RAL
| Rifle, Automatic-Loading | |
|---|---|
 RAL | |
| Type | Battle Rifle |
| Place of origin |  North Ottonia Ostrozava |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1954 - present |
| Used by | Ottonian Federal Defense Service Ottonian Federal Guard Service Ostrozavan Protection Force Ostrozavan Civil Service |
| Wars | Highlands War |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1943 - 1954 (intermittant) |
| Manufacturer | Torsfeld Arsenal |
| Produced | 1954 - present |
| No. built | > 4,000,000 |
| Variants | See Variants |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 4.25 kg (9.4 lb) |
| Length | 1,090 mm (43 in) (Standard Model) |
| Cartridge | 7.92x50mm ORS (Ottonian) 7.92x57mm (Ostrozavan) 8mm Short (Ottonian Carbine Variant) |
| Action | Gas operated, tilting bolt, short-stroke piston |
| Rate of fire | Semi-automatic, selective fire |
| Effective firing range | 600m |
| Maximum firing range | 800m+ |
| Feed system | 20-round or 30-round detachable box magazine |
| Sights | aperture sights |
The Rifle, Automatic-Loading (Ostrozavan: Osobnă Automatickă Zbraňi), commonly referred to by its acronym, RAL (Ostro-Ludzic: OsAZ), is a select-fire rifle produced in North Ottonia and Ostrozava and used by the armed forces of both countries, first as standard service rifles, then in the battle rifle role. It is believed to have been at least partially the result of the same notes, blueprints, and prototypes that birthed the Arthuristan L54 rifle due to the two weapons' striking similarities, although it also bears a heavy mechanical similarity to the Ottonian Torsfeld RSL battle rifle and seems to have been inspired by the Federal Army's experiences with that weapon, with heavy input and technical expertise provided by Ostrozavan arms engineers.
It is still used by paramilitary Federal Guard and Civil Guard units in North Ottonia, and it remains in use in the designated marksman weapon role in the OFDS. The Ostrozavan Civil Guard still uses the 1990 pattern, or BSv.54/M, as its standard issue reserve and militia rifle, although it is undergoing replacement within the Ostrozavan Protection Force by a variety of ergonomically modern contenders. In North Ottonia it replaced the Olesunn Rifle and the Torsfeld RSL that had inspired it as the standard service rifle of the Ottonian Federal Defense Service. It was, in turn, displaced as the OFDS' primary service rifle by the RSCAL, although it continues to fulfill the designated marksman and battle rifle roles in the OFDS and is a common weapon for both issue and training in the Ottonian Federal Guard Service.
Cartridge
Initially developed for the North Ottonian 7.92x57mm rifle cartridge used on the earlier Olesunn Rifle and Torsfeld RSL, the cartridge proved to be extremely difficult to control in automatic fire and even was considered to generate too much recoil to be suitable for sustained semiautomatic fire. With advancements in propellant, a reduced-length modification of the 7.92x57mm round, the 7.92x50mm, was found to produce comparable ballistic results while producing a more manageable semiautomatic firing experience, although the rifle continued to be difficult to use in automatic fire without the benefit of bipods or heavy barrels to offset the still-considerable recoil.
However, desiring ammunition parity with its earlier Sv.24 rifles and SSv.51 weapon systems, the Ostrozavan military opted to produce the weapon in 7.92x57mm, a chambering which it uses to this day.
In addition, variants were also produced chambered in the experimental 8mm short rifle cartridge, which Ottonian engineers had been tinkering with at the tail end of the Great Ottonian War and through the 1940's. Although the loss of range the greatly-shortened cartridge experienced made it undesireable for the primary service rifle that the RAL went on to become, a carbine variant chambered in the shorter cartridge was also briefly produced for lower-echelon units and the at-the-time burgeoning Federal Guard Service.
Development
[Some stuff about blueprints and the SLR. Need Arth's input on this.]
The other major inspiration for the RAL was the existing North Ottonian service rifle, the Torsfeld RSL. On a mechanical level, the reliability and performance of the gas-operated, short-stroke piston action had been more than satisfactory, but the RSL had a number of feed issues and, produced as a full-size rifle with a full-sized rifle cartridge, the RSL had a number of issues that were intentionally targeted for correction in the RAL's design process. Key to this was the switch to a standard 20-round detachable box magazine, with 30-round variant magazines later being produced. In addition, the barrel was shortened and the furniture was generally reduced in-size, as well as lightened to reduce the weapon's weight.