Laursen Rifle
A standard Laursen Rifle use a hexagonally rifled barrel with a 1-30" twist, mounted onto a wooden stock. The firing mechanism consists of a manually cocked hammer and bolted breach. In typical operation, the user unbolts the breach, loads a cylindrical Vaplium canister, which contains significantly under-pressurized Vaplium, and then bolts the breach. The cannister must be inserted in the correct orientation, which is helped by a small rim along the breach and cannister that must fit together for the breach to bolt. He then inserts a bullet into the muzzle of the weapon, and uses a rod to push it down until it is snug with the cartridge. The user then cocks the hammer back, fully arming the rifle.
Once the rifle trigger is depressed, the hammer directly strikes the back of the Vaplium cannister, causing a catastrophic pressure change that detonates the Vaplium. Due to the cartridge construction, the end facing the bullet is significantly structurally weaker, and explodes outwards towards the bullet. The force of the detonation propels the bullet forward, and the bullet exits the barrel at speed.
When the bolt is drawn back in the breach, an internal mechanism expels the canister at a slight angle, as the canister expands during the firing process. This mechanism and the cannister construction is not perfect; experienced riflemen will lower the rifle barrel while opening the breach to expel any loose pieces of metal, and lower quality cannisters have a disturbing tendency to explode backwards.
The canisters are typically stored in a small glass sphere which is shattered (known as deglassing) before they are to be used, as the metal used will deform under pressure. When a rifleman is going into combat, he typically deglasses as many canisters as he thinks are needed, but if he underestimates, he must manually deglass the canisters during the battle. This is typically done by placing the glassed canister vertically into the breach, and forcefully moving the bolt to a premarked position to accurately shatter the glass. For an experienced rifleman, this may take only a few seconds more than using a deglassed cannister. Once a battle is over, leftover deglassed canisters are typically discarded, as the risk of spontaneous detonation is high.
Item type
Weapon, Ranged
Related Condition
Rarity
Used by shock and elite military troops.
Weight
11lbs
Dimensions
36" barrel, 55" overall length