With requirements created, a tender has been sent out, with requests for immediate reply. Six responses came within the week, from five teams at four companies and a state arsenal.
A handful of rifles were sketched out on napkins, all very serious, just with various levels of sanity involved, and could realistically be produced as prototypes within the week.
Abram Topani introduced a proposal for a long recoil, bolt action system that while single shot, uses a piece of metal to allow for a semi-automatic breech. It is expected to weigh 20kg, and has a 1.35m long barrel on an overall length of 2.02m. The design calls for a barrel and breech assembly to recoil in a separate pathway, while the trigger assembly, rear sight, stock, camming surface and bipod are mounted on a stout frame under and around the action. While the rifle does not fit on the sled mount for the Holborn-Arbatescu, it will mount on pintle mounts, some turrets and a Topani tripod. Flash suppression is provided by a suppressor designed by Topani, with a scale model made out of a soup can and a papier-mâché tube standing in for a barrel.
The Baal team built a long recoil action rifle, the "Baal RG14.5" derived from their pistol. It weighs 23kg empty, and is a semi-automatic action, firing from an open bolt. Having listened finally to someone, the design does not eject straight back and uses a new concept they call "constant recoil," to make the weapon less punishing to fire (through the use of a number of heavy springs to provide progressive deceleration to the barrel and bolt.) It has a magazine capacity of five rounds from a detachable box magazine, theoretically fits in a Holborn-Arbatescu sled mount (provided one detaches and then reattaches a combined flash hider/"air brake",) and can be fitted with adapters to use other existing tripods. Barrel length is 120cm and overall length is 2.2m.
Gunsmithing Apprentices Matei Arbatescu (yes, the eldest Arbatescu boy) and Herschel Rivkes from the Joachimsthal Arsenal designed a rather complex if ingenious design of bolt action rifle. While it is single shot, it uses a rotating barrel extension to lock, and uses a monolithic bolt, with a fairly stout mainspring behind it to soak up some of the recoil. It is the most compact rifle design, as the action only recoils on a hydrospring buffer about 60mm. The bolt handle is the pistol grip and trigger assembly to further reduce the amount of space required. It weighs only 17kg with the specified stout bipod (mounted on an extension of the stock, which also hosts the rear sight,) and 14kg without. It can easily fit on an M.853 sled, through the use of an adapter replacing the bipod. Barrel length is 120cm, overall length is 1.5m. The flash hider is also something Arbatescu and Rivkes called a muzzle brake (designed by Rivkes,) and is purported to work like a muzzle booster in reverse. The provided example is a block of wood with a number of holes drilled in it facing angled slightly backwards.
The machine guns were a bit more complicated, and will of course take longer to actually produce (maybe a month for some,) but should provide excellent results in multiple roles.
Mrs. Arbatescu sent in plans for an aircooled version of the Holborn-Arbatescu scaled up to 14.5mm with some action modifications derived from the Handel Maschinengewehr family, and at this stage fires from an open bolt. It fires from a belt, and weighs 51kg without a tripod. Barrel length is 135cm, overall length is 2m, and the anticipated maximum rate of fire is 600rpm, although for anti-ground use that likely be reduced to 400rpm. An adapter has already been designed to make it fit an M.853 sled mount or machine gun ports on existing armored vehicles, but a special simple tripod or artillery carriage can also be designed to make transportation and deployment easier.
The Baal team built a long recoil action machine gun the "Baal SMG14.5" derived from their pistol, and mostly identical to their rifle. It weighs 28kg empty, and is fully automatic or semi-automatic, firing from an open bolt up to 240 rounds per minute. Having listened finally to someone, the design does not eject straight back and uses a new concept they call "constant recoil," to make the weapon less punishing to fire (through the use of a number of heavy springs and a hydraulic buffer to provide progressive deceleration to the barrel and bolt.) It has a magazine capacity of twenty rounds from a detachable box magazine, theoretically fits in a Holborn-Arbatescu sled mount (provided one detaches and then reattaches a combined flash hider/"air brake",) and can be fitted with adapters to use other existing tripods. Barrel length is 120cm and overall length is 2.2m. Cooling is improved over the basic Baal RG14.5 through the use of an aluminum barrel radiator and holes cut in the receiver tube to allow better ventilation
Dr. Hoel Frankengatsch is proposing a 14.5mm version of the Frankengatsch Leichtes Maschinengewehr. It is again a long stroke gas-piston operated rotating bolt weapon firing from an open bolt. It has a fifteen round box magazine indexed by the action, and uses a cast aluminum radiator inside a shroud/flash hider to cool the action, necessitated to fire for any length of time thanks to its maximum 350rpm cyclic rate. The Frankengatsch is of roughly middling weight at 33.8kg and is 1.6m long with a 110cm barrel. Otherwise descended from the Frankengatsch Leichtes Maschinengewehr, the action is reasonably complex with an adjustable gas regulator among other things, mostly derived from the current production model. A bipod is possibly mounted to the action allowing for ground firing, although it is better fired from a vehicle or fixed mount. Attachment to an M.853 sled would require removing the mounting ring from the sled to mount a specialized adapter, but should fit easily in all other existing mounts.
With six total weapons, it might be advisable to downselect in at least one category before handing a selection over to the testing team, but this is not a necessity.
(This will again be vote by plan.)