Automatic Battle Rifle

A modification on this semi-automatic rifle (imperator-zor.deviantart.com/a… ) created after twenty years of service to keep it at the top of the line. This upgrade switched it from a semi automatic weapon to a selective fire one capable of fully automatic fire at 400 rounds per minute. It's magazine was upgraded to 27 rounds, it got a pistol grip and a handle for carrying. Originally it was intended as a light machine gun, but eventually it became the standard weapon of the army as it's production costs were only slightly higher than the semi-auto rifle and the retooling requirements were marginal. Full Automatic firepower in the hands of the average soldier was often a key advantage in firefights and if need be it could still accurately take out targets on semi automatic. That said, it's long barrel length was often unwieldy and a liability in confined spaces, it's 7.3mm cartridge was rather heavy for the average soldier to fire on full auto made all the worse by a lack of recoil control systems and it's reliability issues were exacerbated. Never the less, soldiers would have to make do with it for another twenty six years before a ground up assault rifle would supersede this.