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, Svaartaron (Ottonia) Şomvor Steel Works (Ostrozava)
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	7.92×50mm ORS (Ottonian) 7.92×57mm (Ostrozavan) 8mm Short (Ottonian Carbine Variant) 7.5×54mm (Rubricine)
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 7.92×57mm 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 7.92×57mm round, the 7.92×50mm, 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 7.92×57mm, 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.

Variants

M71

M71 rifle

The Rubricine adaptation of the RAL, designated the XJR Mukala asgas/añu 71, or M71 in Talaharan and Tyreseian service, began in the early 1960s. The variant featured several modifications compared with the Ottonian and Ostrozavan service models, including chambering in the 7.5×54mm cartridge. The handguard of the rifle was shortened and the barrel is mounted with a gas cutoff and volley sight for the purpose of launching rifle grenades. The receiver cover was also reinforced and further sand-proofed while the carrying handle was dispensed with. The 533 mm long barrel standard on the full-length RAL was reduced to an even 500 mm for the M71. Overall, these modifications increased the weight of the weapon from 4.25 kg to 4.53 kg. Further changes were made to lower the cyclic rate of the rifle in an effort to increase its controllability in automatic fire. This afforded Rubricine soldiers greater control than the Ostrozavan production in 7.92×57mm, but still less than the Ottonian RALs. Infantry doctrine continued to call for the rifles to be used predominantly in semi-automatic mode.