M41 PULSE RIFLE

The Armat M41A Pulse Rifle is a pulse-action assault rifle chambered for 10×24mm Caseless ammunition. It was notably employed by the United States Colonial Marine Corps and the United States Army as their primary infantry weapon during the late 22nd century.
Lightweight and rugged, the M41A is constructed largely from ultra-light alloy precision metal stampings, with a titanium aluminide alloy outer casing and high-impact, temperature resistant plastics for many of its internal parts. The M41A is fully sealed against corrosion, dirt and moisture and its electronics are hardened against TREE and background radiation, making it perfectly usable even in a vacuum. By itself the rifle weighs only 3.2 kg, although this increases to 4.9 kg when including the sling and fully-loaded magazine, and is built around a 24.7 cm long barrel.
The M41A uses an electronic pulse action to fire, controlled directly from the trigger and powered by a battery located in the carry handle. The internal mechanism, including the rotating breech, is mounted on free-floating rails within a carbon-fiber jacket and the entire assembly is recoil dampened to reduce the effects of muzzle climb during burst and fully-automatic fire. Even so, the weapon's recoil is fairly significant. A thumb selector allows the firer to switch between selective, four-round burst or fully automatic firing modes. A manual charging handle on the right hand side of the receiver allows the user to check for rounds in the chamber or clear the breech in the event of a stoppage. The standard M41A ammunition magazine stores 99 rounds in a 'U' bend conveyor. Rounds are fed mechanically into the weapon's rotating breech. While the magazine weighs 1.5 kg when fully loaded, standard practice is to only fill it to 95% capacity (95 rounds) to prevent jamming.
The M41A generally mounts the underbarrel U1 Grenade Launcher, comprising a barrel, breech and four-round internal magazine, fired using a trigger just in front of the rifle magazine, the housing for which doubles as a grip during grenade firing. While this launcher was integral to initial versions of the rifle, later models (specifically the M41A MK2 and the later M41A2) featured a modular system that allowed the launcher to be swapped out for a different unit at the user's discretion. Grenades must be hand-loaded into the launcher's four-round magazine, which are then loaded into the breech and primed to fire from a pump action.
Sighting is made down a groove in the top of the carrying handle, with an adjustable tangent leaf backsight in the rear aperture. The rifle can also be fitted with a 3x power AN/RVS-52 CCD television sight to allow for accuracy at range and under low light conditions. A spring-loaded extendible stock allows the gun to be used in either a carbine or rifle format while an LCD ammunition counter display just below the receiver informs the user of the remaining ammunition supply at a glance. This display can be dimmed for night operations, although it is not uncommon for cautious Marines to cover it entirely with electrical tape, as enemy snipers have been known to zero in on its glow. The carrying handle also contains the gun's Lithium battery; providing power for motor mechanism it is good for 10,000 rounds before requiring recharge from a rifle rack or portable power pack.

Development

The M41A Pulse Rifle was designed by retired USCM Corporal Jonathan LaForce as part of the Marine 70 Program, established to procure a replacement for the Corps' then-standard issue weapon, the Harrington Assault Rifle. LaForce used the Harrington as a starting point in his design, also modelling aspects of the weapon on the revolutionary Weyland Storm Rifle manufactured by Weyland Corp. Despite fierce competition from proposals put forward by major international corporations, LaForce's weapon, the prototype of which was designed and built in his humble home workshop, was selected as a clear winner and officially adopted as the M41 in 2171.
Despite the weapon's exemplary performance in tests, early production models suffered from stoppages caused by substandard 10×24mm Caseless ammunition that initially gave the weapon a miserable reputation, especially following a disastrous incident on LV-832 where Pulse Rifle stoppages cost many Marines their lives. Cases of weapons overheating to the point of ammunition cooking off prematurely inside the chamber or magazine were also reported. In the wake of the controversy, design changes were immediately implemented that included additional cooling vents on the weapon, as well as other improvements. The new version, designated the M41A, has been the standard issue weapon of the Colonial Marine Corps since and has developed an entirely different reputation — one of an exemplary weapon respected both by those who have used it and by those who have faced it.

Variants

M41AE2 Heavy Pulse Rifle

M41A Pulse Rifle MK2

M41A/2 Pulse Rifle

M41E

EM41 Pulse Rifle

M41A2 Pulse Rifle

M41A3 Burst Rifle

BONUS: +1
DAMAGE: 2
RANGE: Long
COMMENT: Armor piercing, full auto, grenade launcher

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Item type

Weapon, Ranged

Manufacturer

ARMAT BATTLEFIELD SYSTEMS

Weight

1

Base Price

$1200