The M-41A pulse rifle? Nope, the Heckler&Koch XM8 battle rifle. Soon to outphase the aging M-16 and Colt-M4A1 designs in the US forces.
It can be outfitted with a 40mm grenade launcher too, as seen in the first configuration on this multi-config poster.
Now I can't say if the austrian developers responsible for this baby were necessarily inspired by the ALIENS movie, but one can wonder.
Crazy, man, crazy!
[ December 13, 2003, 07:39 AM: Message edited by: Nim ]
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
In more miscellaneous info, there's talk of the XM8, currently still chambered in the NATO standard 5.56mm caliber, to be the first mass-produced rifle to accept the up-and-coming 6.8mm caliber round, superior in every way to the 5.56mm round as well as the russian 5.45mm and 7.62mm rounds. Testing time will tell.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Or in other words, "the Americans have come up with this new cartridge that now everyone will have to use if they want to stay in NATO, and by the time everyone has upgraded their small arms as needed, the Americans will want to introduce a new standard rifle with a new cartridge, and so on ad infinitum."
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Game over, man! Game Over! Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Lee: Actually, it was you brits who had come up with a superior new gun in the 1950's, with a better cartridge, which would've forced NATO to upgrade. It was to've been 7mm caliber, so you were onto something there.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Waitasecond - I thought the next generation assault rifle was to be the XM-29 OICW, which looks even closer to the M-41A of Aliens...
Mark
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Yes, Nimmy - we tried to play that game, but who still won? The 7.62mm, as found in the US M-14. Shortcut to 1967, and hey! This 5.56mm in the M-16 is really funky, everyone in NATO should share the love!
And thius OICW/SABR? Ugh. Mind you, someone will draw parallels between the XM8 and the French assault rifle, I forget what it's called, the 'bugle' with a pronounced carry-handle, and that'll be all she wrote. HK - German, too - not cool Stateside, either.
Posted by Proteus (Member # 212) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lee: Or in other words, "the Americans have come up with this new cartridge that now everyone will have to use if they want to stay in NATO, and by the time everyone has upgraded their small arms as needed, the Americans will want to introduce a new standard rifle with a new cartridge, and so on ad infinitum."
Yep. I love how my country owns the planet.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Far too many people know too many model codes for guns here to make me entirely confortable.
Posted by Axeman 3D (Member # 1050) on :
I believe the OICW is being introduced soon in the Marine Corp, but it's so damned expensive and complex that it's just going to be issued to one or two members of each squad, kinda like a support weapon rather than a standard issue rifle. The XM-8 is a standard German G36K made up to look different, and as far as I know it's not actually been accepted yet by the US Military. I think they just made it look different so that the Americans would think they didn't have the same gun as the Germans.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
I'll take two.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Lee: You mean the FAMAS, well that one is old. They will make all the XM8 components detachable, so you can use those Picatinny rails, for sundry addons.
Proteus: Actually, Fabrique Nationale and Heckler&Koch are two of the largest contributors to american military/law-enforcement small-arms, along with Beretta of course. And the coming 6.8mm round won't be produced just in the US.
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
Guns !! Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Strange how the Pulse rifle looks more like a real weapon than the real thing itself. This new one looks like something you'd expect to find in Toys'R'Us, next to the moulded plastic walkie-talkies and the action-man play costumes.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
Well, if it keeps George happy, who's to say the US military can't have guns that look like his favourite toy?
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Reverend: Well the pulse rifle was a real weapon. Two, in fact. A stripped Tommy gun with a sawed-off shotgun under the barrel, and nice plastic to hold it all together. The ones in the movie could just as well have fired real bullets.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
I'm aware of that. If I recall the two Smartguns were also just redressed weapons mounted on stedi-cam rigs.
Posted by Treknophyle (Member # 509) on :
If you want a sexy looking gun - why not just adopt the P90?
I've seen it on Stargate for a while now - and it's gorgeous!
Though I have no idea how well it shoots...
Posted by WizArtist (Member # 1095) on :
quote: Strange how the Pulse rifle looks more like a real weapon than the real thing itself. This new one looks like something you'd expect to find in Toys'R'Us, next to the moulded plastic walkie-talkies and the action-man play costumes.
Yeah, and if you want to be REEEAALLL evil.... Paint the tip of the barrel ORANGE so the police will know its really just a toy gun.....OOOPPPSSS!
The next step will be grenades that are shaped and colored like Coke cans. Here Mr. Bin Laden....have a Coke and a smile!
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Treknophyle: The P90 has one small flaw; if you drop it or accidentally bump it into something, the whole loading mechanism is liable to jam. The magazine lock is real tricky too, I've heard.
Reverend: Well the answer was for everyone, no patronizing meant. Yes, the portable smart guns and the sentry guns were all built on the old german MG42, nicknamed the "Hitler-Saw".
I picked one up in a gun shop in Brighton last year, it weighs like 25 pounds, unloaded. Respect goes out to Jenette Goldstein (Vasquez) who trudged along with that monster for weeks. ("Jin-Roh: Wolf Brigade" is a good anime where the anti-terrorist forces also carry those crazy things)
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
quote:I believe the OICW is being introduced soon in the Marine Corp, but it's so damned expensive and complex that it's just going to be issued to one or two members of each squad, kinda like a support weapon rather than a standard issue rifle.
Yup. A field weapon has to be both robust and spartan, and the OICW doesn't fit either bill for obvious reasons.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Like they would actually entrust Private Tom, Dick and Harry each with a personal 25mm Hi-Explosive airburst cannon in tomorrow's Afghanistan, the world's most expensive Reality Show. Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Among 'amateur' propmakers, the M-41A is kinda the Holy Grail. You are truly among the elite if you build one from scratch, incorporating the Thompson parts, the SPAS 12 parts, and also parts from a Remington shotgun (or, say, the Airsoft equivalents). To say nothing of all the custom-made components, and even an ammo counter - some of which actually count down!
Check out Jimbo's site, he's currently helping me build my first ever kit, a PPG. But his Pulse Rifle is awesome: http://www.tk560.com/m41a.html 8)
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Daem.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
I want one. And I want that badass phased plasma rifle from The Terminator. Think of all the impressionable people you could fool with those things. B)
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Sweet: Now build me that Battlestar Galactica blaster around a working Desert Eagle. And a taser in a TOS "mini" phaser housing.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Oh, I know people who do original BSG replica blasters. In fact one bunch sell them on eBay regularly, just do a search.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Jason: "Sweet: Now build me that Battlestar Galactica blaster around a working Desert Eagle."
If it's all the same I'll settle for just the 'Eagle, thank you! Though the original israeli one, without them fat, ugly scope rails...
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
The most ironic thing, I think, is that the firing-sound it makes in those clips sound better than any sound effect I've ever heard in any computer game or action movie. It's too good to be true, the XM-8 project is. It'll turn out to be some coy trick by Charlton Heston, I'll bet.
When you get to the grenade launcher mounting clip you'll probably start tittering, I did. I've seen cellphones more complicated than this.
[ March 15, 2004, 01:58 PM: Message edited by: Nim ]
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Oh, I fucking want one! They'll never go for it, it's too revolutionary. Some congressman will get on his high horse about buying American, and they'll end up with some Colt or S&W piece of shit that'll be indistinguishable from the M-16 in function and will have years of teething troubles. . .
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
quote: The most ironic thing, I think, is that the firing-sound it makes in those clips sound better than any sound effect I've ever heard in any computer game or action movie. It's too good to be true, the XM-8 project is. It'll turn out to be some coy trick by Charlton Heston, I'll bet.
Really? Elaborate. As a completely non-gun person, I thought it kinda sounded quiet and wimpy. (And no, I could hear the volume on the guy quite well) Or is that why its good?
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
In my opinion, the sound was bass-thick, even and very fast. Granted, the microphone, the surrounding terrain and some other factors affect the end product but to me it sounded good.
The only thing I don't get is why lose the good old iron sights? That Hi-Tech sighting module looks fancy but what if you crack it against an outhouse or accidentally pee on it? Or run out of Duracells, for that matter, *snort*.
It doesn't seem to accept them Picantinny Circus rails, either. Not that I think an assault rifle with a laser sight, an infra-red scope, a flashlight, a rangefinder, two magazine holders and a screw-on pistol grip all at once looks effective. Makes it look like a "Ghostbusters"-sprinkler.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Assuming buying one of those detailed prop recreations is out of one's price range, why not make one out of paper. Posted by machf (Member # 1233) on :
A friend made one with wood, resin, plastic, and some nuts and bolts:
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
