RSCAL
Rifle, Short/Carbine, Automatic-Loading | |
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Type | Assault Rifle |
Place of origin | North Ottonia/ Ottonia |
Service history | |
In service | 1986 - 2017 |
Used by | Ottonian Federal Defense Service Ottonian Federal Guard Service |
Production history | |
Designed | 1977 - 1986 |
Manufacturer | Torsfeld Arsenal, Svaartaron (Ottonia) |
Produced | 1986 - present |
No. built | > 1,000,000 |
Variants | See Variants |
Specifications | |
Weight | 3.5 kg (empty) |
Length | 950 mm (37 in) (Stock Extended) |
Cartridge | 6x44mm OIS (Ottonian) |
Action | Gas operated, rotating bolt, short-stroke piston |
Rate of fire | select fire |
Effective firing range | 250-450m |
Maximum firing range | 450m |
Feed system | 30-round detachable box magazine |
Sights | aperture sights |
The Rifle, Short/Carbine, Automatic-Loading is a North Ottonian assault rifle. It was the standard service rifle of the OFDS from its adoption in 1986 until its replacement in 2017, although many units have not had their RSCAL's replaced, especially in reserve and Guard Service units. It was succeeded as the official OFDS service rifle by the Standard Automatic Rifle, Light in 2017.
After a long period in which the OFDS largely used only the RAL battle rifle as a standard service rifle, supplemented by a carbine variant chambered in the intermediate 8mm Short cartridge as its standard longarms, studies concluded that the OFDS would be best-served by switching to a compromise cartridge between the 7.92x50mm full-powered rifle cartridge and the aging 8mm Short. Consequently, much of the development history of the RSCAL was actually spent on the development of its eventual cartridge, the 6x43mm Ottonian Intermediate Standard round, which had very similar performance and ballistic properties to the Ostrozavan 5.8x42mm cartridge.