Olesunn Rifle

Olesunn Rifle
Olesunn Rifle, Model 1891
Type	Service Rifle
Place of origin	Ottonia North Ottonia
Service history
In service	Ottonia (1891 - present) South Ottonia (1917 - 1960) Uluujol (1894 - 1951) Elatia (1895-present)
Used by	Ottonian Federal Army Ottonian Federal Defense Service, Ottonian Federal Guard Ottonian Royal Army Great Ochranic Army Elatian Army
Wars	Bluwaald Revolts Ottonian Civil War Great Ottonian War Ottonian Revolution First Elatian-Enyaman War Second Belfrasian-Elatian War
Production history
Designer	Wendel Olesunn
Designed	1885 - 1930 (intermittant)
Manufacturer	Torsfeld Arsenal, Corvyk Arsenal, St. Theodur Armory, Svaartaron Gun Foundry, Elatian State Arms
Produced	1891 - Present
No. built	approx. 80,000,000 (all models)
Variants	Various carbine, designated marksman, sniper configurations; one anti-vehicle variant.
Specifications
Weight	Varies; ranges between 3.8 and 4.1 kg
Length	940 mm (1912 Carbine) to 1220 mm (1900 Rifle)
Cartridge	7x57 mm (1891 - 1899) 7.92x57 mm (1905 - present) 7.92x50 mm (1952 - present) 6.5x50mm (for Untsangasar) 7.7x58mm (for Untsangasar) 7.65x53mm (for Elatia) 9.5x75mm (anti-vehicle variant only)
Action	Bolt-Action, Rotating Bolt
Rate of fire	Repeating, approx. 15 rounds/minute
Muzzle velocity	Approx. 700 m/s
Effective firing range	500m (with Iron Sights, 1912)
Maximum firing range	1000m (with telescopic sights)
Feed system	5-round internal box magazine, loaded with stripper clips
Sights	iron sights(standard) telescopic sights(marksmen models)

The Olesunn rifle is a family of military bolt-action service rifles designed by Wendel Olesunn and produced in the Ottonian Federation, and later North Ottonia, starting in the late 19th century and continuing into the present day. While the rifle saw extensive use by the Ottonian Federation, the North Ottonian army, and the South Ottonian army in the first half of the 20th century, it has technically remained in service among (North) Ottonian paramilitary and civilian organizations into the present day. Additionally, from about 1917 through the late 1940's, South Ottonia made extensive use of inherited stocks of the rifles, although these were generally phased out after losing the production facilities for the rifles and foreign rifles were purchased. In the present, production is limited to a single assembly site in Bronnswyk, operated by Svaartaron, and it remains popular with hunters in North Belisaria, especially Ottonia, as well as civilian marksmanship programs.

The rifle was went through four major phases, with the first version of the rifle being produced between 1891 and 1900, chambered in the 7x57mm smokeless cartridge. The second pattern, beginning production in 1900, featured a more-robust action, refined magazine, and had been rechambered in what would become the standard, iconic 7.92x57mm Ottonian rifle cartridge. The third run, starting in 1912, was a shortened version that had been refined for quicker and more efficient production. The 1912 pattern is the version that remains in production, with two chamberings: the 7.92x57mm full rifle cartridge and the shortened 7.92x50mm cartridge used in the ALIR.

In North Ottonia the rifle was partially displaced in frontline units by the Torsfeld RSL in the 1930's, but remained in widespread use until it was largely supplanted in military service by the Torsfeld RAL battle rifle.

Design History

The Olesunn rifle was designed by Ottonian arms engineer Wendel Olesunn, an employee at the state arsenal at Torsfeld in the 1880's. Its design was heavily-influenced by the at-the-time Federal Army standard single-shot Storen 1870 Rifle, which it eventually replaced.

Features

Arguably the key feature of the Olesunn rifle that made it a significant improvement over the Storen rifle was its 5-round integral box magazine, with a groove enabling easy loading from stripper-clips. Combined with a strong action, this enabled fast reloading of the rifle and an increased rate of fire. Notably, during the early production run, the Ottonian 7.92x57mm cartridge was changed from using a round-nosed projectile to a spitzer-style bullet.

Domestic Production Models

The Olesunn rifle has had four major models, each distinguished by updates from previous rifles, as well as having their own variants. All models had a shortened "carbine" variant, intended for cavalry and gendarmes, and several had accuratized "marksmen's" variants, although these would ultimately be superceded in 1932 by the purpose-made "Marksmans' Model". Please note that after 1922, the Olesunn rifle's production occurred entirely within the new state of North Ottonia; while South Ottonia possessed enough capacity to manufacture ammunition and some replacement parts for the models they inherited from the Federation following the United Kingdom's proclamation, the production facilities were located entirely within the North and the UKO's Royal Army increasingly found itself forced to purchase foreign rifles to fulfill their needs.

Model 1890 (1891 - 1901)

The initial run of the rifle that entered production was the only one that was chambered in the same 7x57mm smokeless cartridge. Olesunn's original design, drawn up and tested from 1885 to 1890, was one of the premier rifles of its day in terms of its improved rate of fire. During later production runs, many of these rifles were re-chambered in the subsequent 7.92x57mm cartridge, and many others have found their way abroad as antiques.

Model 1899 (1900 - 1912)

The second run of the rifle saw improvements to the action to ease feeding from the magazine, as well as a simiplification of the magazine to reduce jamming, and the updating of the rifle to the new 7.92x57mm Ottonian cartridge. In most regards, this is the modern version of the rifle, with only minor modifications distinguishing it from subsequent runs.

Model 1912 (1912 - Present)

The rifle was shortened for the third run, reducing the amount of wood and metal used to produce the rifle. Both the base rifle and carbine variant were shortened. Other changes included minor adjustments to the iron sights. Notably, the bolt-handle on 1912 and subsequent production models was turned down to reduce snagging.

Marksmans' Model (1932 - Present)

An accuratized model of the rifle was produced in 1932 to accomodate the "designated marksman" role within Ottonian infantry doctrine, as well as to accomodate sharpshooters and snipers. Typically used with match-grade ammunition, these models were fitted by default with more advanced optics than the standard iron sights. This model still sees limited use in the OFDS for training snipers, although modern military sniper rifles are often made with synthetic polymer furniture.

New Model (1952 - Present)

This version was largely unchanged from the 1912 Model, but rifles produced from 1954 onward were available chambered in the newer, shorter 7.92x50mm cartridge which had been adopted by North Ottonia as the standard rifle cartridge the previous year. Due to production after 1956 being in relatively small numbers, special ordering of sporterized rifles, as well as rifles with plastic or polymer stocks, became a possibility, although the vast majority of production rifles retained wooden furniture.

Foreign Production Models

Untsangasari Models

Ottonia, and later North Ottonia, produced two different models of Olesunn rifle for the Great Ochranic Army of Untsangasar, chambered first in the Tsurushiman 6.5x50mm cartridge, and later in the larger 7.7x58mm cartridge. In 1936, desperate for an infusion of cash, North Ottonia sold blueprints and toolings for the rifle to the Chuyan government, which would go on to produce the rifle in significant numbers for another 15 years.

Model 1894

The first Olesunn rifle produced for the Great Ochranic Army was the 6.5x50mm-chambered Model 1894. Due to the large extent to which Chuyan forces were horse-mobile, the shorter (950 mm) carbine model was actually the more numerously-produced version; the Khagan's government ordered some 300,000 rifles in 1893, and another 200,000 in 1897, and of that total of 500,000, approximately 350,000 were carbines.

Model 1909

The second Olesunn rifle produced for the Chuyans' military needs was an update of the 1894, receiving most of the quality of life and production refinements that the 1899 Model had made standard while still chambered in the 6.5x50mm cartridge. Unlike the 1894 Model, the 1909 was produced exclusively in carbine and sniper configurations, and the former in particular received a reworked, more robust bayonet socket due to the extent to which Chuyan doctrine called for the bayonet's use; due to this, the bayonet fixture on the 1894 rifle was percieved to have been somewhat inadequate. Approximately 200,000 of these rifles were ordered by the Khagan's government.

Meteor Rifle

A design produced in 1936 to utilize the larger 7.7x58mm cartridge that the Chuyans had adopted, this rifle was not produced in Ottonia at all; for an infusion of cash, North Ottonia sold tooling, blueprints, and sent a small team of engineers to help the Chuyans set up an efficient factory. The Meteor Rifle would serve as the Great Ochranic Army's primary service weapon well into the 1950's, and even after it was supplanted as the primary infantry weapon by select-fire weapons, remained in use for training and ceremonial purposes, as well as a dedicated marksman's weapon.

Even in the present, the weapon remains in service as a sniper rifle in the GOA, as well as being commonly found in the use of police, hunters, and other security forces within Untsangasar.

Elatian Models

Fusilaay 95

The Fusilaay 95 was Elatia's first repeating rifle and the first rifle chambered in a smokeless cartridge (albeit with a round-nosed bullet). It was selected owing to the Olesunn design's great strength and simplicity, in contrast with other foreign designs which utilised complicated mechanisms such as a straight-pull bolt or en bloc clips. It was chambered in the 7.65x53mm cartridge.

The Fusilaay 95 was long by modern standards, with a total length of 1250mm. This was in order to allow an infantryman to outreach a mounted horseman's sabre with bayonet fixed whilst in square formation. The rifle was first used in large numbers during the first Elatian-Enyaman War by regular Elatian troops, although they were outnumbered by conscripts and militiamen mobilised to fight in the war, who were equipped with a variety of legacy single-shot weapons.

Aside from the standard, infantry-length weapon, compact variants of the Fusilaay 95 also exist, in the form of a shortened dragoon rifle, which was intended for use by the cavalry (but which retained the ability to mount a bayonet), and an even shorter carbine, intended for use by gunners and rear-area personnel and which was incompatible with bayonets.

Fusilaay 95/24

The shortened Fusilaay 95/24

The Elatian Army came away from the war with Enyama with two major revelations in respect of infantry combat. The first was that length was not a desirable trait - infantry battalions no longer needed to form square to repel cavalry, whilst lengthy weapons were a distinct disadvantage in the tight confines of trenches. The second was that a round-nosed bullet was deficient in ballistic qualities in comparison with more modern spitzer designs.

The Elatian authorities dealt with the latter problem by developing a new bullet. However, the conservative military establishment remained adamant on the necessity of a long rifle until the early-20's, when they were finally persuaded to reduce the length of the weapon to more reasonable dimensions. The new Fusilaay 95/24 model is actually of the same length as the old Dragoon Rifle and was largely patterned after the latter.

The Fusilaay 95/24 was Elatia's main service weapon during the Second Belfrasian-Elatian War. Throughout the war, the proportion of infantrymen equipped with the bolt-action rifle gradually decreased, and those armed with automatic weapons (such as the AP-42 increased. After the war, the 95/24 rifle was replaced by the K-48 semi-automatic carbine.

Service rifles which proved to be particularly accurate during testing were modified into sniper rifles. A skilled machinist would drill into the receiver in order to attach a 4x fixed telescopic sight, with bullet drop compnesation in 50m increments from 100-800m. Such rifles were designated Fusilaay 95/24M.

Fusilaay 95/99

The Fusilaay 95/99 sniper rifle

In the post-Great Freeze insurgencies and civil conflicts which arose in Elatia during the late-80's and early-90's, it was quickly realised that a dedicated, bolt action sniper weapon was needed to complement the semi-automatic Fusilaay 76 for use by specialist sniper teams and special forces. As convenient as a semi-automatic weapon was for firing rapid follow-up shots, the accuracy of a bolt-action rifle was desirable where very accurate fire had to be delivered at more than 400m.

Old Fusilo 95/24M sniper rifles, many of them dating back to the Belfrasian War but still in mint condition, having never been unpacked before being stored away in mobilisation hubs, were hastily retrieved and rebuilt. Such a rifle would feature a re-tuned trigger, a bipod, as well as a new, adjustable telescopic sight with 8x maximum magnification. The original iron sights were kept for backup in the event of scope breakage. Such emergency refurbished weapons were given the designation Fusilaay 95/92.

After the emergencies died down, the refurbished rifles would be further modified with synthetic stock, as well as a free-floating, heavy barrel with threads for barrel devices. They would also receive the official designation of Fusilaay 95/99.

Originally intended as a temporary expedience, the Fusilaay 95/99 model remains the most numerous dedicated sniper rifle in Elatian service. Many have been upgraded to the Fusilaay 95/99A variant, which utilises a new scope with 10x maximum magnification and allows for the use of a night vision or thermal sight in tandem with the day scope.

Specialist, Prototype, and Experimental Versions

Model 1899, Extended Magazine

A prototype of the 1899 model which, as the name suggests, featured an extended 8-round magazine. The extended magazine protruded from the bottom of the buttstock, and proved to be cumbersome and something of a snagging risk. This, along with more complicated production, meant that this model never saw regular production.

Model 1902, Altered Feed

A prototype derived from the 1899 model, testing the possibility of the use of a 6-round en bloc clip. This prototype proved prone to jamming, and due to the logistics issues that adoption would have created regardless, the concept was abandoned.

Model 1924 Anti-Vehicle Rifle

This version actually saw production and battlefield use. Chambered in a longer, 9.5x75mm cartridge, this model was intended for use against vehicles, including light armor that was just appearing at the time. However, reports indicate that it was only reliable against unarmored vehicles. In 1930, many of the existing rifles of this model were rechambered in a more focused 7.92x75mm cartridge that proved more effective against a larger range of targets, including several (admittedly lightly) armored ones.

Users

Although the rifle was used primarily by the Ottonian states of North Ottonia and, to a lesser extent, South Ottonia, the Olesunn rifle's long and prolific production life has ensured that many states and organizations have made use of it over the past century.

The Ottonian States

The primary users of the Olesunn Rifle lineage has been the Ottonian states; originally adopted for use by the Federal Army of the unified Ottonian Federation, both of the Federation's successor states in the Ottonian Federal Republic and later Federation of Ottonian Republics and the United Kingdom of Ottonia would make heavy use of the rifle, in the case of the former due to holding onto the weapon's major production facilities and in the case of the latter via significant inherited stocks of the weapons.

Due to the limited capacity to produce new copies of the rifle, South Ottonia quickly found itself forced to adopt other, foreign rifles, including those purchased from Latium, Arthurista, and Ghant into its stocks, and consequently the Olesunn rifle was retired from official use in 1945. In the North, meanwhile, the need to rebuild industrial capacity and general preoccupation with other matters meant that as late as 1953, the Olesunn rifle was the standard-issue rifle of North Ottonian forces, including both the Ottonian Federal Defense Service and the Federal Guard, until they were largely supplanted in service by the ALIR. Even then, the late-model Olesunn remained in use for some time as a designated marksman rifle or sniper rifle. Additionally, they remained in use by Federal Guard and Civil Guard units into the early 1970's until stocks of the ALIR had increased enough to displace it from use in those units there, again, with the exception of similar specialist uses.

Since the 1980's, the Olesunn rifle has been displaced from North Ottonian service by more modern rifles, even in specialist roles, but the gun remains popular as a hunting weapon both in Ottonia as well as in other parts of Belisaria. Inoperable replicas of the Olesunn's 1912 model are often used by rifle drill teams. Scout and Pioneer organizations are often given small stocks of surplus of new Olesunn's for the purposes of marksmanship training for older members, and the North Ottonian Federal Civilian Marksmanship Program makes the procurement of these rifles fairly easy for those Ottonian nationals that are interested.

Examples of the rifle still seen in Guard Corps and OFDS service are referred to with the designation "RMLO M12" (Rifle, Manually-Loaded, Olesunn, Model 1912).

Others

Uluuchuya

In the late 19th century, the Khagan of Untsangasar and his government had undertaken an ambitious expansion of the Grand Ochranic Army to defend the country's extensive borders from the threat of marauding outsiders. Part of this program included the contracting of the federal armories of Ottonia to produce rifles for them. This resulted in the 1894 Model rifle (see above) and would lead to a lucrative relationship for Ottonian arms-makers. All told, Untsangasar would order as many as 3 million total rifles from Ottonia, although in 1936 a purchase of toolings, blueprints, and equipment for the "final" Meteor Rifle model was arranged due to the preoccupation of North Ottonian industrial capacity in fighting a war of survival against South Ottonia and Ghant and a desperate need for cash to fight that war.

The Chuyans would produce copies of the Meteor Rifle for the ensuing fifteen years, and many examples are still in use today, especially among pastoralists in the Ochranic Interior and among non-military security forces.