQC with magazine fed weapons. Although admittedly not so useful if you want to still use bayonets.

Drum magazines. For when you want ALOT of ammo capacity and box magazines aren't enough.