This is the Index of Technical Reports, hope you like it, basically these are a series of imagined technical reports on various aspects of Drakan technology, just to show the flaws with Stirlings imagined tech.
Report on the Holbars T-7A Assault Rifle, Model 1935
http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 43#1411543
DrakaFic: Technical Notes
Moderator: LadyTevar
DrakaFic: Technical Notes
Last edited by Norseman on 2005-01-12 05:05am, edited 1 time in total.
Report on the Holbars T-7A Assault Rifle, Model 1935
Report on the Holbars T-7A Assault Rifle, Model 1935
[Written with some help from MKSheppard]
A preliminary technical analysis by the Army War College in conjunction with Harpers Ferry Armory on the Drakian T-7A Assault Rifle, for US Army Intelligence.
Caliber: 5mm (5x45mm, aluminum case)
Operating System: Gas. Selective Fire (optional 3-round burst)
Weight: 9.7 Ibs.
Length, overall: loaded 42 inches, stock extended 30 inches, stock folded
Feed device: 75 round drum (disintegrating link, factory-packed)
Sights: x4, optical (plus post & aperture emergency fallback)
Muzzle velocity: 3300 f.ps.
Cyclic rate: approximately 650 r.p.m. (variable by adjusting gas port)
Notes: Folding bipod; barrel and all parts exposed to gas-wash are chrome-plated. Drum is ridged glass-reinforced plastic with transparent rear face.
Design history: This design history is in the main adapted directly from Drakian sources, where applicable, our comments are noted in bold.
As a result of the failed Janissary uprisings of 1917 and the general nature of the new opposition, the Dominate General Staff ordered a Small Arms Review, with the aim of providing Citizen forces with a superior weapon capable of defeating mass numbers of lesser-armed adversaries. The Draka seem strangely schizophrenic here, both very confident in their abilities to control the masses but also paranoid about their rebellion. Similar to planters views on blacks pre-ACW. Sven Hollbars of the Alexandria Technological Institute was appointed to head the review.
The first fruits of the Review was the refinement and ultimate perfection of the failed T-5 Self Loading Rifle into the reliable and powerful T-6 Self Loading Rifle, using the existing 7.5x60mm cartridge of the T-4/T-5 line in 1924.
However, this was far from perfect, as Mr. Hollbars noted that the existing 7.5x60mm cartridge had been designed in the 1890s when the threat of enemy cavalry was still strong, and the infantry rifle had to be capable of dismounting a horsed rider by disabling the horse itself.
If the cartridge could be designed for killing a human being, rather than a horse, great savings in weight and vast increases in efficiency could be realized.
From 1924 to 1928, with the assistance of Kurenwohr Combine, the Review conducted extensive tests into wounding properties of various bullet/cartridge combinations. In all, 100 different designs were tested, with a total expenditure of 3,000 degraded serfs. These serfs were, contrary to rumour, not crippled and old serfs dragged off a plantation, some were crippled but all of them were "problem" serfs. There is a possibility however that the project suffered from lack of testing against a more vigorous target.
The round that was found to have the most efficiency in terms of wounding action per round of ammunition was a new 5x45mm cartridge which displayed excellent wounding characteristics due to it tumbling through the target. Incidentally it also have a very satisfactory effect if it hits bone.
At this point, Senior Merarch K. Whitney objected to the new cartridge, on the basis that Janissary units armed with the older T-4 rifles firing the old 7.5x60mm cartridge could outrange Citizen units armed with a hypothetical rifle firing the new round.
To allay Senior Merarch K. Whitney's concerns, the Review from 1928 to 1930 conducted an extensive review of combat actions in the Great War and concluded that the average range of infantry combat had decreased, even in open desert country, and since all major combatants had adopted the Drakian/German system of dispersed infiltration tactics, the full-power cartridge was now superfluous at ranges within 800 meters (874 yards), and that 90% of all infantry engagements were at that range or less. Actually effective range of engagement is usually approx. 400 yards or less, and has been so since the invention of rifled firearms.
Beyond that range, crew-served weapons were more effective. Beyond 874 yards, not even heavy machine guns are all that effective, in general, at this range either artillery or snipers are deployed.
It was at this time, that Mr. Hollbars realized that the new cartridge design made a true select fire rifle possible, something that was not possible with the venerable 7.5x60mm, which caused a weapon light enough to be useful to be uncontrollable in full-automatic mode, and the barrel to overheat disastrously. A fact which has not caused us to replace the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, or prevented the Germans from making a fully serviceable fully automatic rifle, the Fallschirmjagergevehr 40 (or FG-40), though this too is used primarily in single shot or burst mode.
The Review therefore decided to "reinvent the wheel" (a consistent problem with the Drakan design process) and design a new weapon from the ground up. Results from further experiments with degraded serfs revealed the fact that maximum wounding capability came from when the target was struck with multiple rounds in a short time, leading to the design requirement of a cyclic rate of over 650 rpm. This that does indeed mean "If the target is hit more often it is hurt worse" however this approach has some problems.
This in turn led to fighting within the Review board over how much ammunition the rifle would need; some members of the Review board preferred a 30 round capacity, while others preferred a much larger capacity, to reduce time spent reloading. In the end the large capacity advocates won out, by pointing to the design goal of producing a weapon capable of defeating large masses of lesser armed enemies, and the magazine capacity of the hypothetical T-7 was fixed at 75 rounds between reloads.
Once that had been settled, the Review board considered magazine technologies. As conventional box magazines became unreliable and bulky over 40 rounds, a drum magazine was considered for a brief time, before the weapon was ordered to use a belt feed so that it could be used in a pinch as a light machine gun.
It was at this point that Cohortarch R. Leeds recommended that a enclosure be provided for the distengrating belt of the new weapon, in light of his difficulties keeping his machine gun belts in the mud of the Ankara front trenches clean.
Senior Merarch E. Young then suggested that the enclosures be pre-packed at the factory, due to his experience of having to laboriously load magazines from ammo crates while under attack from Janissaries in 1917. (see Notes on Ammunition and Notes on Logistics)
Centurion H. Jacobs also suggested that if this enclosure was adopted, that a method of determining how much ammo was left in the enclosure be created, due to it's high capacity. Once more reflecting the Drakan obsession with making individual weapons as perfect as possible.
It was suggested that since the weapon now had a belt feed, and was designed to be used as a light machine gun in a pinch, that a folding bipod be added to the rifle, to improve accuracy when used in that role.
Senior Merarch K. Whitney once again raised the point of long range fire; despite being shown the statistical data gathered from 1928 to 1930, he was adamant on this, and to satisfy his demands, a permanently attached x4 optical sight was added to the requirements for the rifle, with the proviso that it could be removed by standard maintenance tools.
Once more we see the Drakan the obsession with creating the perfect weapon for the individual, rather than what is best for the group, see Notes on the Rifle for further information, along with the weaknesses of such a deployment.
The first prototypes of the T-7 rifle were delivered to the Citizen Forces in 1932, where it was not well recieved, due to it being 3.5 pounds heavier than the rifle it was to replace, the T-6, which weighed in at 9.7 lbs. Not really an unusual occurrence, bolt actions and semi-automatics of regular calibres are tried and tested, but go beyond that and weight tends to add up as it did with the BAR.
Accordingly, a strict weight lightening program was carried out to reduce the weight of the weapon, resulting in aluminium cases being adopted for the new 5mm round, along with aluminium replacing steel as the material that made up the disintegrating links of the ammunition belts for the new weapon. Finally, the metal drum was replaced with a new, experimental, glass-fibre drum, which reduced loaded weight even further.
The second T-7 prototype was sent to the Citizen Forces for evaluation in 1933, and the weapon was widely praised, being slightly lighter than the T-6, and being fully controllable, even when fired from the hip on full automatic. Possibly due to the very low calibre of the rifle, also see Notes on the Rifle.
Production began in 1935 at the Alexandria, Archona, and Constantinople Armouries.
END DRAKAN TECHNICAL DATA
General Service History:
The T-7 (as it was originally called) entered front-line service in April 1936, and was subsequently withdrawn from front-line service a mere year later in March 1937, and replaced in front line service by the T-7B rifle, a derivative of the original design along more conventional lines. Some specialist units such as paratroops and others still use the T-7, now redesignated the T-7A, because of it's close-in firepower advantage, and capability to be used as a LMG in a pinch, as such units will inevitably be fighting outnumbered.
Notes on the Rifle:
The T-7A is in truth a well machined weapon, as opposed to well-designed,
the machining is invariably very fine and the tolerances are quite strict but also incorporate several innovative designs for keeping fine sand out of the system. The bipod system in particular warrants closer examination for use with light machine-guns.
The first obvious problem is the optical sight which, though of generally good quality, brings with it several problems:
1. It can be easily knocked out of alignment.
2. It makes the rifle useless for close range combat.
3. It restricts view making it harder to use against moving targets.
4. The Optical sight requires maintenance tools to be removed, thus it cannot be removed quickly causing a potentially fatal delay.
That said the sight is generally of good quality, and it would be prudent to have a single man in each squad have such a sight if he functions as the designated squad marksman. Indeed such a deployment has recently been adopted by the US Marine Corps.
However to have all the men in a squad carry such a device would be a hindrance rather than a benefit. It is our understanding that in actual practise most Drakan units have all but one or two squad members remove the optical sights during combat assignment.
The rifle is indeed very light weight, but this brings with it the problem of sturdiness, if used as a close combat device or subjected to harsh stress the light metals have a tendency to give with results that can be embarrassing in combat.
Additionally the drum becomes somewhat unwieldy under rapid movement, a similar problem which plagues the M1928 Thompson Sub-Machine Gun in US Army/Navy service. This is in addition to the logistical problems caused by such deployment.
Notes on the Ammunition:
Though the concept of the intermediate round, between a sub-machinegun round and a full chambered rifle round, is interesting it is clear that the Draka took things one step too far.
That said the good points for this round can be summarized thus:
1. It is light weight, much more so than any other round in our arsenal.
2. It tumbles when it hits a human being creating an effect similar to a dum-dum bullet under ideal conditions.
3. If it hits a bone it creates a large amounts of very sharp fragments, and also shatters the bone, both far in excess to the same effect caused by any other round.
4. Each round easily meets premium quality in terms of ammunition packing, and fits tightly with the rifle.
First the obvious problem is that the 5mm round is primarily designed towards speed and penetration, although it does create wounds they lack the stopping power of heavier calibres. This creates problems at both long and short range.
At long range though they will kill a man through a headshot (not withstanding the story of a Soviet Georgian Major who survived being hit in the head by one at extreme range) or direct hit to the vitals it is unlikely that they will kill a man with one shot. This of course means that he will live long enough to get of one or more shots at you, which is an obvious problem.
At short range, especially against multiple opponents, the only way to get a guaranteed kill is to fire multiple bursts at the same foe, especially when firing from the hip. However a sufficiently fanatical adversary has been known to take multiple bursts from a T-7A and still advance to melee range.
It should be noted that we encountered the same problem with the Moro rebels in the Philippines our .38 revolvers, and the few 9mm pistols, were unable to stop an Amok Moro tribesman, and thus the .45ACP was adopted. The Draka had a similar lesson the mountains of Afghanistan, Persia and Turkey. However the reasons for adopting low calibre pistols and revolvers were much like the reasons the Draka used in adopting the T-7A, they simply took it one step further, a problem exacerbated by the unitary nature of Drakan procurement as opposed to competing companies in the west; or competing design bureaus in the Soviet Union.
Another problem, which perhaps belongs in the Notes on the Rifle section, is of course the aluminium ammunition. Aside from logistical issues best addressed elsewhere (see Notes on Logistics) there are three basic issues:
The brass ammunition used by virtually every single country in the world has the advantage of being relatively cheap (see Notes on Logistics), able to take the pressure of the expanding gas, and able to absorb a considerable amount of the heat from the firing.
First there is the ability to take the pressure from the expanding gas. No doubt many people will think that aluminium is stronger than brass, truth is that though aluminium is stronger in a pound for pound analysis, meaning that an aluminium structure will be larger but lighter than an equivalent brass structure.
However in truth brass is actually quite strong, far more so in an inch for inch measurement than aluminium, additionally brass is far better at dealing with short sharp shocks, like expanding explosive gas, than aluminium. In short the Drakan cartridges, despite being an aluminium alloy, have a tendency to give in ways that a brass cartridge wouldn't with results ranging from embarrassing to fatal.
Second there is heat exchange, it is well known that firing a weapon on full automatic makes it heat up, both from the explosive expansion of the smokeless powder, and from the friction in the barrel. What is not so commonly known is that the ejection of the brass cartridge alleviates a lot of this heating. For instance if you grab a recently fired brass cartridge case you will feel that it is quite warm, this means that the heat invested into this cartridge did not go into heating up the weapon.
Aluminium however, being a light metal, has far worse heat conductive qualities, though it is quick to heat you will notice that aluminium objects also cool off far quicker. In short a weapon firing such a cartridge would heat up much faster than a weapon firing brass cartridges. Given the need for burst firing with the T-7A this would be a serious problem in this weapon.
Additionally the Drakan habit of factory pre-packing the ammunition drums has a significant problem, it removes any and all logistical advantage provided by the aluminium cartridges and the small calibre of the round due to the weight and size of the drum.
It has incidentally also come to our attention that many troops will smash the drum and use the disintegrating link ammunition directly, thereby conserving weight and making the weapon more manageable.
Notes on Logistics:
The T-7A has several severe logistics problems, though the concept of a light weight bullet would ordinarily benefit logistics the complete rifle system is such that this advantage is thrown away.
To begin with the Optical Sights they are expensive and require skilled machinists to make, in short they require the sort of resources that the Domination is least of all able to provide. In addition providing one with every single rifle is an immense waste since the bulk of the soldiers will neither need nor want one. Despite this the Drakan cult of the perfect weapon, embodied in their entire attitude more or less forces them to do so. The Domination seem to spend more resources on making a weapon or a soldier individually formidable, even the Janissaries, than it does on making them effective in bulk.
Then there is the aluminium cases, in addition to the other problems caused by the use of aluminium the way aluminium cartridges "give" when fired means that they are quite impossible to reload and must be recycled.
Additionally the aluminium is a strategic resource, and despite the Drakan domination, no pun intended, of the manganese market and their extensive hydroelectric power making and handling aluminium remains complicated.
Regarding the good quality of the ammunition, it seems likely that paratroopers get exceptionally high quality ammunition, and given what we know of American and Allied ammunition plants making such good quality ammunition is expensive. In short it is not clear how long the Draka could mass produce this level of quality for all its units, nor how long the stockpiles could last. However this will cause logistical snags.
The conical drum however is the main problem a 75 round drum with a disintegrating aluminium link (once more wasting a strategic material), which is factory factory-packed. The habit of factory packing their ammunition drums is perhaps the most wasteful procedure known to any major army, it is of course very effective and convenient in situations where logistics is not a major issue, like brushfire wars. However in major battles this adds a massive extra burden on the logistics service, completely removing any benefit from the smaller round.
Aside from the issue of added logistical burden there is the issue of the drum itself it uses aluminium for the feed lips of the drum, and the new glass-fibre resin for the box itself; the rear face was made semitransparent, so that the soldier could see at a glance how many rounds were left.
This mechanism though light weight and strong suffers from the problem of fracturing if subjected to a short sharp shock, unlike metal which simply dents. Additionally it is of course very expensive to make, and it would seem that it makes more sense to teach your troops to keep track of how much ammunition they have spent than it is to make a transparent rear face.
However the main issue to logistics, and to the manufacturing of the Draka, the fact that this drum is factory packed and cannot effective be reloaded in the fields lead you to one sad fact: It is de facto disposable, we have countless samples of this drum, which is exceedingly expensive, because once spent troops will invariably simply throw it away.
Conclusion:
Though it has a few good ideas the conclusion must be that the T-7A is under powered, over-engineered, difficult to
maintain, excessively expensive, and imposes a nightmarish strain on logistics.
Signed
Col. Richard Haynes
Maj. George Potter
[Written with some help from MKSheppard]
A preliminary technical analysis by the Army War College in conjunction with Harpers Ferry Armory on the Drakian T-7A Assault Rifle, for US Army Intelligence.
Caliber: 5mm (5x45mm, aluminum case)
Operating System: Gas. Selective Fire (optional 3-round burst)
Weight: 9.7 Ibs.
Length, overall: loaded 42 inches, stock extended 30 inches, stock folded
Feed device: 75 round drum (disintegrating link, factory-packed)
Sights: x4, optical (plus post & aperture emergency fallback)
Muzzle velocity: 3300 f.ps.
Cyclic rate: approximately 650 r.p.m. (variable by adjusting gas port)
Notes: Folding bipod; barrel and all parts exposed to gas-wash are chrome-plated. Drum is ridged glass-reinforced plastic with transparent rear face.
Design history: This design history is in the main adapted directly from Drakian sources, where applicable, our comments are noted in bold.
As a result of the failed Janissary uprisings of 1917 and the general nature of the new opposition, the Dominate General Staff ordered a Small Arms Review, with the aim of providing Citizen forces with a superior weapon capable of defeating mass numbers of lesser-armed adversaries. The Draka seem strangely schizophrenic here, both very confident in their abilities to control the masses but also paranoid about their rebellion. Similar to planters views on blacks pre-ACW. Sven Hollbars of the Alexandria Technological Institute was appointed to head the review.
The first fruits of the Review was the refinement and ultimate perfection of the failed T-5 Self Loading Rifle into the reliable and powerful T-6 Self Loading Rifle, using the existing 7.5x60mm cartridge of the T-4/T-5 line in 1924.
However, this was far from perfect, as Mr. Hollbars noted that the existing 7.5x60mm cartridge had been designed in the 1890s when the threat of enemy cavalry was still strong, and the infantry rifle had to be capable of dismounting a horsed rider by disabling the horse itself.
If the cartridge could be designed for killing a human being, rather than a horse, great savings in weight and vast increases in efficiency could be realized.
From 1924 to 1928, with the assistance of Kurenwohr Combine, the Review conducted extensive tests into wounding properties of various bullet/cartridge combinations. In all, 100 different designs were tested, with a total expenditure of 3,000 degraded serfs. These serfs were, contrary to rumour, not crippled and old serfs dragged off a plantation, some were crippled but all of them were "problem" serfs. There is a possibility however that the project suffered from lack of testing against a more vigorous target.
The round that was found to have the most efficiency in terms of wounding action per round of ammunition was a new 5x45mm cartridge which displayed excellent wounding characteristics due to it tumbling through the target. Incidentally it also have a very satisfactory effect if it hits bone.
At this point, Senior Merarch K. Whitney objected to the new cartridge, on the basis that Janissary units armed with the older T-4 rifles firing the old 7.5x60mm cartridge could outrange Citizen units armed with a hypothetical rifle firing the new round.
To allay Senior Merarch K. Whitney's concerns, the Review from 1928 to 1930 conducted an extensive review of combat actions in the Great War and concluded that the average range of infantry combat had decreased, even in open desert country, and since all major combatants had adopted the Drakian/German system of dispersed infiltration tactics, the full-power cartridge was now superfluous at ranges within 800 meters (874 yards), and that 90% of all infantry engagements were at that range or less. Actually effective range of engagement is usually approx. 400 yards or less, and has been so since the invention of rifled firearms.
Beyond that range, crew-served weapons were more effective. Beyond 874 yards, not even heavy machine guns are all that effective, in general, at this range either artillery or snipers are deployed.
It was at this time, that Mr. Hollbars realized that the new cartridge design made a true select fire rifle possible, something that was not possible with the venerable 7.5x60mm, which caused a weapon light enough to be useful to be uncontrollable in full-automatic mode, and the barrel to overheat disastrously. A fact which has not caused us to replace the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, or prevented the Germans from making a fully serviceable fully automatic rifle, the Fallschirmjagergevehr 40 (or FG-40), though this too is used primarily in single shot or burst mode.
The Review therefore decided to "reinvent the wheel" (a consistent problem with the Drakan design process) and design a new weapon from the ground up. Results from further experiments with degraded serfs revealed the fact that maximum wounding capability came from when the target was struck with multiple rounds in a short time, leading to the design requirement of a cyclic rate of over 650 rpm. This that does indeed mean "If the target is hit more often it is hurt worse" however this approach has some problems.
This in turn led to fighting within the Review board over how much ammunition the rifle would need; some members of the Review board preferred a 30 round capacity, while others preferred a much larger capacity, to reduce time spent reloading. In the end the large capacity advocates won out, by pointing to the design goal of producing a weapon capable of defeating large masses of lesser armed enemies, and the magazine capacity of the hypothetical T-7 was fixed at 75 rounds between reloads.
Once that had been settled, the Review board considered magazine technologies. As conventional box magazines became unreliable and bulky over 40 rounds, a drum magazine was considered for a brief time, before the weapon was ordered to use a belt feed so that it could be used in a pinch as a light machine gun.
It was at this point that Cohortarch R. Leeds recommended that a enclosure be provided for the distengrating belt of the new weapon, in light of his difficulties keeping his machine gun belts in the mud of the Ankara front trenches clean.
Senior Merarch E. Young then suggested that the enclosures be pre-packed at the factory, due to his experience of having to laboriously load magazines from ammo crates while under attack from Janissaries in 1917. (see Notes on Ammunition and Notes on Logistics)
Centurion H. Jacobs also suggested that if this enclosure was adopted, that a method of determining how much ammo was left in the enclosure be created, due to it's high capacity. Once more reflecting the Drakan obsession with making individual weapons as perfect as possible.
It was suggested that since the weapon now had a belt feed, and was designed to be used as a light machine gun in a pinch, that a folding bipod be added to the rifle, to improve accuracy when used in that role.
Senior Merarch K. Whitney once again raised the point of long range fire; despite being shown the statistical data gathered from 1928 to 1930, he was adamant on this, and to satisfy his demands, a permanently attached x4 optical sight was added to the requirements for the rifle, with the proviso that it could be removed by standard maintenance tools.
Once more we see the Drakan the obsession with creating the perfect weapon for the individual, rather than what is best for the group, see Notes on the Rifle for further information, along with the weaknesses of such a deployment.
The first prototypes of the T-7 rifle were delivered to the Citizen Forces in 1932, where it was not well recieved, due to it being 3.5 pounds heavier than the rifle it was to replace, the T-6, which weighed in at 9.7 lbs. Not really an unusual occurrence, bolt actions and semi-automatics of regular calibres are tried and tested, but go beyond that and weight tends to add up as it did with the BAR.
Accordingly, a strict weight lightening program was carried out to reduce the weight of the weapon, resulting in aluminium cases being adopted for the new 5mm round, along with aluminium replacing steel as the material that made up the disintegrating links of the ammunition belts for the new weapon. Finally, the metal drum was replaced with a new, experimental, glass-fibre drum, which reduced loaded weight even further.
The second T-7 prototype was sent to the Citizen Forces for evaluation in 1933, and the weapon was widely praised, being slightly lighter than the T-6, and being fully controllable, even when fired from the hip on full automatic. Possibly due to the very low calibre of the rifle, also see Notes on the Rifle.
Production began in 1935 at the Alexandria, Archona, and Constantinople Armouries.
END DRAKAN TECHNICAL DATA
General Service History:
The T-7 (as it was originally called) entered front-line service in April 1936, and was subsequently withdrawn from front-line service a mere year later in March 1937, and replaced in front line service by the T-7B rifle, a derivative of the original design along more conventional lines. Some specialist units such as paratroops and others still use the T-7, now redesignated the T-7A, because of it's close-in firepower advantage, and capability to be used as a LMG in a pinch, as such units will inevitably be fighting outnumbered.
Notes on the Rifle:
The T-7A is in truth a well machined weapon, as opposed to well-designed,
the machining is invariably very fine and the tolerances are quite strict but also incorporate several innovative designs for keeping fine sand out of the system. The bipod system in particular warrants closer examination for use with light machine-guns.
The first obvious problem is the optical sight which, though of generally good quality, brings with it several problems:
1. It can be easily knocked out of alignment.
2. It makes the rifle useless for close range combat.
3. It restricts view making it harder to use against moving targets.
4. The Optical sight requires maintenance tools to be removed, thus it cannot be removed quickly causing a potentially fatal delay.
That said the sight is generally of good quality, and it would be prudent to have a single man in each squad have such a sight if he functions as the designated squad marksman. Indeed such a deployment has recently been adopted by the US Marine Corps.
However to have all the men in a squad carry such a device would be a hindrance rather than a benefit. It is our understanding that in actual practise most Drakan units have all but one or two squad members remove the optical sights during combat assignment.
The rifle is indeed very light weight, but this brings with it the problem of sturdiness, if used as a close combat device or subjected to harsh stress the light metals have a tendency to give with results that can be embarrassing in combat.
Additionally the drum becomes somewhat unwieldy under rapid movement, a similar problem which plagues the M1928 Thompson Sub-Machine Gun in US Army/Navy service. This is in addition to the logistical problems caused by such deployment.
Notes on the Ammunition:
Though the concept of the intermediate round, between a sub-machinegun round and a full chambered rifle round, is interesting it is clear that the Draka took things one step too far.
That said the good points for this round can be summarized thus:
1. It is light weight, much more so than any other round in our arsenal.
2. It tumbles when it hits a human being creating an effect similar to a dum-dum bullet under ideal conditions.
3. If it hits a bone it creates a large amounts of very sharp fragments, and also shatters the bone, both far in excess to the same effect caused by any other round.
4. Each round easily meets premium quality in terms of ammunition packing, and fits tightly with the rifle.
First the obvious problem is that the 5mm round is primarily designed towards speed and penetration, although it does create wounds they lack the stopping power of heavier calibres. This creates problems at both long and short range.
At long range though they will kill a man through a headshot (not withstanding the story of a Soviet Georgian Major who survived being hit in the head by one at extreme range) or direct hit to the vitals it is unlikely that they will kill a man with one shot. This of course means that he will live long enough to get of one or more shots at you, which is an obvious problem.
At short range, especially against multiple opponents, the only way to get a guaranteed kill is to fire multiple bursts at the same foe, especially when firing from the hip. However a sufficiently fanatical adversary has been known to take multiple bursts from a T-7A and still advance to melee range.
It should be noted that we encountered the same problem with the Moro rebels in the Philippines our .38 revolvers, and the few 9mm pistols, were unable to stop an Amok Moro tribesman, and thus the .45ACP was adopted. The Draka had a similar lesson the mountains of Afghanistan, Persia and Turkey. However the reasons for adopting low calibre pistols and revolvers were much like the reasons the Draka used in adopting the T-7A, they simply took it one step further, a problem exacerbated by the unitary nature of Drakan procurement as opposed to competing companies in the west; or competing design bureaus in the Soviet Union.
Another problem, which perhaps belongs in the Notes on the Rifle section, is of course the aluminium ammunition. Aside from logistical issues best addressed elsewhere (see Notes on Logistics) there are three basic issues:
The brass ammunition used by virtually every single country in the world has the advantage of being relatively cheap (see Notes on Logistics), able to take the pressure of the expanding gas, and able to absorb a considerable amount of the heat from the firing.
First there is the ability to take the pressure from the expanding gas. No doubt many people will think that aluminium is stronger than brass, truth is that though aluminium is stronger in a pound for pound analysis, meaning that an aluminium structure will be larger but lighter than an equivalent brass structure.
However in truth brass is actually quite strong, far more so in an inch for inch measurement than aluminium, additionally brass is far better at dealing with short sharp shocks, like expanding explosive gas, than aluminium. In short the Drakan cartridges, despite being an aluminium alloy, have a tendency to give in ways that a brass cartridge wouldn't with results ranging from embarrassing to fatal.
Second there is heat exchange, it is well known that firing a weapon on full automatic makes it heat up, both from the explosive expansion of the smokeless powder, and from the friction in the barrel. What is not so commonly known is that the ejection of the brass cartridge alleviates a lot of this heating. For instance if you grab a recently fired brass cartridge case you will feel that it is quite warm, this means that the heat invested into this cartridge did not go into heating up the weapon.
Aluminium however, being a light metal, has far worse heat conductive qualities, though it is quick to heat you will notice that aluminium objects also cool off far quicker. In short a weapon firing such a cartridge would heat up much faster than a weapon firing brass cartridges. Given the need for burst firing with the T-7A this would be a serious problem in this weapon.
Additionally the Drakan habit of factory pre-packing the ammunition drums has a significant problem, it removes any and all logistical advantage provided by the aluminium cartridges and the small calibre of the round due to the weight and size of the drum.
It has incidentally also come to our attention that many troops will smash the drum and use the disintegrating link ammunition directly, thereby conserving weight and making the weapon more manageable.
Notes on Logistics:
The T-7A has several severe logistics problems, though the concept of a light weight bullet would ordinarily benefit logistics the complete rifle system is such that this advantage is thrown away.
To begin with the Optical Sights they are expensive and require skilled machinists to make, in short they require the sort of resources that the Domination is least of all able to provide. In addition providing one with every single rifle is an immense waste since the bulk of the soldiers will neither need nor want one. Despite this the Drakan cult of the perfect weapon, embodied in their entire attitude more or less forces them to do so. The Domination seem to spend more resources on making a weapon or a soldier individually formidable, even the Janissaries, than it does on making them effective in bulk.
Then there is the aluminium cases, in addition to the other problems caused by the use of aluminium the way aluminium cartridges "give" when fired means that they are quite impossible to reload and must be recycled.
Additionally the aluminium is a strategic resource, and despite the Drakan domination, no pun intended, of the manganese market and their extensive hydroelectric power making and handling aluminium remains complicated.
Regarding the good quality of the ammunition, it seems likely that paratroopers get exceptionally high quality ammunition, and given what we know of American and Allied ammunition plants making such good quality ammunition is expensive. In short it is not clear how long the Draka could mass produce this level of quality for all its units, nor how long the stockpiles could last. However this will cause logistical snags.
The conical drum however is the main problem a 75 round drum with a disintegrating aluminium link (once more wasting a strategic material), which is factory factory-packed. The habit of factory packing their ammunition drums is perhaps the most wasteful procedure known to any major army, it is of course very effective and convenient in situations where logistics is not a major issue, like brushfire wars. However in major battles this adds a massive extra burden on the logistics service, completely removing any benefit from the smaller round.
Aside from the issue of added logistical burden there is the issue of the drum itself it uses aluminium for the feed lips of the drum, and the new glass-fibre resin for the box itself; the rear face was made semitransparent, so that the soldier could see at a glance how many rounds were left.
This mechanism though light weight and strong suffers from the problem of fracturing if subjected to a short sharp shock, unlike metal which simply dents. Additionally it is of course very expensive to make, and it would seem that it makes more sense to teach your troops to keep track of how much ammunition they have spent than it is to make a transparent rear face.
However the main issue to logistics, and to the manufacturing of the Draka, the fact that this drum is factory packed and cannot effective be reloaded in the fields lead you to one sad fact: It is de facto disposable, we have countless samples of this drum, which is exceedingly expensive, because once spent troops will invariably simply throw it away.
Conclusion:
Though it has a few good ideas the conclusion must be that the T-7A is under powered, over-engineered, difficult to
maintain, excessively expensive, and imposes a nightmarish strain on logistics.
Signed
Col. Richard Haynes
Maj. George Potter