A couple of months after the orders for prototypes were sent out, all of them had arrived to start testing, and were then quickly handed off to the grim faced men of the testing range. In between, you had mostly been assisting in other projects at the arsenal, along with the rest of the members who didn't have better things to do (like Cayetano, who was currently studying for his captain's exam while helping out on landing craft projects, and Kelinky Wekiva who was on a brief speaking tour championing a number of women's issues.)
In general two things were observed by the testing team in this competition. Most of the entrants are relatively mature reliable designs, and that fully automatic rifle fire from the shoulder is generally going to create a mess with a minimum dispersion of about 8 MOA.
As an adjunct for prices, the current production price of a Elta rifle is ₢240.50, while a medium machine gun runs about ₢3480, and a good car suitable for transporting a patriotic family of five runs about the same price. As a further point of comparision a new made Kubachi Arbatescu hunting rifle retails for about ₢200, depending on manufacturer and features.
GHR submitted two different versions of their base design, the original fixed magazine model and a detachable box magazine model. The two performed very differently in testing, as the fixed magazine fed more reliably, reloaded from clips easier, and was in general one of the best rifles of the competition for precision with very few feeding issues, shooting two MOA. The fixed magazine model had the fewest parts groups when field stripped, the smallest of which is a keyed pin about the length of a pinky and was exceptionally easy to clean and field strip. The detachable model was distinctly subpar at best, with a weak magazine catch and a significantly more complicated disassembly and higher price per unit because of the added complexity to the trigger group and floorplate to insure adequate strength when the magazine was out, and shot 3.25 MOA. While the Fixed Magazine GHR handled debris ingress well, mud and dust did find its way up the magazine well on the detachable model. As neither model is fully automatic, they were not tested in full auto. Both handled overpressure ammunition and grenade launching well, bleeding off some gas to reduce over-acceleration of the bolt carrier and keeping the action within safe limits. Ergonomically the commission was proved correct, and aside from perhaps needing some changes to the feed ramp and making the sights more familiar to Kubachi troops, the GHR fixed magazine model is easily production ready as is. The removable magazine model needs significant work, especially the finicky magazine release. Estimated cost, ₢480 fixed magazine, ₢585 detachable + ₢40/10rd magazine.
The prototype Rivkes-TMT rifles were provided with a handful of handmade ten and twenty round magazines and did also include a proper grenade launching adapter. True to their word, the design is down to 3.5kg. The action proved reliable, and relatively accurate, shooting three MOA on semi-auto. The short stroke piston (more of a tappet really, given the incredibly short travel involved) reliably prevented over-acceleration of the bolt carrier and had a blow off valve for over-gassing, meaning that the rifle could just handle over pressure ammunition and grenade launching without worry. The dust cover keeps it incredibly well sealed in operation, although it does need a bolt hold open indicator as a result (or you know, just locking the dust cover open as well.) Feeding rounds into a box magazine from clips was entirely practical and reliable, although not ideal. The sights were an adjusted Elta ladder and a hooded front post, and again while familiar not the best. The two stage trigger is crisp, and feels natural after about a thousand rounds. Despite its light weight, the gun was mostly controllable for brief stints on full auto although longer bursts would cause it to climb dramatically, and with practice it was pretty easy to jump between single shots and short bursts with a cyclic rate of about 400 rpm, and in short bursts the gun did not have a chance to overheat. Overheating was however achieved on one prototype after firing it for about a hundred rounds, or a good twenty minutes including magazine changes. A test of the gas system on corrosive ammo was considered and carried out, destroying a prototype in the process. There are some signs of tampering to make the results worse, but Gott and Caine want to ignore it, (probably because they're hellbent on getting non-corrosive ammo and lying to Congress and the Admiralty is the best way to do it in their minds.) Estimated cost, ₢640 + ₢8/20rd magazine or ₢6/10rd magazine
Lindor Holl actually delivered a pair of decent prototypes. They look much more sensible, and have shed almost full kilogram from the previous model on the fixed stock version now 4.8kg, and a "carbine" version was fitted with a folding wire stock cutting out a further 200g. This retained the bipod and bottle opener, and the full sights stayed on this time. The testers found the action safe on overpressure ammo, although it did have some issues with stuck cases and case head tearing that could probably be fixed with some work on the tight chamber or just lubrication of the ammo, as brushing the ammo with penetrating lubricant apparently solved the problem, although it couldn't be done for more than one magazine at a time because of evaporation (also because the lubrication made loading a magazine more difficult given the not great loading tool.) Not being able to top up magazines was unpopular with the testers, but also made it the best sealed rifle in the competition. It was one of the best shooters as well, hitting 2.5 MOA on semi-auto despite the shorter barrel, and was a capable substitute for a light machine gun with the bipod down, although it was borderline uncontrollable in full auto from the shoulder. In full auto it managed about two magazines between stoppages and didn't manage to overheat as a result. The selector/safety lever was simple and easy to read, the trigger crisp with a clean take up, and the magazine release well positioned. Estimated cost, ₢880 + ₢6/20rd magazine or ₢5/10rd magazine.
Fung's entry is incredibly simple compared to the rest. Direct impingement is cheap, simple and effective. It also requires slightly more cleaning than the other versions because of carbon fouling in the action, but this also allows the gun to blow some mud and debris that somehow manages to make it into the action (from loading or other sources) back out. The long sight radius and comparatively heavy barrel allow for accuracy of about 2.4 MOA, helped by the incredibly fine adjustments the sights allow. Worksmanship is good, and aside from the magazine catch actually being hard to work from a firing position has only a few minor drawbacks, namely on occasion a ruptured case or overpressure round will vent hot gas in the shooter's direction. Grenade launching is solved mostly by flicking a switch on the gas block to turn the rifle into a straight pull bypassing the possible issue of overaccelerating the bolt (incidentally, not turning off the gas system can also result in gas venting.) Corrosive ammo is an obvious non-starter in a DI weapon as corrosive salts would be spread throughout the action. Also included as accessories aside from the spigot adapter and bayonet are a shooting sling, and a separate cleaning kit as Fung didn't put one in the stock, instead hiding a two piece clearing rod in there. Estimated cost, ₢540 detachable + ₢20/magazine.
Tyee Arms' rifle is certainly something in full auto. It's more complex and harder to clean than the Fung and the GHR, but offers a relatively middle of the road approach compared to the Holl, Frankengatsch and Rivkes-TMT. The short stroke piston and tilting bolt action don't handle debris as well as the Fung, but the action is easier to load from a magazine while being about as difficult to load from stripper clips as anything else in the competition. It shot below par, at about 3.5MOA on semi-auto, and on full auto shot out its rifling after about 250 rounds, and got extremely hot, suffering cook-offs after fifty rounds. The adjustable gas system was more easily varied than the other entrants and helped keep the gun running longer between cleanings (and can be cranked down all the way to keep the gun in semi-auto when launching grenades.) However, it also would not tolerate corrosively primed ammunition, as was demonstrated on the shot-out rifle. The gun was neither controllable nor accurate on full auto, but the selector was well designed to keep the user from accidentally selecting it. Otherwise, the action locks open on an empty magazine like the rest and was roughly about average for stoppages and malfunctions. Estimated cost, ₢610 detachable + ₢15/magazine.
The Frankengatsch is a great performer. Mostly. If it weren't so complex. Because of the various quirks of its action it is surprisingly controllable in pretty much all circumstances. However, it shoots 3 MOA semi-auto and 5 MOA for short bursts from the shoulder (where the reciprocation of the action would move the shooter just a bit even if the recoil was well controlled. The gas block is relatively fiddly and is best adjusted by an armorer unless you're just flicking the switch to toggle between rifle grenades and regular ammunition. The gun in general is a pain to disassemble even if the pins are all captive, with a large number of parts, and some of the parts groups being small, aside from the piston/op-rod/bolt carrier/bolt group which was massive, complex, and sturdy enough to beat a man with. Ergonomically, the gun is awkward to fire from the shoulder if you aren't used to the short handguard, and the side mounted magazine. The muzzle device/grenade launcher spigot is a combination of three different things and is mostly not great at them, although it does work admirably as a flash hider and compensator while preventing the gun from kicking up dirt while fired from the bipod. The Bayonet is uniquely bad, being a cruciform rod in a sleeve off on the side which you turn around to mount and is all of 20cm long. However, in use, the gun was competing with the GHR and Fung to be the most reliable rifle in almost every condition thrown at it, it could tolerate corrosive ammunition, and had very strong and consistent extraction. On full auto it could go for about four hundred rounds between stoppages, although most were misfeeds that were moderately annoying to clear, and the gun was accurate and controllable from the bipod, even when launching rifle grenades. The sights are clear and accurate, and when upright still prove to be pretty resilient to damage. The fire selector is a simple three position affair, and is within easy reach, as is the non-reciprocating charging handle (unique among the entrants.) The magazine catch is on the back of the magazine and is part of a rock and lock system to speed loading and shorten the magazine well as it does jut out a good 3cm already. Which is maybe not for the best as the rifle wants to roll about twenty degrees towards the magazine when fully loaded and without someone adjusting. Estimated cost, ₢1760 detachable + ₢20/magazine.
With initial testing of prototypes done, you can select which rifles will continue on to field trials for possible adoption, or to continue testing after sending notes back to designers asking for specific improvements for the next round of testing.
