Armscor R-4/R-5/R-6

     Notes: These weapons, along with the R-6 compact assault rifle, are the standard assault weapons of South Africa.  They are based on the Israeli Galil, with some changes to suit local conditions:  The buttstock is also lengthened, since the average South African soldier is bigger than the average Israeli soldier, and the fragility of the Galil has been fixed by using stronger plastics and a somewhat heavier 18.1-inch barrel.  The sights and the gas tube have been likewise reinforced to prevent the damage that plagues the Galil.  The R-4 is the standard assault rifle and comes with a bipod; the R-5 is a shortened carbine version, similar in concept to the Galil SAR.  The R-6 is a compact assault rifle, radically shortened.  There are three other versions, the LM-4, LM-5, and LM-6; these are semiautomatic versions of the R-4, R-5, and R-6 built for police and civilian use.  The normal magazine for the R-4/5/6 series is a reinforced plastic 35-round magazine; steel 50-round magazines were also made when the R-4/5/6 series was first introduced, but production of them stopped a short while after South Africa began producing them; the troops dislike them as they prevent the use of the built-in bipod of the R-4. 

     A few years after introduction of the R-4, the South African government also gave the authorization to Armscor to create a civilian version of the R-4.  This weapon, the LM-4, was not meant as a mere walking-around or hunting rifle; at the time, violence at the hands of foreign countries as well as domestic terrorist groups was a big problem for outlying South African ranchers and their large amounts of land to patrol.  The LM-4 generally conforms to the R-4, but is a semiautomatic-only weapon with a few other quirks.  The biggest difference, other than the operation, is the fire selector – the LM-4 has, in effect, two fire selectors.  The first is the standard AK-type fire selector, inherited from its Galil heritage; the second is an ambidextrous switch-type selector near the pistol grip.  For the switch to function, the AK-type selector must be set on “Fire;” a side effect of this arrangement is that the switch is backwards in operation compared to most rifles, with the switch pointing forward to fire and back to be on safe.  The switch is said to be stiff, but there are workarounds to this problem. Production of the LM-4 stopped when Apartheid ended in South Africa. For game purposes, the LM-4 is identical to the R-4 except for the lack of automatic fire capability.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: Similar to the Notes, but the 50-round magazines are more readily available in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

     Merc 2000 Notes: Similar to the Notes, but the R-4/5/6 series has begun to appear on the international arms market in the past few years.

Vektor CR-21 

     Notes: The CR-21 is a new bullpup design rifle of South African origin.   Despite the looks of the weapon, the CR-21 is basically an R-4 modified to bullpup design and with improved operation.  (Vektor also manufactures a kit to convert existing R-4 rifles into CR-21s.)  The body is made entirely of polymer injection molding, and is designed to take up the shock of an accidental dropping to prevent unintended weapon discharges.  The CR-21 has a reflex optical sight that offers no magnification, but provides a superior sight picture to iron sights whether day or night.  This sight can be removed and replaced with a MIL-STD-1913 rail.  40mm grenade launchers of South African or Western design can be mounted under the barrel, but an interface kit is required.  The weapon can uses plastic/nylon magazines designed for it, but the plastic 35-round magazines designed for the R-4 can also be used.  The firing selector switch is separate from the safety switch; both are ambidextrous, but the safety is on the stock while the fire control switch is just above the trigger guard.  The CR-21 itself is not ambidextrous; it can only be fired from the right shoulder, due to the position of its ejection port.  The trigger guard is large enough to be used with fingerless mittens.  The stock also has space for a small cleaning kit.

     The South African National Defense Force has plans to replace the R-4 series with the CR-21 in the next few years, but they have had these plans for a while, with money being the stumbling block.  It is produced in the three calibers commonly used in African militaries, but most CR-21s are built to fire 5.56mm NATO ammunition; the other two chamberings have been built only in small numbers mostly for experimental and evaluation purposes.  Ejection of the spent round is very violent and the spent cases are normally not usable without considerable work.

     A further variant, a carbine with a shorter barrel and slightly shorter stock, is under evaluation by SANDF and the South African Police.  This model is some 100mm shorter and so far has been evaluated only in the 5.56mm NATO chambering.  As of 2006, it is still considered only an experimental variant.

     Twilight 2000 Notes:  The CR-21 was adopted by South Africa in 1997 and saw limited international sales.  Unfortunately, there was never enough money to replace anywhere near all the R-4 series rifles, and the polymer body was difficult to manufacture after 1999 or so.  The carbine variant does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

     Merc 2000 Notes: The CR-21 sold better on the international market than it did to SANDF; the South African government just didn’t have much money for new assault rifles, and didn’t see a need for them as long as R-4 series weapons were still functioning well.