GCh-114

The GCh-114 (Formal designation: 114식 일반목적 기관총 / 一一四式一般目的機關銃, Irilsal-sik ilbanmogjŏk gigwanchong, "Type 114 general-purpose machine gun;" short designation 114식, irilsal-sik, "Type 114") is a belt-fed 5.7mm Quinn light machine gun designed in Menghe. It is intended as a replacement for the squad-level GCh-96, offering comparable range and fire rates in a much lighter package and compatibility with the same ammunition used by the JS-103.

With a mass of just over 7 kilograms, the GCh-114 is relatively lightweight for a machine gun, and because it fires a lighter cartridge, its 200-round belt weighs about as much as the 100-round belt of the GCh-96. It is also capable of accepting 30-round and 60-round box magazines from the JS-103, allowing squad members to share ammunition after running out of belts. The barrel is designed to allow for a relatively easy one-handed change, and both full-length and "paratroop-length" barrels are manufactured. The weapon reportedly performed very well in durability and reliability testing, and has been well-received among Menghean troops.

Development

Menghean interest in a belt-fed intermediate-caliber LMG first began to grow after the introduction of the JS-103 in 2003. Like the JS-67 before it, this new assault rifle had an LMG variant, the GCh-105, with a long barrel. Originally this weapon was intended to carry a 100-round drum magazine, but these proved unreliable in service, and by 2007 smaller 60-round quad-stack casket magazines were issued instead, limiting the weapon's ability to lay down sustained automatic fire. By contrast, the 7.5×54mm GCh-96 could fire from a 150-round belt, but even though it was lighter than the GCh-77 before it, it still required a gunner's assistant to carry the spare barrel and extra ammunition.

To help fill the gap in between the two weapons, the Insŏng New Arsenal began independent work on a belt-fed weapon chambered in 5.7mm Quinn. Glasic and Menghean tests had already confirmed that this cartridge had very good ballistics out to 800 meters, as it was originally designed for use on open plains and steppes, and at about half the total mass of the 7.5×54mm cartridge it would allow for lighter combat loads. Even so, the Menghean Army was initially skeptical about the need for a weapon which would render the GCh-105 redundant, so development proceeded slowly.

The designers at Insŏng struggled to meet competing demands for light weight and high durability, while also keeping costs attractive. For inspiration, they looked overseas at similar 5mm caliber machine guns, reviewing features which could be integrated into the new design as well as drawbacks which could be corrected. The final prototype was submitted for evaluation in 2012, but it received little attention until 2014, when the Innominadan Crisis launched the Menghean Army into a major unconventional war. In December of that year, Insŏng's belt-fed weapon was approved for service under the designation GCh-114, with motorized units on the Maverican border given first priority in deliveries.

Design

Operation

The GCh-114 fires from an open bolt, with the bolt carrier sitting in the rear of the receiver and sliding forward to chamber and fire a round when the trigger is pulled. The firing pin is fixed to the bolt carrier, and strikes the rear of the cartridge once the bolt has fully rotated into place. The bolt carrier group strongly resembles an inverted version of its counterpart on Insŏng's JS-103, with a six-lug rotating bolt and a long-stroke gas piston attached to a rugged bolt carrier.

The fire selector lever is located on the trigger group and can be activated with the thumb. It has three settings: fully automatic (ㅈ, jadong), semi-automatic (ㅂ, ban-jadong), and safe (ㅏ, anjŏn). The semi-automatic setting could be used in combat to deliver precise fire or hide an LMG among a group of riflemen, but its main purpose is to help the gunner zero the weapon's sights.

Ammunition

The GCh-114 fires the 5.7mm Quinn round, which has been Menghe's standard intermediate rifle cartridge since 2003. Based on trial tests with both weapons, the Menghean Army claims that the ballistics of the 5.7mm Quinn fired from the GCh-114 are comparable to the ballistics of the 7.5×54mm round fired from the GCh-96 at ranges of out to 700 meters. Beyond this range, accuracy and in particular armor penetration drop more noticeably.

As on an assault rifle, the main advantage of the 5.7mm Quinn cartridge is that it weighs a little over half as much as its 7.5×54mm counterpart; thus, a 100-round belt for the GCh-96 and a 200-round belt for the GCh-114 are comparable in mass and bulk. In combination with the weapon's lighter empty weight, this means that the GCh-114 does not require a dedicated gunner's assistant, though additional ammunition belts or bags may be distributed around the squad.

Both 100-round and 200-round ammunition containers for the GCh-114 are in production, both of them in canvas pouches with zippered bottoms. These clip on to a fixture on the base of the receiver and feed through the left side. Spent cartridges and belt links are ejected out the right.

An interesting feature of the GCh-114 is its ability to accept 5.7×40mm rockback magazines. This allows the gunner to continue firing after exhausting all of his ammunition, or if logistical backlogs result in a shortage of disintegrating belts. The magazine port is on the left-hand side of the weapon, angled downward at 45 degrees from the horizontal, and its location prevents the simultaneous loading of a belt and a magazine. The weapon has been tested with 30- and 60-round box magazines and 75- and 100-round drum magazines, though in practice it would be unusual for any type except the 30-round magazine to be used, as the GCh-105/115 and GCh-114 would not normally exist in the same squad.

Users

• Menghe
• Idacua: 7.62×39mm variant