An early Light Assault Gun?

[Brandon C]

The Inkunzi PAW is a semi-automatic rifle that has a lot of similarities to the TL8 LAG. Length is 850mm, unloaded weight 6 kg, and fires from a 6 round drum. The most important difference is muzzle velocity, at 310 m/s. Ammo includes HEI, SAPHE, AP, and training. The AP is not very effective (6mm penetration), but the design of the training round actually has it function as a hollow point round (if someone tried it).

A detailed video on the gun:

http://www.forgottenweapons.com/inkunzi-paw-aka-neopup-20mm-direct-fire-grenade-launcher/

 

[kilemall]

I always looked at the LAG as a hightech Boys ATR, or maybe a Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle with advanced ammo.


Playing around with it in CT/Striker (Striker I?), home rules are that there is a ACR LAG and a Gauss LAG, with penetration equal to TL (Boys ATR Pen 6, ACR Pen 10, Gauss Pen 12). Still useful as a sniper weapon or light material killer and cheaper then the higher tech laser rifle.


The HE round business I see as more of a tacking on an unarmored target sort of round and a narrow window of use given most troops are going to get armored in an increasingly lethal TL enviornment. HE on a LAG or up would be more for engaging low tech forces as a merc.


And of course probably no such thing as a gauss needle big enough to go boom.

 

[Brandon C]

I always looked at the LAG as a hightech Boys ATR, or maybe a Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle with advanced ammo.

Both of those are much heavier and longer than a LAG. A M82 is 1200mm long and 13.5kg. The LAG, only one TL higher, is 900mm and 4kg.

And of course probably no such thing as a gauss needle big enough to go boom.

A needle? No, but you could fire a larger diameter warhead at lower velocity.

 

[Timerover51]

The following is the description of the Light Assault Gun from Book 4: Mercenary.

Light Assault Gun (LAG): Eaentrarly a heavy rifle, the LAG fires a 20 mm. 30 gram bullet at weloctles of 400 to 5oo meters per second.

Now, 30 grams is a fraction over an ounce, 1.0582189 ounces to be more precise, so about the weight and size of a 12-gauge shotgun slug. The velocity of 400 to 500 meters per second equates to 1,312 to 1,640 feet per second, or again in the velocity range of a 12 gauge shotgun. An explosive round of that size is going to have very little fragmentation effect, but would be quite fatal if it detonated inside of a person's body. The 12 gauge Paradox gun, with the final 12 inches or so of the shotgun barrel rifled, fired a 750 grain/49 gram solid lead slug at around 1300 feet per second. Twelve gauge shotgun loads typically weight more than 1 ounce of pellets per round.

Since the weapon weights 4000 grams, or about 8.8 pounds, I would not even call it a heavy rifle. While heavier than the M-16, it would be lighter than the M-1 Garand or M-14, and on par with the 1903 Springfield.

Basically, it is a 12 gauge shotgun firing an explosive round of very limited fragmentation effect. At for Tech Level, explosive bullets for the .58 caliber Springfield rifled-musket were used in the U.S. Civil War, albeit in a single-shot muzzle-loader. However, a semi-automatic 12 gauge shotgun was developed by John Browning in the early 1900s and was marketed by Browning Firearms in 1905, with a 5 shot magazine. Basically, this is a Tech Level 5, and maybe even a Tech Level 4 weapon.

 

[BlackBat242]

Or just the exploding ammo in this weapon (it actually works pretty well):
https://srmarms.com/firearms/

https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/16-round-revolving-shotgun-srm-arms-model-1216-full-review/

OK, its a combat semi-auto shotgun, not a LAG.

 

[kilemall]

Hmm, I'm looking at the Striker version not the LBB4 one, and it has an HE, KEAP and Flechette round.


The flechette is geared towards killing a no-armor group, HE good for doing in a low armor single target, and the KEAP towards the heavy personal armor/material target.


Presents a bit of a different feel then the LBB4/CT resolution.


And who cares what the TL6 ATR is, LAG doesn't have to have the same form factor, it's higher tech.


Certainly could be a TL12 LAG, I just don't see the point of making a big fat gauss round but a cheaper gauss CA penetrator does have a role, and plenty of RAM GL to fill the anti-personnel round role.

 

[mike wightman]

Hmm, I'm looking at the Striker version not the LBB4 one, and it has an HE, KEAP and Flechette round.

LBB:4 DS round = Striker KEAP

 

[kilemall]

LBB:4 DS round = Striker KEAP

Functionally yes- results wise, I'd say the LBB4 DS round is much more powerful. More a function of higher tech CA/BD armor getting a higher rating then CT BD.



But neither CT or LBB4 dealt with effects of weapons on vehicle/material targets, so there is that advantage to the Striker version, plus a TL8 heavy rifle shouldn't be a major BD killer. Unless you like hightech Zulu Dawn surprises for your players.


So I guess the Striker quantification of relatively thin armor penetration got me visualizing the weapon role differently then what LBB4 conveys.

 

[Brandon C]

So I guess the Striker quantification of relatively thin armor penetration got me visualizing the weapon role differently then what LBB4 conveys.

As you pointed out, Striker battledress has significantly better protection than CT battledress. However, as I never owned Striker, I've never had an issue with battldress -- what is listed in Book 1, 3, and 4 is the definitive version for RPG purposes, as far as I'm concerned. I view Striker as rules for a skirmish-level wargame and subservient to the RPG rules.

 

[jec10]

Ken Pick did a few variants of the LAG in his expansion of the slug thrower collection, including a TL6 13mm AT rifle, a TL10 LAG and a TL13 Gauss LAG.

https://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/rules/tech/advslug.html

 

[Straybow]

Where can I get one?