An army’s basic piece of equipment has always been the rifle. Each combatant carries and cares for their own weapon and, as technological advancements have arrived, the capabilities and effectiveness of rifles has kept them as essential armaments
The major advantage of a rifle – as opposed to a musket – is
that a rifle has a series of spiral grooves that run the length of the barrel’s
interior surface. These cause the bullet to spin as it exits the muzzle and
therefore travel more smoothly and for a greater distance. From the earliest
use of “long guns” in China – as introduced by foreign troops – the rifle-bored
barrel has been the standard.
The other innovation which reflected the state of combat in
China was the introduction of the carbine. Carbines are shorter in length and
often of more rugged construction, made for use from horseback by cavalry
troops, or whilst travelling through wilderness, such as mountains or dense
forests. Most often where a rifle had performed with success, a carbine version
soon followed after.
The biggest technological change however, was the
introduction of magazines. This meant that re-loading could be accomplished at
greater speed, rather than having to load each round individually; some
magazine systems however, have their shortcomings.
A
Note about Availability: This statistic shows the relative scarcity
of the particular rifle in China at the time period specified, not its general
availability worldwide. This status should be kept in mind if players need to
re-arm while adventuring in this locale. Otherwise, since guns in Call of Cthulhu are more a statement of
style rather than capability, there is no reason to be overly picky about
granting access to any particular weapon.
*****
The First Opium War (1839-1842)
Matchlock
Rifle
The advantage of the matchlock over the flintlock is that
the slow-burning length of cord or “match” is a far more reliable source of
flame than the random impact of a stone flint hitting a steel striker. That
being said, it doesn’t matter how reliable your flame is if your powder is wet;
or if it has been blown or knocked out of the priming pan; or if your bullet
has been jostled out of its rammed position.
When using these weapons, have your players roll Luck every time they get wet or fall
over; failure requires a Mechanical Repair or Gun Lore roll to address
the problem.
Base%:
25
Damage:
1D10+4
Range:
275m / 800ft
Shots/round:
1/4
Capacity:
1
HP:
12
Malfunction:
95%
Availability: COMMON
The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1866)
Dreyse
Needle Gun, Prussian Model 1841 (Prussia, 1848-1871)
“The
Needle-gun is the King”
Prussian propaganda
The first guns to replace the messy and slow match- and
flintlock weapons previously in use were the percussion guns. These operated on
a principle whereby a hammer would fall upon a specially-prepared cartridge
assembly, striking a small explosive igniter called a percussion cap. This
ignited the gunpowder in the cartridge and set off a reaction expelling the
bullet from the weapon. The advantage was a quicker re-loading process as all
of the charge assembly was pre-prepared; however, there were still some issues.
The Dreyse needle gun was one of the first percussion rifles
adopted for widespread military use. Invented by Johann Nikolau von Dreyse in
1836, the innovations presented by this weapon were many: first, it was a
breech-loader, meaning that the cartridge entered the rear of the barrel by
means of an access point opened by a sliding turnbolt. This put paid to such
things as ramrods in the re-loading process. Secondly, when the trigger was
pulled a spring projected a needle-like firing pin through the paper cartridge
to set off the percussion cap, which was attached to the base of the bullet.
These features meant that faster firing was possible and that troops could
shoot from cover, no longer having to stand up in order to re-load. Also, since
the cartridge was made of paper, there was no expended casing to remove before
inserting the next round. Finally, due to the composition of the cartridge, the
powder was designed to burn from the front to the back of the cartridge,
maximising burn under pressure and minimising any wasteful muzzle-flash.
Despite these advantages, there were problems in practical
application; these were largely due the powder burning inside a paper cartridge
under high pressure. To begin with, the fine firing needle came under intense
stress and would eventually break after about 200 shots, flying out with the
bullet; soldiers were issued with spare pins in this eventuality, but without
them, the gun is quickly rendered useless. The other problem was with a severe
build-up of burnt powder and paper residue in the breech, causing it to not
seal properly: the rifle needs to be cleaned after 60-80 shots, otherwise it
will not fire, and the effective range is severely reduced. As it is, after
only a few shots, the breech seal is so compromised that flames emerge from the
breech to burn the shooter, resulting in the user having to fire ‘from the hip’
to avoid facial burns.
Keepers whose players are wielding this rifle should take
note that the characters clean them well during the down-times between
engagements. Otherwise, start to impose 1D4 points of burn damage on the
characters with dirty guns. Also, note the following statistics, especially the
Malfunction rate.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D8+4
Range:
275m / 825ft
Shots/round:
2
Capacity:
1
HP:
20
Malfunction:
85%
Availability: COMMON from the 1850s to the 1870s
Pattern
1851 Minié Muzzle-loading Rifle (France, 1851-1866)
During engagements in Algeria, the French Army came up
against stiff resistance facing the desert fighters armed with their handmade long
muskets – or jezza’ils – which, for
all their low-tech origins, had greater range. These French setbacks led to the
development of the Minié ball style of ammunition, around which this rifle was
designed.
The Minié ball is a cylindrical soft lead round with a
conical tip and a basal conical hollow. Running the bullet’s length are three
grease-filled grooves: although slightly smaller than the diameter of the
barrel bore, when fired the bullet expands to engage the rifling of the barrel,
maximising the pressure of the expanding gases and clearing away detritus
within the bore. Like other guns at this time, the cartridge was ignited by
means of a percussion cap being struck by a pin-augmented hammer.
This weapon saw much use in the American Civil War and in Japan during the 1868-69 Boshin War against the Tokugawa, as well
as being a mainstay of British forces. After the defeat of the Austrians in
1866, when confronted by the Prussians and their needle-guns, the playing field
had to change again.
Base%:
25
Damage:
1D10+4
Range:
550m / 1650ft
Shots/round:
1/4
Capacity:
1
HP:
20
Malfunction:
98%
Availability: COMMON from the 1850s to the 1860s
Pattern
1853 Enfield Rifled Musket (UK, 1853-1867)
The Americans weren’t the only ones to embrace the new Minié
ball technology: the British forces were issued with these weapons in 1853.
Also known as the P53 Enfield or the Enfield rifle-musket they performed well
until phased out by the introduction of the Snider-Enfield rifle after 1867.
This was a muzzle-loaded rifle that was as long as a standard
musket; the long rifled barrel meant that men in ranks could fire accurately
from behind the men in front without discommoding them with the eruptions of
flame and smoke which the gun would produce. It also meant that bayonet
skirmishes held opponents back at a greater distance.
With the introduction of this weapon came a system of
determining how good a shot the user was. Using a target six feet tall and two
feet wide with a two foot bull’s-eye (worth two points), British soldiers were
trained to hit the mark over 600 yards (550m). A soldier earned the designation
“marksman" by scoring seven points on the same target with a three foot bull’s-eye, at a range of 650
to 900 yards (590 to 820 metres).
Base%:
25
Damage:
1D10+4
Range:
550m / 1650ft
Shots/round:
1/4
Capacity:
1
HP:
18
Malfunction:
95%
Availability: COMMON from the 1850s onwards
The
Second Opium War (1856-1862)
Chinese Revolts of 1865-1881
Fusil
modèle 1866 (Chassepot) breechloading rifle (France 1867-1874)
"Les
Chassepots ont fait merveille!"
From a French Parliamentary report
This is a bolt-action rifle which loads from the breech
(i.e., the rear of the barrel as it opens from the stock). It used paper
cartridges with percussion caps of a slightly smaller calibre than the Dreyse
needle-gun but used more powder, resulting in a higher muzzle velocity. The
result was a smoother, flatter trajectory which out-performed the needle-gun
during the Franco-Prussian war with a range of 2 to 1.
Like the Dreyse, the Chassepot rifle suffered from the
accumulation of residue from expended black powder and burnt paper. Both guns
adapted an air-chamber to the top of the gun allowing gases to be expelled from
the breech; in the case of the Chassepot, this aperture was too narrow and
often had to be manually cleared during the battle, otherwise the gun would
jam. As well, a new innovation – a segmented rubber ring which expanded during
firing and sealed off the breech – became quickly worn during combat, so
soldiers were supplied with spares to replace the damage during the fighting.
Base%: 20
Damage: 1D8+4
Range:
550m / 1650ft
Shots/round: 1/2
Capacity:
1
HP: 18
Malfunction:
95%
Availability: COMMON from 1880
Snider-Enfield
service rifle (UK, 1866-1901)
“A
Snider squibbed in the jungle –
Somebody
laughed and fled,
And
the men of the First Shikaris
Picked
up their Subaltern dead,
With
a big blue mark in his forehead
And
the back blown out of his head.”
Rudyard Kipling, “The Grave of the Hundred Dead”
The gun that replaced the Pattern 1853 Enfield, this was a
breech-loading rifle which used a new type of cartridge – the Boxer cartridge
(named after its inventor) which dispensed with waxed paper and used a metal
casing instead. The breech-loading mechanism allowed the rifle to be re-loaded
far more quickly than the muzzle-loading Pattern 1853 with some soldiers able
to shoot off up to 10 shots in a minute.
An issue with the gun was the fact that there was no ejector
mechanism to push out the spent casings. Since these became very hot, most
operators simply opened the breech and shook the gun upside-down to dislodge
the casing. Repeated use over an extended time meant that the breech could
become quite dirty and the casings could stick in the detritus requiring
emergency cleaning
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10+2
Range:
550m / 1650ft
Shots/round:
1
Capacity:
1
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from 1880
The
Tientsin Massacre (1870)
The Sino-French War of 1883-1885
Martini-Henry
rifle (UK, 1871-1917)
Introduced in 1871, the Martini-Henry rifle gained fast
acceptance by the British Army and remained in use by them up until the end of
World War One, despite the fact that production ended in 1889. The rifle was
lever actuated which meant that a handle beneath the stock was pushed forward
to open the breech and expend the spent casing, a definite improvement over the
Snider-Enfield.
The rifle was used extensively in the Afghan Wars and
captured specimens were reproduced by the hill tribes, copied even down to
their manufacturing marks. These were less robust on balance to the official
versions but they still work very well.
There were four versions of this rifle manufactured, as well
as two types of carbine variants, one of which went through three different
iterations over time; the only real issue that caused comment, was that the
cartridge – powered by 85 grains (5.51grams) of “Curtis and Harvey’s No.6
Coarse Powder” – caused a prodigious kick.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10+2
Range:
600m / 1800ft
Shots/round:
1 (12rnds/min)
Capacity:
1
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from the 1880s to about 1915
Martini-Henry
carbine (UK, 1877-1917)
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10+2
Range:
600m / 1800ft
Shots/round:
1
Capacity:
1
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from the 1880s to about 1915
The Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)
Gewehr
‘88 (Model 1888 Commission Rifle) (Germany, 1888-1915)
The invention of smokeless powder rendered all of the
previous large bore black powder rifles produced up to this point useless. The
Gewehr ’88 had some serious advantages over the old types of rifles, not least
the fact that it allowed the shooter five shots before needing to be re-loaded
Of course, this advantage was also a disadvantage. The
bullets for this weapon sit in a small magazine, or “charger clip”, inserted
below the barrel, referred to as a “packet load” or “en bloc” system. This type of loading was a hallmark of all
weapons produced by the Austrian Mannlicher Company. The issue with this
mechanism is that, once all of the rounds have been spent, the magazine drops
out of the bottom of the rifle. This is meant to allow the user to insert another
one quickly; however, depending on the surface the wielder is standing upon,
the magazine makes a loud ringing sound to attract the attention of potential
enemies. As well, while unloaded, the breech is exposed to the elements as the
loading port has no cover to keep out dirt and grime.
Another bizarre feature was the fact that the barrel of the
Gewehr ’88 was encased in a metal cylinder; this was meant to increase accuracy
by separating the barrel from the stock but, in effect, it shortened the life
of the weapon by providing an inaccessible place for water to accumulate and
rust the barrel.
Finally, during cleaning, the bolt assembly is able to be
completely disassembled and it was often the case that the bolt head was
occasionally misplaced and not returned to the gun. As well, the extractor and
ejector mechanisms had to be carefully re-assembled or they would fall out of
alignment causing the weapon to jam.
Keepers with players who are armed with these rifles, should
make sure that their players make Gun
Lore or Mechanical Repair rolls
each time they strip, clean or otherwise disassemble their guns. Additionally,
if they snatch one of these rifles up from the ground or use someone else’s
weapon, have them make a Luck roll to
determine if the relevant parts are actually present.
Manufacture of this weapon was increasingly taken over by
the Austro-Hungarian Styer-Mannlicher company to settle a copyright
infringement, and many of them were converted to accommodate later Mannlicher
features. The Gewehr 88 was a widely used weapon during the Chinese Revolution
and into the Twentieth Century. It was replicated in Chinese armouries where it
was renamed the ‘Hanyang 88’.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10
Range:
900m / 3,000ft
Shots/round:
3
Capacity:
5
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: UNCOMMON
Krag-Jørgensen
rifle (Norway, 1888-1935)
This rifle caused a sensation when it appeared and was
immediately snapped up as a military standard by the US as well as – not
surprisingly – Norway and Denmark. The innovation which it represented was the
fact that the magazine was integrally housed in the receiver of the weapon –
the main operating part of the rifle. The bullets were slid one at a time into
the magazine through a hinge-covered access port on the right hand side and an
internal spring pushed them into position. This did away with the need for a
charger or ‘stripper clip’ to house and align the bullets before inserting them
into the gun.
Later models incorporated a speed-loading magazine into
which a handful of cartridges could be dumped for a quick re-load: with this
device, careful placement of the bullets was unnecessary as the spring would
correctly align them when the hinged cover shut. Assuming, of course, that all
the rounds were facing in the right direction; a mess otherwise. Keepers will
make their players roll a Luck roll
when re-loading in this fashion, otherwise the gun jams and a Mechanical Repair roll is needed.
An earlier Norwegian gun, the Jarmann M1884s, was regularly
converted into a harpoon gun for nautical use, and, after the introduction of
the Krag-Jørgensen, a bunch of these were converted too. It quickly became
apparent though that converting the new gun was more expensive than the old
one, so the practise was discontinued. These altered rifles are quite rare.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10
Range:
900m / 3,000ft
Shots/round:
2
Capacity:
6
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from the 1880s to around 1940
Lee-Enfield
Magazine Mk II rifle “Long Lee” (UK, 1895-1907)
This rifle was issued to British troops in November, 1895,
and was officially superseded in 1957 (although individual servicemen still
preferred to use it in action). Indian Police forces and the Canadian Forces’
Rangers Arctic reserve unit still use it, making it the longest-serving
official troop weapon in the world today. It is widely known simply as the
“303”; when first introduced, it was issued as the “.303 calibre, Rifle,
Magazine, Lee-Enfield” or the “MLE”, which servicemen further refined to
“Emily”.
Like the Krag-Jørgensen and the Gewehr ’88, the Lee-Enfield
operated from a magazine and used a bolt action; in later years, some were
issued to use chargers or stripper clips. In 1896, a carbine version appeared
for use in thick forest, mountains and from horseback.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D8
Range:
503m / 1650ft
Shots/round:
3
Capacity:
6
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from 1900 onwards
Lee
Metford MLM (UK, 1888-1895)
Before the Lee-Enfield, the first rifle to replace the
Martini-Henry was the Lee-Metford. The history of this weapon was fraught with
difficulties.
This was the first application of the new rear-locking bolt
system designed by James Paris Lee which would reach its greatest apotheosis in
the Lee-Enfield. A construction fault on the factory floor meant that these guns
were woefully inaccurate over long distances and British troops using them in
the Second Boer War were out-gunned by their opponent’s Mausers. The fault was
corrected, but not in time to avoid the weapon’s replacement by the Lee-Enfield
in 1895 (in the statistics below, these shorter ranges are indicated in
parentheses).
Nevertheless, the rifle was still produced for sports
shooters, who considered the gun’s pattern of rifling, designed by William
Ellis Metford, inherently more accurate than the one used in the Lee-Enfield.
These later versions were sometimes converted to charger or stripper clip use,
although many preferred to keep the 10-round magazine. The gun is also the
official ceremonial weapon of the Atholl Highlanders’ regiment.
An interesting term to arise from the development of this
rifle and the Lee-Enfield was the “Mad Minute”, a training exercise for British
riflemen to see how many aimed bullets they could place into a target at 300
yards (300m, or 900 feet) within 60 seconds. A record of 38 hits was made by a
sergeant-Major Snoxhall at the British Army’s Small Arms School prior to World
War One.
Base%:
25
Damage:
1D10
Range:
730m (370m) / 2400ft (1200ft)
Shots/round:
2
Capacity:
10
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: UNCOMMON
Mannlicher
Model 1888 infantry rifle (Austrian, 1888-1915)
Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher was fundamental to the
progress of weapons design from the Victorian era into the Twentieth Century.
Along with James Paris Lee he developed the en bloc magazine system of loading
and with his protégé Otto Schönauer, he led the way in the design of rotary
magazines. Many of his weapons were largely unsuccessful, but paved the way for
future innovations, such as the British Bren gun and the American BAR and M1
Garand.
Many of Mannlicher’s designs were later gas operated, or used
the gun’s own recoil to power its innovations: two semi-automatic precursors
which he released in 1893 (both called the Model 93) were effective but they
expelled the spent cases at a velocity which was dangerous to the user and
anyone nearby.
There are many versions to choose from in this range – as
the following entries show - and the one listed here had good representation in
China. The thing to remember when your players are using one is that dropping en bloc charger, which can get lost, or
make unnecessary noise in the thick of combat.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D8
Range:
600m / 1968ft
Shots/round:
3
Capacity:
6
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: UNCOMMON
Mannlicher
straight-pull bolt rifle (Austria, 1895-1918)
A straight pull bolt requires only that the hand be grasped
and wrenched quickly rearwards in order to align the next cartridge; this is as
opposed to the turnbolt action, where the handle must rotated ninety degrees
before it can be drawn back. A straight pull bolt is quicker than a turnbolt,
but is not as safe. German troops called the Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 the “ruck zuck” (“right now”) in reference
to its quick re-load capabilities. If your party sustains a significant fall or
tumble, have them make Luck rolls to
determine whether or not their straight-pull rifles may have become
inadvertently primed by the bolt having been unknowingly pulled back.
Originally employed by the Austro-Hungarian Army through
World War One and afterwards, the weapon was adopted by Bulgaria from 1903.
After World War Two, in which they saw action in the hands of Italian,
Romanian, Yugoslavian and German reservists, they were largely sold off as
surplus, mainly to African guerrilla
forces up until the 1970s.
The extractor on this weapon is quite vulnerable, exposed as
it is by the design to the full force of the cartridge ignition with each shot.
On a malfunction, this is where the trouble with lie, requiring the stripping
down of the weapon and replacing of the specific part: if your players don’t
have a spare extractor, the weapon will be officially kaput. As a final point of interest, the rifle is sometimes issued
with a 25cm (10-inch) bayonet that, unusually, fastens blade upwards beneath
the barrel.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D8
Range:
600m / 1968ft
Shots/round:
3
Capacity:
7
HP:
14
Malfunction:
95%
Availability: COMMON from 1900 onwards
Mannlicher
turnbolt rifle (Austria, 1895-1940)
The virtue of the turnbolt rifle is that it will never
become primed to fire without the user knowing about it. What you lose in
rounds-per-minute, you make up for with peace of mind!
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10
Range:
600m / 1968ft
Shots/round:
2
Capacity:
6
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from the 1890s throughout the 20th
Century
Mannlicher-Carcano
TS Carbine M1891 (Italy, 1891-1918)
In guerrilla
conflicts, the shorter a weapon’s barrel, the easier it is for the combatant to
move through harsh terrain without becoming entangled in foliage or rocky
outcrops; as well, a shorter barrel allows the user to quickly arm or disarm
without becoming entangled in their other equipment. For this reason, mountain
troops in Italy and Germany, as well as both regular and irregular forces in
Syria, Lybia, Tunisia and Algeria took advantage of the Mannlicher-Carcano
carbines that the Turin Army Arsenal produced from 1891 onwards. These rifles
were used extensively by the Finns during the Winter War (short guns don’t
hamper the use of skis), but the biggest customer for these weapons was the
Japanese Navy from 1937.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10+2
Range:
600m / 1968ft
Shots/round:
1
Capacity:
5
HP:
12
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from the 1890s through to 1945 (though
still used by the Italians until 1981).
Mosin-Nagant
rifle (Russia, 1892-1950)
After suffering heavy casualties during the Russo-Turkish
War of 1877-78, their soldiers armed with single-shot rifles facing Turkish
troops armed with Winchester repeating rifles, the Russian Main Artillery Administration commissioned a task-force in
1882 aimed at modifying the standard issue Russian rifle into something more
effective. The failure of this think-tank to come up with a solution led to the
“Special Commission for the Testing of
Magazine-fed Rifles”, whose aim was to test new weapon designs.
Receiving many enthusiastic designers, the committee was
forced to choose between three designs: one by Sergei Ivanovich Mosin, one by
the Belgian, Léon Nagant, and another by a Captain Zinoviev. The final result
was 10 votes for Mosin’s rifle and 14 for Nagant’s; however, the head of the
Commission, General Chagin, insisted on further comparisons between the two
leaders and Mosin’s design came out on top.
The arguments against Nagant’s rifle were that it was a
highly complex mechanism and required special tools to disassemble and
re-build; the argument against Mosin’s design was that it was manufactured from
poor-quality materials and jammed frequently as a result. In practise, the
Commission chose to pick and choose various innovations from Nagant’s design and
incorporate them into Mosin’s winning rifle.
In 1930, the Mosin-Nagant was re-visited and all aspects of
its design re-considered: most of Nagant’s innovations were striped out with
the exception of the magazine spring: this feature allowed the rifle to be
loaded one bullet at a time as an alternative to using the clip. Keepers should
note that, prior to 1930, these guns have a feed problem, a Nagant design flaw
where two bullets try to get loaded at once and thus jam the breech; a
malfunction result indicates that this has happened and the gun needs to be
cleared. After 1930, this problem was resolved, thus the second malfunction
rating below.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10+2
Range:
500m / 1650ft
Shots/round:
1
Capacity:
5
HP:
10
Malfunction:
95% / 00%
Availability: COMMON from the 1890s throughout the 20th
Century
Parravicino-Carcano
M1891 TS carbine (Italy, 1891)
The Carcano-Mannlicher M91 went through several informal
tinkering revisions by troops trying to retro-fit the basic model into a
carbine configuration. Several of these innovations were successful enough that
they were incorporated into a carbine iteration and standardised for military
use. The result was the Parravicino-Carcano M91 for Special Troops (TS).
Apart from specially-designed swivels for ease of employment
and a bent bolt that tucked neatly out of the way, the only other notable
feature of the weapon was its bayonet mount. This feature requires the bayonet
to be mounted perpendicular to the barrel before being rotated a quarter turn
into position; the lock is activated by a small button on the pommel. This
meant that no enemy soldier could snatch your bayonet from your weapon and turn
it on you in combat. A certain amount of confusion about how this feature
worked, saw many replaced by the original M91 rifle mount.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10+2
Range:
600m / 1800ft
Shots/round:
1
Capacity:
6
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from the 1890s throughout the 20th
Century
The Boxer Rebellion (1900)
Arisaka
“Type 30” bolt-action carbine (Japan, 1897-1914)
This rifle was the standard Japanese Army weapon for the ten
years from 1895 to 1905, before being replaced by the Type 38. It was also
produced as a carbine for mounted troops, in which form it was very popular
with British and Finnish soldiers. It was the first of the Arisaka family of
rifles created to use the cartridge developed by the Arisaka firm.
The name of the rifle (which, in Japanese is “Sanjyuu-nen-shiki hoheijyuu”) derives
from the fact that it was manufactured in the 30th year of the Meiji
Restoration period.
Keepers should note that this gun uses its own ammo, and, if
players are not suitably stocked, they may have to resort to using the bayonet
with which this rifle is sometimes equipped. Count those bullets!
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D8
Range:
503m / 1650ft
Shots/round:
1
Capacity:
5
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from the 1890s throughout the 20th
Century
Mauser
Gewehr 98 (Germany, 1898-1918)
The Gewehr 98 served as the German Army service rifle from
1898 until 1935. Mechanically, it was a vast improvement over previous
bolt-action rifles.
The bolt-action system is a type referred to as a
“controlled-feed” which efficiently loads cartridges from the internal magazine
and despatches the spent shells after they have been fired. Specially-positioned
gas vents were added to direct fumes and detritus away from the face of the
shooter in the case of a catastrophic failure and the rifle was equipped with a
three-position safety mechanism that helped prevent accidental firing. Finally,
the trigger had a two-position pull to help the user take correct aim under
combat situations.
The internal magazine was innovative in that the cartridges
were stacked in a zig-zag fashion. Regardless of the amount of ammunition in
the gun, bullets could be inserted directly into the chamber and fired; while
doing this however, the extractor mechanism does not engage with the spent case
and it will not automatically be withdrawn when the bolt is next pulled back.
The main issue with his weapon is that the bolt needs to be
pulled back sharply and completely after each shot; if not, there is a chance
that the casings will not be ejected fully and may become caught, creating a jam.
The bolt can be completely removed for cleaning or to disarm the weapon by
pulling out the bolt stop and withdrawing it; if the system is not replaced
correctly during cleaning, it is possible for the bolt to slide out and get
lost or, worse, to be explosively ejected in combat.
A solid performer on the battlefield, the main initial
drawback of the Gewehr 98 was that it was by no means cheap to manufacture. In
later arenas, particularly the trenches of World War One, it was too long to be
effective and the sights were calibrated at too great a range to be of much use
in close-combat. It was replaced by the Karbiner 98k in the lead-up to World
War Two, but not before many of them were despatched to China: as in the case
of the Gewehr 88, the Gewehr 98 was heavily imported to arm Chinese troops
during and after the Chinese Revolution. It too, was replicated by Chinese
arsenals and became known as the ‘Chiang Kai-shek Rifle’.
Some of these rifles were adapted to shoot grenades during
the First World War and these converted rifles remained in use up until, and
throughout, the Second World War.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10
Range:
2,000m / 6,600ft
Shots/round:
2
Capacity:
5
HP:
10
Malfunction:
98%
Availability: COMMON from the 1890s throughout the 20th
Century
The Chinese Revolution (1911-1912)
Arisaka
‘38th Year’ rifle (Japan, 1907-1944)
Initially introduced to work alongside the earlier 30th
Year rifle and carbine, this rifle had some teething issues which led it to
being eventually superseded. The Japanese name for the rifle is “san-bachi-shiki hoheijū” and is a
reference to the year of reign of the Emperor.
Like the earlier weapon, it uses its own specific ammunition
so Keepers should ensure that their players are watchful of their reserves.
This dependency on a specific ammo type was one reason why the gun was
eventually passed over, not due to scarcity for Japanese troops but due to its
lack of power. The cartridge was designed to produce very little recoil when
shot, but, commensurately, it had very limited effect. The other issue with the
gun was that it was very long, in line with the focus on bayonet use which was
a hallmark of Japanese Army training. It was simply too big – especially with the
bayonet attached – for most soldiers to use without becoming entangled.
The final nail in the coffin was the fact that Japan’s
metallurgical resources were limited and they needed a weapon that would spread
the supply as efficiently as possible; this was not the gun for that goal.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D8
Range:
503m / 1650ft
Shots/round:
3
Capacity:
5
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: COMMON from 1900 onwards
Lee-Enfield
SMLE Mk III rifle (UK, 1907-1943)
The Mark III represented an upgrade to the iconic
Lee-Enfield rifle and introduced a series of alterations designed to bring it
on par with the German Gewehr 98. The major change was the alteration of the
magazine to use the new high velocity .303 cartridges. Many of the old ‘Emilys’
were simply reconditioned to meet the new specs.
However, an economic concern arose. To create one of these
new guns, the Government had to fork out £3/15/- and the cost of outfitting
troops soon became prohibitive. Some cost-cutting moves were taken – small
features of the weapon were altered, or removed – and production was farmed out
to various other factories around the globe. Not all of the modifications were
implemented at the same time, so rifles with some, none, or all of the
modifications could be found in service at the same time. The modified rifle
was designated the Mark III*.
One reconfiguration was the removal of the guide to take the
magazine. This was reinstated after World War One, but versions without this
feature were liable to jam as a result of the magazine being wrongly inserted (the
alternative malfunction stat reflects guns with this feature).
This rifle saw plenty of action throughout both World Wars, production
finally ceasing in 1953.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10
Range:
503m / 1650ft
Shots/round:
2
Capacity:
6
HP:
10
Malfunction:
95%/00%
Availability: COMMON from 1900 onwards
Mannlicher-Schoenauer
Greek M1903 (Austria, 1903-1930)
This was the Rolls-Royce of rifles at the time. Featuring a
rotary-magazine feed design, launched at the World Fair in 1900, the weapon was
precision made down to the last detail and aimed at both the military and
sporting markets. It was met with universal acclaim.
Sadly, given the cost of making one of these rifles, no government
was able to foot the bill for adopting it for their troops: the gun became a
sporting shooter’s option for the most part. Eventually, however, Greek troops
adopted it for use in their country’s conflicts through to 1927, both in the
standard rifle length and as a carbine. Even here however, pricing concerns eventually
led the Greeks to start buying cheaper, contracted Italian rifles, rather than
getting them directly from the Austrian factories.
Base%:
30
Damage:
1D10
Range:
2,000m / 6,000ft
Shots/round:
3
Capacity:
5
HP:
10
Malfunction:
00%
Availability: RARE from 1903 onwards
Springfield
US M1903 (US, 1903-1965)
Having adopted the Krag-Jørgensen rifle for their troops,
the Americans looked seriously at adapting it for use with the higher-powered
cartridges that were coming into vogue. Experiences with Gewehr 98s during the
Spanish-American War proved to them that better and more powerful bullets were
the way of the future.
However, The internal magazine of the Krag was unequal to
the force of the high explosive force exerted upon it by the new rounds and it
was soon clear that a new weapon was needed, a complete re-design from the
ground up.
The rifle produced was a bolt-action, clip–loaded weapon in
line with many other contemporary service guns. An release date in 1901 was
aborted due to some necessary polish and refinement, and the weapon hit the stands in
1903. Almost immediately there were problems: firstly, since the gun had been
designed using captured Gewehr 98 copies manufactured under license in Spanish
factories, it breached copyright law and huge fines were sued for, and won, by
the Mauser Werke company; secondly, Theodore Roosevelt complained about the
proposed bayonet design and sent the project back to the drawing board;
finally, changes in ballistics design producing the pointed "Cartridge,
Ball, Caliber .30, Model of 1906" round (later known as 30-06 ammunition
and the most widely-used round in the world today), sent the rifle back for
re-tooling.
Eventually, the rifle slated for release in 1901 and set for
distribution in 1903, was released to American troops in 1905. Today it is used
mainly in drill routines, but it saw military service in several capacities up
until the VietNam War. A notable feature of this weapon is that it was
manufactured in only one short length, reflecting a trend amongst world powers
of the time that the “long version and carbine model” standard was an outmoded
luxury and expense.
Base%:
20
Damage:
1D10+2
Range:
2,000m / 6,600ft
Shots/round:
2
Capacity:
5
HP:
10
Malfunction:
98%
Availability: COMMON from 1905 onwards
*****
Charger
(or “Stripper Clip”)
These are strips of tooled metal (or plastic in the modern
era) onto which either 5 or 10 bullets may be clipped. The idea is that, rather
than inserting the rounds by hand one at a time, a speedier loading process can
be facilitated by sliding one of these mechanisms into the magazine of the
rifle. As the charger slides into the receiver, the bullets snap off and
position themselves automatically; the charger is then withdrawn and placed to
one side to be re-loaded for use later on. This device significantly reduces
re-load time in combat, although their use requires some fore-thought and preparation.
They were first introduced for use with the Mosin-Nagant rifle but were rapidly
adopted and used by many other weapons thereafter.
Keepers should allow their players to re-load in a single
round if they have taken the time to arrange the use of these devices. Since
their use is not immediately obvious to the inexperienced (and some styles of charger
are quite elaborate), have characters encountering them for the first time make
Mechanical Repair or Gun Lore rolls to correctly employ them. A gun jam, else.
*****
Gun
Lore Rolls
While not specifically a canon mechanic for Call of Cthulhu, I find that this skill
is a useful mechanism when dealing with guns.
A character’s weapon skill for a particular gun (as opposed
to their generic Handgun or Rifle skill) can be used not only to employ
the thing effectively, but can be utilised to make sure that the usual foibles
of that weapon don’t intrude upon its employment in combat (ie., all those
peculiar idiosyncrasies mentioned in the preceding lists).
The generic Handgun
or Rifle skill is used determine
information about similar weaponry with which the character may not be so
familiar and is the default statistic used whilst shooting an unfamiliar
firearm. It can also be used to determine what is wrong with a weapon where
this is not immediately obvious.
Rather than being a separate skill, a character’s Gun Lore is identical to the score that
a player has in their particular chosen weapon. That is, if a character has Derringer skill of 45%, then their Gun Lore: Derringer skill is also 45%.
This is distinct from a character’s initial Handgun
or Rifle skills, which are raw scores
unmodified by a focus onto a particular weapon.
*****
Careful readers will again note that, between all of the
geeky gun specs, this material is designed to emphasise the fact that, in Call of Cthulhu, guns are not the answer
(in any other sphere of life also, but this is not the venue for that particular
discussion). Use of these rules will not only provide a sense of period
accuracy but will force players to look at other means of achieving their
goals.
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment