Shwetz M81 (Weapon)

The Shwetz Rifle Model AC1181 is a select fire rifle developed by Ayla S. Shwetz in Ismere, with fire selections of bolt-action, semi-automatic, and fully automatic. While it was available for the beginning of the Dendarin Expansion conflicts, only about twenty-five thousand examples existed at the time, leading to the defeat of their parent nations.

History
Following the AC1166 box magazine conversion of the Shwetz Rifle Model M57, putting Ismere more than a decade behind the adoption of the box magazine. The stubbornness of the armorers was beginning to get to Ayla Shwetz, born immortal gunsmith and rival to Viktoriya Ivanovka.

Taking inspiration from self loading rifle trials for the prototype models of the SS1181-R, what would become the Kobeula 82, Ayla would invent her own semi-automatic mechanism. One that relied more on the management core rather than a fully mechanical system. Full auto fire would be added later.

The rifle was rejected for service by Ismere, citing the high price-per-unit and "underpowered charges", which were legitimate concerns at the time. Ebenland, however accepted them with open arms, as they had recently entered into a war with New Dendarin and desperately needed rifles.

The original ten-round box magazines were found to be emptied too quickly in full-auto fire, as well as being difficult to control. A twenty-round magazine was created to provide more ammunition, and the maximum fire rate was reduced to 240 rounds per minute to improve controllability.

Roughly 25 thousand examples had been produced in Ismere and over 80% of those had been exported to Ebenland before it was annexed alongside half of Ismere. The territory Ismere lost included all of the facilities used by Shwetz, but Ayla elected to keep her company inside New Dendarin at the request of her sister, General Louisa Shwetz.

During the war, an entire New Dendarin infantry division was armed with these rifles following the conquest of Ebenland, and they showed their effectiveness against Ismere's troops armed mostly with Shwetz M66 rifles, with both sides in awe of its innovative design. Multiple ammunition factories in former Ebenland were devoted to producing 8.13x11.4mm for their continued use.

Shwetz began manufacturing M81A variant rifles for the New Dendarin rebel forces during the rebellion. After the civil war, the weapon was accepted for general issue under the new government in AC1184.

The wind crystal impingement system was trademarked in as many nations as possible, though a few far northern nations such as Greater Amazonia would not allow it. Following the trademark, a standard rate of compensation would be set for any arms manufacturers to make use of the system, at ten percent cost for each rifle made up to number fifty thousand, and five percent for each unit after that.

Begrudgingly, Viktoriya Ivanovka would design a select fire rifle to replace the blowback operated Ivanovka M85. This would result in the Exia-Bausable Service Rifle, Model AC1187. Ivanovka refused to put her name on the design.

Features
If it wasn't for the fire selector and external piston, the rifle may seem to be only a slight upgrade from the previous Shwetz M66. It is, by default, a straight-pull bolt action rifle with three camming surfaces on its bolt body in the form of helical grooves, one on the outside that serves as a safety lug, and two on the inside. As the bolt handle is moved backwards, these grooves interact with pegs on the bolt handle and its connected bars and rods. It turns counter-clockwise 65 degrees to release the forward locking lugs from their berths and allows the entire bolt assembly to continue rearward.

The long bar on the right, in this firing mode, functions as a return spring for the bolt, requiring only a rearward motion, and having the bolt return to lock on its own. The spring can be removed from the right-side housing to allow a more traditional straight-pull action, but this removes the self-loading capability of the rifle as well. In either semi or fully automatic firing modes, the charge bolt moves through the barrel and passes a block of crystal attached to the guide rod for the return spring. This crystal senses the presence of energy moving through the barrel. As soon as the concentration of energy within the barrel is deemed low enough, the wind-aligned crystal sends a small bolt down the spring housing, impacting the solid rear face and knocking the bolt rearwards.

This essentially causes the bolt to cycle on its own, reloading itself from the magazine without user intervention. In full-auto, these motions can be performed consecutively with a safety condition being disabled in the management core, condition five, which is written as "Has the trigger been released since the weapon was last discharged?"

This allows for firing again as soon as all four additional conditions are met. That someone is holding the rifle, the breech is closed, the trigger is being pulled, and the wielder wants it to go off.

Model AC1181
The Shwetz Model AC1181 Rifle, or M81, was designed over the course of 13 years, following the introduction of the SS1168-SR. Ayla Swetz saw the flaws inherent in the weapon system, such as the often incomplete discharge of the bolt before ejection occurred. This caused the charge to continue weakly releasing energy while outside of the rifle due to being outside the range of the management core's direction.

Her solution was to use a second charge bolt to knock a more traditional bolt open on its own. This was the first wind crystal impingement system ever devised, and its merits would be seen later in its life.

Model AC1181-A
The M81A would see use in New Dendarin following the Dendarin Expansion Conflicts. it featured several small changes including a simpler receiver shape, a grip spur, a steel butt plate, and a synthetic stock, materials for which were supplied by Sterlina.

M81A1
The generals and troops who were issued them for field trials preferred the older wooden stocks, seeing them as being more cold resistant than both the fiberglass and polymer options, so the main production of the rifle maintained the wooden stock of the original with the new features added. in addition, a dust cover was added to the action due to its fairly open nature, with a fully open right side to allow the operating rod to cycle the bolt.

Real Life Origins
The Shwetz M81 is based upon the Cei-Rigotti.