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Imperator-Zor — Pattern-1416 Yorigsov Rifle

Published: 2013-09-18 02:43:56 +0000 UTC; Views: 4034; Favourites: 25; Downloads: 16
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Description The Pattern-1405 Yorigsov rifle was in many respects a major upgrade for the growing Imperial Allergonian Army and for Imperial Manufacturing. It provided a viable service rifle that was more than adequate to replace all previous firearms and most of the more traditional weapons. It also represented an item which could be mass produced on a large scale with existing industries to very tight specifications. Previously at best firearms would be made in accordance to rough guidelines (a musket needed to "have a caliber of 17/20ths of an inch, weigh at most 10 pounds, be a flintlock, have a rifled barrel 40 inches long upon which a bayonet may be affixed and be successfully test fired" according to a contract from 18 IA) while the Pattern-1405 was mass produced using interchangeable parts. By 32 IA a sufficient number of these weapons had been made to meet the needs of both the army and marines with production continuing to sell items to various buyers both in and beyond the Empire which has generated revenue for both Yorigsov and the Imperial Government as they own the rights to this weapon.

But despite it's success Malnov Yorigsov had advocated this successful line of screw breechloaders as an intermediate design. While it did have an advantage over muskets it still required the user to load ball and powder separately which slowed the process down on top of other complications even if it was fairly simple to produced. These claims were at first dismissed as him attempting to get the Kingdom to buy a new line of more expensive weapons and thus further line his pockets (which was indeed part of his motivation), though the Escort War and Venoa's progress in small arms design with it's did convince enough higher ups that an upgrade even though there was little interest among the Imperial Court at producing some 250,000 new weapons from scratch. The Pattern-1416 rifle was the product of that effort with production begining at the onset of the new year (37 IA)

A Modification on the Pattern-1405 rifle, most of the work in producing the Pattern-1416 was converting existing weapons to the new standard. This meant deleting the screw loading mechanism, modifying the hammer assembly and adding a basic trapdoor breech and extractor. As such it could accept a 0.6 inch cartridge (with both paper and brass models being designed, tested and approved). This raises it's rate of fire from 6-7 rounds per minute to 10 rounds per minute and increasing both firepower and accuracy marginally.

The biggest advantage of this modification is that it could be done cheaply. For the price of a new rifle six upgrade kits could be produced. Those soldiers that have been issued these weapons have quickly adapted to them and are fond of the new weapon. It is hoped that a total switch over for the army could be achieved some time around 39 IA as part of a general upgrade program for the military on the whole. There are growing concerns about the prospects of a major war with the Dark Elves coming out of the Escort War that the Empire could find itself drawn into.
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