Gunther Ballistics

[Canton Rouge]

OOC: Like Ignatius' Knight International, this isn't a nation, but a company.

Gunther Ballistics

When one hears of the name Gunther Ballistics, one can be rest assured that they will be receiving a quality firearm. One that will not let the user down, and will keep him protected in any situation.

That is the quote delivered to everyone who purchases a weapon from Gunther Ballistics. A world reknown firearms company based out of Eifel, Canton Rouge, Gunther Ballistics has ensured its place in the weapons industry for the past, present, and future.

Showing the best of both quality and quantity, it is no surprise that most people prefer Gunther Ballistics for all of their firearm needs. Everything from recreation to national defense is provided by the company.

*More soon*

[Canton Rouge]

History

Despite Gunther Ballistics being a corporation today, when it was first created, it was a family business. One that has a history of at least five centuries.

Beginnings

In 1497, Gunther Wiedermann was a reknown merchant who had established a small business to selling weapons that he had bought. But one day, a customer came in asking about modifying an arquebus he had bought. And although Gunther could not modify it without breaking the arquebus, Gunther found that he could make a fortune making these weapons. And thus, Gunther Gewehr Munition Industrie was born.



Soon after, GGMI was accredited to being one of the first companies to produce a quality arquebus that could actually be kept around for a long period of time. This was because of Gunther proudly pledging to make a quality product over a mass produced poor product. But soon after, more and more people asked for his weapons. This led to the first factory to be made in Canton Rouge in 1508, dedicated wholely to his arms business.

By the time Gunther died in 1524, he had passed the company onto his son, Gunther Johannes Wiedermann, and his daughter, Marie Wiedermann. It was Marie's idea to keep Gunther's name in the company, seing all he had done for the family. And around this time, the company also expanded, starting to create carbines for cavalry troops.

Golden Age

The Golden Age for GGMI was the 19th century, where new weapons designs came about to ensure it could stay in place with the world. Part of this was due to new factories being opened up all throughout Europe. In addition, new technologies, such as rifling and the breech-loader rifle, made weaponry take off in a new direction. It was also this time that GGMI would be renamed Gunther Ballistics, for ease of both the company, and of weapons buyers.

Today

Today, Gunther Ballistics is the forerunner for all high quality weapons such as the G3, G36, MP5, etc. It sells its services to numerous militaries and companies across the world.

[Canton Rouge]

Weaponry

Gunther Ballistics prides itself on staying ahead of the game in arms manufacturing. Therefore, it is expected that state of the art weaponry is available not only to militaries around the world, but to the public that have the money as well. The following are three of the best selling weapons from Gunther Ballistics.:

G36C

Work on a replacement for the venerable G3 rifle had been ongoing in Germany since the latter half of the 1970s. These efforts resulted in the innovative 4.73 mm G11 assault rifle (developed by a group of companies led by HK), that used caseless ammunition (designed by the Dynamit Nobel company). It had been predicted that this weapon would eventually replace the G3, therefore further development of HK's platform of weapons chambered for the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge had been halted. Heckler & Koch had no incentive to pursue a new 5.56 mm weapon design, content with the export-oriented 5.56 mm HK33 and G41 assault rifles. However, the G11 program came to an abrupt end when the Bundeswehr rejected the design and HK had been acquired in 1991 by British Aerospace's Royal Ordnance division (known today as BAE Systems).

Increasing interest in Germany for a modern 5.56 mm weapon platform led HK to offer the German armed forces the G41 rifle, which too was rejected. Design work was then initiated on a modern 5.56 mm assault rifle, designated initially “Project 50” or HK50. The prototype was then trialled, where it was rated higher than the Austrian Steyr AUG system. Shortly thereafter, the HK50 was introduced as the new Bundeswehr service rifle known as the Gewehr G36, and deliveries were first made to the Quick Reaction Force in the autumn of 1995. The Spanish Armed Forces also chose to adopt the G36 export version in 1998, replacing the 5.56 mm CETME Modelo L and LC rifles.

The G36 has a conventional layout and a modular component design. Common to all variants of the G36 family are: the receiver and buttstock assembly, bolt carrier group with bolt and the return mechanism and guide rod. The receiver contains the barrel, carry handle with integrated sights, trigger group with pistol grip, handguard and magazine socket.

The G36 is selective fire gas-operated weapon that uses burnt powder gases from the barrel, bled through a port near the muzzle to provide automation to the moving assembly; it fires from a closed bolt. The weapon uses a self-regulating short-stroke gas piston system (without a gas valve). The rotary bolt features 7 locking lugs and its rotation is controlled by a cam pin guided inside a camming guide cut-out in the bolt carrier. The bolt also houses a spring-loaded casing extractor and ejector. Spent cartridge casings are ejected through a port located on the right side of the receiver. A brass deflector keeps cases from striking left-handed operators in the face. There is no ejection port cover as the bolt closes the ejection port to particulates when it is forward. The weapon features a hammer-type striker mechanism and a trigger with a fire control selector and an integrated, manual safety mechanism that prevents accidental firing (this is an improved trigger group from the G3 rifle). The fire and safety selector is ambidextrous and has controls on both sides of the receiver; the selector settings are described with letters: “S” – safe, “E” – semi-automatic fire and “F” – continuous fire. The weapon safety disables the trigger when engaged. HK also offers several other trigger options, including the so-called “Navy” trigger group, with settings analogous to the standard trigger, but the selector positions have been illustrated with pictograms. A semi-automatic only trigger unit (lacks the “F” setting) is also available.


Canton Rouge soldiers practicing near the Bois Jacques with the G36C

M249 Squad Automatic Weapon

The M249 is an air-cooled, gas-operated, fully-automatic-only firearm that fires from an open bolt position. It can accept belts of linked 5.56x45mm NATO (.223) ammunition through the top-mounted feed tray or M16-type magazines through the side-mounted port. The latter allows a SAW gunner to use riflemens' magazines in an emergency if he runs out of belted ammunition, though this often causes jams as the magazine spring cannot adequately keep up with the weapon's high rate of fire. Linked ammunition can be fed from either a loose belt or from a plastic box (or cloth pouch) for 200 rounds, clipped under the receiver. The hard plastic box has issues with being insecurely attached and by producing noise with movement in its standard form. The M249 SAW features a built-in bipod and a tripod-mounting lug for supported fire, as well as a quick change barrel that helps prevent overheating during sustained fire. Barrels are engaged and disengaged by rotating the built-in handle, and a spare is normally carried slung in an "A-bag" by the gunner or his assistant. The forearm is designed to contain a small cleaning kit for field use, though it may not be stored there in practice.


A soldier can fire blanks with the M15A2 BFA (Blank Firing Attachment) attached at the end of the barrel, in an exercise in 2001. The gun has good firepower for its size. The latest reports on failures of M249 SAW weapons in Iraq are sometimes attributed to the age of the weapons used, and sometimes to the dusty environment in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of the current-issue M249s in the army are more than 10 years old, which is not excessively old for a service firearm, but can reduce reliability. There have been issues with its performance at other times, particularly earlier in its development.



Reported S.S.A. customer utilizing the M249 in a close quarters setting

M9 Beretta

The M9 handgun, formally Pistol, Semiautomatic, 9mm, M9, is a 9x19mm Parabellum pistol of the C.R. military adopted in the 1980s. It is essentially a mil-spec Beretta 92F, later the 92FS.

It won a competition in the 1980s to replace the M1911A1 as the primary handgun of multiple armed forces, beating out many other contenders. Some other models have been adopted to a lesser extent (namely the M11 Pistol), and older, or different, models remain in use in certain niches. It officially entered Army service in 1990 according to the official website. It was scheduled to be replaced under an intensive program, the Future Handgun System (FHS), which was merged with the SOF Combat Pistol program to create the Joint Combat Pistol (JCP). In early 2006, the JCP was renamed Combat Pistol (CP), and the number of pistols to be bought was drastically cut back.



A picture of the M9 Beretta.