15mm Recoilless Rifle and Pistol
15mm Recoilless Rifle: A rifle-like weapon which fires 15mm projectiles and counters recoil by venting cold gas out the back of the weapon or via vents in the side of the barrel. It is designed to use the same warheads as 15mm micro-missiles but mounted on a more compact rocket motor to facilitate feed through a magazine.
15mm Recoilless weapons are more commonly encountered off-planet since it is more suitable for in zero-G combat than conventional caseless weapons. Ammunition is easily produced by minifac so it is a popular weapon with space-dwelling isolationists.
Available with the same warheads as 15mm micro-missiles but using 3d+1 pi++ for kinetic damage rather than 6d. A SAPHE projectile with Dmg 3d pi++ and a 1d-2 [1d-2] cr ex follow-up is also available.
Firing a round is a soft hissing noise unlike a normal gunshot. Use the 4-yard line on the Hearing Distance Table, p. HT(4e)158. Obviously, firing in space makes no noise!
Acceleration is slower than for micro-missiles so make their piercing damage by 1d+1 at 1 or 2 yards and by 2d+1 at 3 to 10 yards.
Guns (Rifle) (DX-4, or most other Guns at -2)
| Name | Damage | Acc | Range | Weight | RoF | Shots | ST | Bulk | Recoil | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recoilless rifle 15mm | 3d+1 pi++ | 4 | 200/1,900 | 8.5/2 | 3 | 10(3) | 7 | -4 | 1 | $790 |
| SAPHE linked | 3d pi++1d-2 cr ex[1d-2] | |||||||||
| HEMP linked | 5d x2 imp (5) 1d cr ex[1d-1] | |||||||||
| SEFOP | 4d+4(2) imp |
Explosive damage is also incendiary.
Firing a 15mm recoilless round puts very little stress on the weapon. A recoilless rifle made from superior lightweight material and weighing 4.25lb has the same performance but costs 50% more ($1,185).
A large but lightweight pistol using the same rounds is also available. The magazine well is ahead of the trigger and also accepts the 10 round recoilless rifle magazines. Spacers sometimes use these weapons to project lines and grapples. Under Earth conditions it can fire a grapple, harpoon, splat piton. etc with a light line to 20 yards. Half this distance for a climbing rope.
The 15mm Holdout recoilless is a single round loaded in a tube that can be concealed up a sleeve. Lacking a vent for the exhaust it is not truly recoilless and may push the firer back if fired in microgravity.
Guns (Pistol) (DX-4, or most other Guns at -2)
| Name | Damage | Acc | Range | Weight | RoF | Shots | ST | Bulk | Recoil |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recoilless pistol 15mm | 3d+1 pi++ | 2 | 200/1,900 | 2/1.2 | 3 | 6+1 | 6 | -2 | 1 |
| Holdout Recoilless pistol 15mm | 3d+1 pi++ | 0 | 200/1,900 | 0.25/0.1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | -1 | 1 |
Point Five-Oh Recoilless.
This round is effectively the 15mm Recoilless round reduced slightly in size in accordance with US laws against explosive rounds of greater than 13mm calibre. This redesign gives the round a slight increase in velocity so in game terms it has the same performance as the 15mm round but cannot legally use rounds other than non-explosive ammunition. Damage becomes 3d+1 pi+.
