Shipbucket

The Amerigo Moschetto Automatico M41 was a select fire, intermediate caliber, automatic rifle developed to replace a rather large number of both carbine rifles and submachine guns in service with the Regian Army during the Second Great War. It was developed from the Amerigo M09-15e, a militarized version of a sporting automatic rifle adopted as an emergency measure during the Great War, which saw widespread use as a trench clearing weapon. The most notable difference between the M41 and its predecessor is the adoption of a lever delay system, wherein two parts of the bolt are locked together in place by a lever that catches on a notch inside the top of the receiver. When the inertia of the round firing causes the rearward half of the bolt to move back, it drops the lever out of its notch in the receiver, and allows the rest of the bolt to come back with it. The simple delayed blowback mechanism was ideally suited to the budgetary constraints faced by the army, as it used very few parts and all components were extremely simple to manufacture. The .351 Esercito cartridge was a development of the previous rifle’s .351 Amerigo Automatic cartridge, with the main difference being the adoption of a 150 grain spitzer bullet in the former, as opposed to the 180 grain round nosed bullet in the latter. Though it did have a smaller wound channel, the higher velocity and better aerodynamics gave it more accuracy at 200-300 yard ranges. It used an open loop rear sight combined with a simple post front sight, making it quick to aim and giving a wide field of view in the sights at the expense of precision shooting.

The rifle was well suited to the dense woodlands of Baltica where the army was majorly committed for most of the war, and despite arriving late to the conflict it made a remarkably favorable impression on the troops who used it- M41s were always in high demand in every infantry unit from the moment they were introduced. Variants of the rifle continue to serve to this day in modernized forms, including the M86 which introduced a lightweight plastic stock and alloy frame and bolt that lightened the weapon further. Despite the weapons age it continues to serve faithfully, in no small part due to the fact that the marginal gains from new infantry weapons could be spent better on almost anything else. The Regian Army feels strongly that in the present day, intelligence capabilities, armored fighting vehicles, artillery and close support aircraft should have the lion’s share of the budget, and with their limited funding compared to the Navy, they barely make ends meet in these important areas. The Amerigo assault rifle’s future appears to be a long one.

History and Production:

Type: Assault Rifle
Place of Origin: Regia Nautica

In service: 541KE-Present
Used by: Regian Army, Regian Navy
Wars: Second Great War

Designed: 536-541KE
Manufacturer: Fabrica d’Armi Amerigo
Produced: 541KE-Present
No. Built: ~2.8 million

Specifications:

Mass: 7 lbs (3.2 kg) (loaded)
Length: 36.5 inches (92.7 cm)
Barrel Length: 17 inches (43.2 cm)

Cartridge: .351 Esercito (8.9x34mm) (150 gr)
Action: Lever Delayed Blowback
Rate of Fire: 700 Rounds Per Minute
Muzzle Velocity: 1950 fps (595 mps)
Muzzle Energy: 1500~ ft/lbs (2030~ J)
Feed System: 25-round detachable box magazine
Sights: 100-200 yard, two-position iron sights

As the Second World War came to a close, the British people turned their attention to the general election. Labour was in the perfect position. Its social and economic policies were well-suited to a Britain wounded by six years of conflict. Furthermore, the party was no longer constrained by the wartime coalition. Unfortunately, Labour would not “face the future” in a position of power. Winston Churchill, the conservatives, and their allies in parliament achieved a slim majority. With his office secure for the next five years, Churchill chose to focus on an old enemy: Russia. It soon became clear that Soviet promises of democracy in eastern Europe were worthless. The westward encroachment of Stalinist totalitarianism reinvigorated fears of world communism, and Churchill soon found allies in parliament. His role in the creation of the Soviet sphere was conveniently ignore. Despite Churchill’s growing hostility towards the Soviet Union, Britain was in no position to face Soviet forces in Europe. The nation was broke and all plans for war were considered infeasible. To make matters worse, American forces were being demobilised rapidly. Operation Unthinkable was extremely risky. Without American support, it was suicide. Peace would reign in the final months of 1945.

As relations between the Soviet Union and Britain deteriorated, so too did the Soviet-American relationship. Soviet troops refused to withdraw from Iran in 1946. That same year, the United States supported Turkey’s position in the Turkish Straits crisis. In 1947, pressure from the United States encouraged the governments of France and Italy to exclude communist parties from their respective legislatures. The ‘percentages agreement’ of 1944 then broke down with the arrival of Soviet aid in communist-controlled areas of Greece. Tensions between the West and East came to a head in June 1948. While discussing the Soviet blockade of Berlin with Truman, Churchill pushed for war. These meetings were held in private, but Churchill’s position was shared by fervent anti-communist elements in America. Truman favoured a policy of containment and stood his ground, choosing to airlift supplies into Berlin. However, in the months that followed, Truman wavered in the face of domestic pressure. In September, Truman endorsed an aggressive USAFE plan. Strategic bombers would strike Soviet bases in eastern Europe while the army opened a land route to Berlin. Hostilities would commence on the 15th of March.

The United States and its allies in Europe were unprepared for a confrontation with the Soviet Union. Nuclear strikes against critical Soviet bases were initially successful. The Red Army was paralysed, allowing an Anglo-American armoured force to reach Berlin in two weeks. However, the supply of nuclear weapons was limited, and the Soviet Union soon pushed back hard. In many cases, their forces were superior in quality and number. Soviet forces had pioneered the mass issuing of automatic weapons in Berlin four years earlier. Weapons like the SKS and the PPS-43 were soon joined by the new AK-47. British forces urgently required a replacement for the No. 4 rifle. As a bolt-action rifle, it was arguably obsolescent at the start of the Second World War. The EM-2 was already in development, but it was too complicated for immediate mass production. The British Army needed a solution without delay, and the Ministry of Supply turned to the home of the STEN.

Working under the direction of Harold Turpin, a team at the Sterling Armaments Company developed a new rifle in record time. It was of tubular construction, like the company’s earlier Patchett and STEN submachine guns. However, it employed a direct-impingement gas system. This meant the design was substantially more complex than the Patchett or STEN. However, the weapon was to be an assault rifle and the envisioned cartridge was considered too powerful. The locking surfaces of the bolt were triangular in an effort to reduce cost and production time. The bolt itself telescoped within a bolt carrier. When firing, a cam rotated the bolt as the carrier moved backward under gas pressure. These two components were then free to recoil backward. The barrel was taken directly from the No. 5 rifle. The chamber was shortened, and a hole was drilled for the gas port. It was otherwise identical. The pistol grip and trigger were originally developed for the Sten Mk V, though the trigger mechanism itself was different. A selector switch was provided for semi-automatic and automatic fire, while a cross bolt safety was employed. Ammunition was fed from a twenty-round box magazine on the left side of the weapon and empty cases ejected on the right. The rifle had no handguard or foregrip. Instead, a canvas sleeve was provided which wrapped around the barrel shroud and gas tube. Basic disassembly was accomplished by depressing a spring-loaded pin near the point where the stock met the receiver. This allowed the stock to be rotate 90 degrees anti-clockwise and removed. This exposed the trigger mechanism. The cap of the buffer tube could then be unscrewed, revealing the recoil spring for removal. Removing the charging handle on the right side of the weapon allowed the bolt and bolt carrier to be removed after the trigger assembly was removed.

A new cartridge was developed in parallel at Radway Green. It incorporated lessons learned by the Ideal Cartridge Panel but used the existing .303 case as a starting point. It was dimensionally identical to .303 except at the rear, where the case was shortened. This allowed the cartridge to be used with existing barrels if the chamber was shortened, reducing the amount of re-tooling required in turn. The rim of the .303 was dropped in favour of a rimless design. While this decision led to smoother feeding, headspacing was an issue throughout the service life the Turpin. The Radway Green cartridge was adopted under the designation ‘Cartridge S.A. Ball, .303 Inch (Automatic), Mark 1’ and was later designated ‘7.7mm Ball L2A1’. However, the name ‘.303 Auto’ was coined soon after its introduction and has stuck ever since.



The Sterling rifle entered service in September 1949 as the ‘Turpin Machine Carbine Mark 1’. One thousand rifles were rushed to British troops in Belgium. Unfortunately, the available ammunition was expended in less than a week. This shortage lasted until November. By Christmas, a simple spike bayonet was introduced to replace the existing bayonet which had been borrowed from No. 5 rifle. Several flaws were discovered in the first months of operational service. During periods of extended automatic fire, the bolt carrier was known to crack. This occurred after the expenditure of several thousand rounds, but no doubt caused the death of several soldiers in the field. The canvas sleeve protecting the user’s hand was often lost and did little to insulate against heat. Welding quality was generally poor, though it was only considered insufficient in the case of early Enfield-manufactured rifles. The Turpin’s accuracy was adequate, but it was rather poor when compared to the No. 4 rifle. The twist-rate of the barrel was not well-suited to the .303 Auto cartridge. Despite these flaws, the Turpin supplanted the No. 4 wherever possible. By February 1950, a modified version of the Bren firing the .303 Auto cartridge was introduced.

The tide of war eventually turned against the Soviet Union. Oil production decreased substantially after the oil fields in Romania and Azerbaijan were bombed with nuclear weapons. The liberation of northern Iran by British and Indian forces limited oil further. While never able to completely suppress Soviet airpower, the air forces of the West became increasingly dominant in the skies over Europe. The mobility of Soviet armour also waned as oil was held in reserve for a massive counter-attack which would take place as hostile forces entered the Soviet Union. The ruins of Berlin were re-captured in June 1950. In September, the Soviet Union deployed its own nuclear weapons against the armies of the West. Ten devices were detonated, demonstrating the Soviet Union’s ability to mass-produce nuclear weapons and deploy them against real targets. A ceasefire was declared in October. The resulting peace agreement ended the Soviet occupation of eastern Germany. However, it also gave the Soviet government free reign over Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania. The political independence of these states was severely curtailed in the years that followed. Stalin and his successors would extract whatever possible from these countries in preparation for a future war with the West which never occurred.



In 1956, a new version of the Turpin was introduced. This was initially known as the ‘Turpin Machine Carbine Mark 2’, but this name was soon superseded by the alphanumeric ‘L1A2’ designation. Similarly, the Mark 1 became the ‘L1A1’. The new version resolved many of the issues that had been encountered during the Soviet war, and manufacturing quality was generally much higher. A proper handguard was introduced alongside a more comfortable pistol grip. The gas tube, susceptible to damage, was encapsulated in a second tube. The old No. 5 rifle bayonet was reintroduced, replacing the austere spike design. New barrels were produced with a twist rate ideal for the .303 Auto cartridge. The cross-bolt safety was replaced with a third position on the fire selector switch. An adjustable flip-up rear sight was also introduced, superseding the original two-position design. The L1A2 remained in frontline service until 1987 when it was withdrawn in favour of a new bullpup design firing a small-calibre, high-velocity round. Several changes were introduced over the years, including a new flash hider and plastic furniture. However, these improved rifles retained the L1A2 designation. The L1A2 was sold to a number of Commonwealth countries and is still used by Indian police.

Beretta Mitragliatrice 46

As World War rages on,more advancement in firearms were made,Nazi Germany break the ground by introducing its new cutting edge weapon type that were unheard before the Assault Rifle or in German Sturmgewehr,which is a select fire weapon that fired an new intermediate cartridge in order to gain a maximum usefulness in almost all condition of infantry combat such as close quarter and medium range engangement and having a superb firerate and accuracy as Germany brand new StG 44 prove itself in combat,Germany Allies,Italy soons liked the Assault Rifle idea and began to pursue its own assault rifle based on purely Italian design,Italy however were lagging behind in development of many kinds of field that required to make an Assault Rifle predominantly intermediate cartridge,Italy however want to rush the rifle into service as fast as it could ask Germany to licensed produce its Kurz cartridge which Germany accepted the request and Italian company Beretta began to design the first ever Italian Assault Rifle the Beretta Mitragliatrice 46 which entered the service in 1946 as world 2nd Assault Rifle in service after Germany;s StG 44



Beretta Mitragliatrice 46 were a gas-operated rifle with a long-stroke gas piston above the barrel, a breech-block mechanism vand a curved 30-round magazine directly taken from StG 44 for easier measure of production and were chambered in 7.92 mm x 33mm Kurz cartridge.As the Beretta M.46 were produced in midst of war Italy relies much on non strategic material,this include a substantial usage of wood in comparison with its German counterpart and many parts could've been easily made in small yard across Italy with little skill need to produce it



Beretta M.46 have many varieties of attachment including the usual although newly designed Carcano like bayonet and a Lancia di Granate Modello 48 Grenade Launcher which entered service in 1948,The Grenade Launcher system were heavily influenced by US M7 Grenade Launcher that were captured by Italy and its similar to its US counterparts



The Lanciagranate Modello 48 can be used along with wide variaties of Grenade that were already in service such as OTO Mod.35 grenade using special adapter known as Adaptorre Bomba a Mano



Italian Army,which have a positive view on Lanciagranate Mod 48 were experimenting with the possibility of mounting a large HEAT Anti Tank Grenade which could bolster Italian Infantry Unit in terms of Anti Tank capability the result were Granate Anticarro Modelle 1951 which were dubbed as 'Melone' because of its shape and could penetrate around 180mm of Armour at 90 degrees,although it were later found that it has a poor range and were kinda cumbersome nonetheless it bolster Italian infantry capability greatly



The Beretta Mitragliatrice 46 were continued to serve alongside Regio Esercito until early to mid 1980s when it is largely replaced by more modern weapons but it also saw service with other Co-Belligerent Nation such as Greater Romania and many even ended up in Somalis,Arabs and African rebels hand who found it to be reliable and robust weapon

Specifications: Beretta Mitragliatrice 46

In service: 1946 - ??? (1980s with Italian Empire Army)
Designed: 1944 - 1945
Manufacturer: Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A. and other sub contractors
Produced: 1946 - 1965
Length: 100 cm
Barrel Length: 72 cm
Cartridge: 7.92×33mm Kurz
Action: Gas-operated rotating-bolt
Rate of fire: 400-600 rounds/min automatic
Feed system: 30-round detachable magazine

In the late 1920s, the general staff formuled a requirement for an infantry short rifle capable to rise the level of firepower in the jungle light infantry brigades. Very soon, they arrived to the conclusion that the current service cartridge was too powerful for a jungle rifle, so they formuled another requirement, for a new round. The round must be based in the current 30.06 cartridge and with the current machinery available at Indumil. In 1931, a new cartridge was adopted: Indumil 7.62x42 mm.

The new rifle was gas operated, with a short piston and a non reciprocating arming handle. It used a simple flip with 2 ranges, 150 and 300 mts. It had a selective fire with 2 modes, single shots, and 3 round burst. Full automatic was not available. This rifle used a 15 round magazine It was not a cheap weapon, with a heavily machined receiver, but was very reliable. It used the bayonet of the standard bolt action (Lee, not mauser) rifle of the army.
Specifications
In service: Late 1932.
Cartridge: 7.62x42
Action: Gas operated, short piston.
Length: 103 mm
Weight: 4 kgs

After the Second Great War, the infantry equipment of the Russian Army was in total disarray. They composed of five different types of SMGs and the primarily used rifle [insert name here] dating back to 1907. Whereas the Russian Army had developed a pre-war program to replace the M1907 rifle with the M1940 Semi-automatic rifle. With the outbreak of the War, compounded with the fact that it was much more costly to produce en mass compared to the old bolt action M1907. Still, it did find a role when it was paired up with soldiers armed with SMGs, where it was used with great effectiveness to take out problematic targets during the bitter house to house fighting that characterised the Second Great War.

It was thought during the war that one could combine the roles of both the SMG and rifle into one, but such thought was wasted when you could produce at least 10 SMGs for every rifle using stampings. After the war, with the capture of many German-made Sturmgewehrs, the idea was brought back, but only to replace the myriad of cheap SMGs that were only meant to last few years at best.
The Central Directory of Arms Production issued a set of requirements to replace the current set of SMGs in 1947, but said requirements were mostly forgotten about when a design by Valentina Konstantinovna Kuznetsova was entered at the last moment. Even though it did not meet the requirements of cost, and requested use of a pistol cartridge, it proved to better in almost every other aspect. It fired the 7.62x45mm M1945 cartridge, which was being developed for a new LMG which had ended up failing during testing.

The gun - now named the Avtomat Kuznetsova - was tested between late 1947 to late 1948. It ended up needing minor improvements to make it more robust to mud and sand. The gun was accepted into service in early 1949 hence it's M1949 designation.

The gun uses a two lug rotating bolt, actuated by a direct gas impingement system which was noted for it's robustness and resilience, while at the same time being rather inexpensive to produce. The gun also used a 30 round box magazine with a quick release button just over the trigger finger. The safety and selector is positioned on the left side of the gun and can be actuated with a flick of the thumb. The gun however, does not have an exposed bolt hold, to help lower costs.

The gun is also notable for being stamped and pressed together, a process used during the war to make millions of SMGs, and was greatly aided by the help of 'volunteer' German technical experts.



Specifications: Avtomat Kuznetsova

In service: 1949 - ????
Designed: 1947-1948
Manufacturer: Tula, Izhevsk, Sestroryetsk and Mukden Arsenals
Produced: 1948- ????
Length: 35.9 inches (91.186 cm), 47.9 inches (121.666cm) with bayonet extended
Barrel Length: 16.65 inches (42.291 cm)
Cartridge: 7.62x45mm M1949
Action: Direct Gas Impingement Actuated Rotating-bolt
Rate of fire: 600 rounds/min automatic
Feed system: 30-round detachable magazine

Specifications: 7.62x45mm M1949

Weight: 8.5 g (131 gr)
Velocity: 760 m/s (2,500 ft/s)
Energy: 2,455 J (1,811 ft⋅lbf)

Following the most recent conflict, the Ordinance Department proposed a universal rifle concept. A rifle meant to function as a SMG, LMG, DMR, carbine,nand standard infantry arm. To accomplish this the proposal took the 6x63mm cartridge already in use and shortened it to 6x40mm, took the action design from the in service LMG and inverted it, and finally packaged the system in as compact form as possible. The result was the RDU-54, rifle-downward ejection-universal-1954, which had a barrel of 25.5inches, overall length of 37.4inches, weight of 9lbs, and magazine of 24 cartridges. The rifle was torn down for field stripping by pushing the rear of trigger guard forward the swinging it around in lever fashion to release the rearmost lug on the barrel to allow the upper to be pivoted up releasing the rear receiver lug from the stock, from there the upper receiver stamping is shimmied off the barrel lugs there by the barrel and bolt assemblies are released out of the upper. Trials commenced and various alterations occurred resulting int the RDU-59 production model, the major difference being the rear half of the stock and its accompanying metal inserts being swapped in for a lower fabricated stamping. This new rifle being 29.8inches long with a barrel of 17.9inches, and weight of 8.2lbs.

The 6x40mm Rayon cartridge while intermediate in name was more equivalent to a light battle rifle cartridge being capable of 2017ft-lbs(2.74kJ), however, it was a lighter cartridge than its direct predecessor. The action being based on the in service LMG consisted of gas driven short stroke piston long travel multi-lug rotating bolt guided by overhead spring system and upper receiver stamping. Being a downward ejection the extreme length of the action required it to be placed aft of convention and as such resulted in a longer than anticipated development cycle to prove the system would function as reliably as it had before being shrunk down from the LMG which had the action ahead of the trigger group.

The functional groups of the rifle consist of trigger guard based safety similar to a M14 in which forward is safe and reward(within the trigger guard) is safe. The semi-auto to full-auto selector consists of a eccentric dime wheel which can be turned by finger nail, dime, corner of dog-tag, etc, and functions by enabling the auto sear.

Condensed Specifications:
RDU-54
First fired: May 6th 1954
Cartridge 6x40mm 108grain@2900fps / 7gr@884m/s
Action: Short stroke gas piston/long travel multi-lug rotating bolt
Weight: 9lbs (4.1kg)
Overall Length: 37.4inch (.95m)
Barrel Length: 25.5inch (.65m)

RDU-59
In service April 22nd 1959
Cartridge 6x40mm 108grain@2900fps (7gr@884m/s)
Action: Short stroke gas piston/long travel multi-lug rotating bolt
Weight: 8.2lbs (3.7kg)
Overall Length: 29.8inch (.76m)
Barrel Length: 17.9inch (.45m)



Ballistics table and cartridge specs for your pleasure
zeroed at 900ft

The poll for this challenge is now open.
It will close at 23:59:59 UTC on the 28th of October.

Hi Muscatatuck
May I ask you if there is some wildcat heritage in the genesis of your 6 x 40 mm? Thanks and cheers.

Yes in a way, to simplify drawing dies(brass production) I was looking to base the cartridge off the previous brass and I was dead set on essentially a 6mm-06 which is based off the .30-06, thus when I decided to shorten the cartridge similar to how the US cut down the .30-06 into .308 Win it resulted in cartridge of a case length near 40mm as I wanted a similar C.O.A.L. of a .223 Rem. Thus I started off with a truly AU cartridge only to find out that there was a real cartridge of similar specification, the 6mm Dasher, the only change between my original AU concept and the dasher being 5deg increase in neck angle, thus I decided to just use Dasher. I believe 6mm Dasher is still a wildcat, but I've heard its either been SAAMIed recently or is in the process by I think was Norma?

I’d like to give some short opinions on the drawings offered in this challenge, since I think that the feedback is an important part of them and lead by example yadda yadda.

First of all let me tell you that I know the equivalent of the square root of John Feces about guns, so I’m mostly going to talk about the drawings as it pertains to the pixelart style we use. The drawing you see for my entry is also my first ever gunbucket drawing (hooray), and honestly I thought at first that the scale was too damn big, I was afraid I was going to have too much empty space. But hey, several hours after getting into it and I really like it!

An issue (yeah, full blown issue) I noticed with most drawings here was inconsistent lighting. Armoured man and Colombus went as far as deciding to put their light source on top left instead of top right as it’s usual in SB. Other drawings have suffered from lack of consistency while doing this, which is understandable as representing complex shapes on the pistol grip for example is challenging. Nonetheless I miss that structures that curve downwards don’t show receding lighting, to the point that under triggers you see highlighted zones that should be neutral or shaded.

Even then, all entries give off a good first impression and look like actual guns (to me) so this commentary is more about pointers where things could be improved upon.

Rasp’s M1955 is very well drawn and coloured, it has a nice overall appearance with clearly differentiated parts, metallic, blued and wood, some of the details on the stamping and on the gas cylinder, also the sights, are really good. The gun itself is a bit too safe and stiff looking in my opinion, but it’s a great entry. The backstory enrichens the drawing too. The front bottom of the pistol grip shows the aforementioned highlighting issue.

Shigure’s M51 also gives off a great impression. The drawing seems to improve with every version. The cocking handle is a bit less obvious and the line separating the upper from the lower receiver is oddly curved. The magazine seems to be oddly tilted too. Nevertheless it’s a good drawing and the barrel area achieves a great look. The gun itself is probably the most attractive of the conventionally configured guns.

Armoured Man’s AR-56 is shaded the other way around! Sure, why not. The black lines on the receiver seem excessive to me. The cocking handle is massive, but hey. Overall it has attractive looks despite being safe and conventional. The protuberances over the furniture of the 2nd and 3rd versions would probably cast a bit of shadow, 1px perhaps.

Aiseus’ AK47 is super weird and I praise it for being so. The design is ugly but it makes sense to me. The accessories add a lot to the image of the gun. I feel that the magazine stamping looks a bit inflated and that the base of the pistol grip is a bit narrow. The shoulder stock also looks a bit weak. Overall good job though, one of the most interesting entries.

On my own gun. The gun-savvy among you will have already noticed it’s basically an XL64. Like I said, guns are not my forte so I took the safe route and based it on something that works(ed)(?). Apparently these guns still didn’t suffer of most of the reliability issues the SA80s did. My gun is a bit prettyfied from the british gun, and also has stuff that could’ve been added if it entered service. I wanted to make it as long as possible, a very powerful weapon for the category, even has a bipod to take advantage of its range. Nevertheless, the shorty version ended up being my favourite, it looks like such a friendly and handy gun. If I had another week I would probably research optics and come up with a different sight. I also want to finish another supershorty modernized version with piccatiny rails and whatnot, maybe later.

Pantsu’s RAI-405 is also conservative, but it has great looks. The hollow stock gives it a much more modern look than other conventional rifles. The colours are well picked and the details very appealing. It does suffer from highlighting abuse to try to represent different shapes but still, solid effort and very much up there. I especially like the shorter version.

Columbus’ rifle is also shaded upside down, but hey, you do you champ. I find 5 shades excessive for this application, all 5 are not used throughout the drawing either, and the tones of the wood colour don’t really belong to the same colour. The base tone is too grey in my opinion. There’s a huge double black line on the front furniture that really doesn’t have to be there and the curve on top is unappealing to me. Otherwise it looks the part. The contrast on the round’s brass works very well. Some of the small details are appealing too.

Scootia’s M41 is a very attractive gun, really. I’d buy one. The highliting on the stock could benefit of narrowing down on the parts that face up so the shape is better represented. That notched nut on the base of the barrel in front of the sight also could use some work to better understand its shape. Great job on the finning and other details.

Kiwi’s Turpin is, wow. Just wow. Seriously where did this come from. Interesting concept and so well executed we might just have a winner here. The execution of shapes and details is fantastic, the texture on the handgrip too. Only criticisms are unnecessary double black lines on the rear sight and weird shading on the bottom of the pistol grip, it looks completely unnecessary to double up on it. But yeah, good job!

Tigerhunter’s Beretta 46 is also an extremely beautiful gun. I don’t know how but the colours picked are superb. I’d also buy one if possible, in something other than 7.92mm Kurz though. The bayonet blade is super well rendered and the details are fantastic. Only a weird brown shade that slipped away from recolouring spoils this great drawing. Well done!

Reytuerto’s Modelo 1932 suffers from inconsistent light source, but is a very pretty gun whose’s details are plenty enough to make it a good drawing. Could also play with highlight thickness to better represent the shape of the stock. A pretty and useable gun, very nice.

APDAF’s M1949 is too square, how do you get your eye far down enough to use the sights. The shape of the stampings is weird and the magazine seems to not be of uniform width and shape. Otherwise it looks like a rifle, and very russian of course.

Musc’s RDU-54, hoooo boy. I have absolutely no doubts about the functionality of the weapon but damn it’s ugly. However it looks comfortable and useable. Could it have more detail? It looks a bit bare but it might be because of all the surface covered up in wood. I would have a strip of base colour separating the front highlight of the furniture from the shading. Very good entry overall.

That's it, thanks to all for participating and to the admins for setting it up, very succesful and interesting challenge in my opinion.

_________________
w o r k l i s t :
Hatsuyuki-class Escort Ships . . . <3