Notes: Realizing the crop of 9mm Parabellum-based silenced weapons lacked much in the way of punch or range, and loading standard assault rifle cartridges with the lesser amount of powder to reduce their power to the point where they could function properly with a silencer also reduced their damaging and penetration abilities to the point of ineffectiveness, Grendel designed a new round that would have decent range, good damaging ability, and some capability to penetrate body armor. They reduced the length of a standard 7.62N bullet and added a heavy metal core, then loaded it in a reduced-length case and added just enough powder to propel it as fast as possible without breaking the sound barrier. They coupled this with a barrel that has a very rapid twist, and then modified an M-16 to fire the new round. The result is a weapon that is very quiet, but rather lethal, even at ranges out to 300 meters. The magazines are modified 20-round M-16 magazines. The cost of this weapon includes a telescopic sight. There has been some experimentation by US military snipers, and it is rumored to have received its first battle testing recently in Afghanistan.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon was quite popular with NATO special operations forces, especially their snipers, and some even filtered down to regular military snipers.

Merc 2000 Notes: The S-16 is listed by Grendel has having a decent amount of sales, but always to "unnamed parties."

Notes: Introduced by Iver Johnson in the early 1990s, this is a variant of the standard M-1 carbine in 9mm Parabellum. The main differences are the magazines, which are not interchangeable with standard M-1 Carbine magazines, and the receiver and barrel. This is a design which has been copied often, and other similar weapons have been made in the same caliber. It is the most common alternate-caliber version of the M-1 Carbine.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon is often encountered among civilians in the US in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Notes: This assault carbine is made primarily for police use, meant to be a patrol and SRT carbine. Similar in concept (though not design) to the Galil, it basically tries to combine the best features of the AK series and the AR-15 into a superior assault weapon. The Tactical Carbine retains the AK series 7.62mm Kalashnikov cartridge, and most of the receiver; however, the flash suppressor is a modified M-16A2 type, the sights are new ones of Krebs design (basically modified M-16A2 sights), the fore-end is entirely different, including a MIL-STD-1913 rail under the barrel for the attachment of accessories (with modification, even the M-203 can be mounted), the top of the receiver also has a MIL-STD-1013 rail (where the rear sight is mounted, and can be removed), and the stock can be an M-4-type collapsible stock or any of those modified stocks which are compatible with the M-16/M-4/AR-15 or AK series. The pistol grip is plastic and borrowed from the M-249 SAW. The left side of the receiver has another sight mount to allow it to use Bloc-type sights. The handguards themselves are a Krebs design, and are made from high-impact plastic; the Tactical Carbine will also accept Krebs’ 3-position rail handguards. In fact, all the wood on the weapon has been replaced by plastic and synthetic materials. The Tactical Carbine is normally sold with synthetic 30-round magazines, but can also take standard AK-series magazines. Semiautomatic operation is the standard; automatic fire ability is available only to law enforcement, government, or military concerns.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This carbine does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Notes: Though I would normally put such a carbine under submachineguns since it fires a pistol cartridge, this carbine is semiautomatic-only, so I am placing here. Kurt’s Kustom Firearms is a Florida company primarily concerned with producing upper receivers and other parts for AR-15-series rifles, but Kurt Wala will, upon occasion produce custom complete firearms, normally based on the AR-15 series, M-1911-series pistol, or various shotguns. The P109 is one of these weapons, being a highly-modified AR-15 firing the .357 SiG cartridge. It was originally produced at the request of firearms expert Paul Markel, and it is unknown whether any further sales have taken place, though it would seem ideal for law enforcement work. The upper receiver has no carrying handle, but instead sports a flat top with a MIL-STD-1913 rail. The handguard also has a four-way rail of the same type. The flash suppressor is post-ban AR-15 muzzle-brake/flash suppressor, and the carbine has a sliding M-4-style stock. One problem with this weapon is that the extraction process is violent and empty brass cannot be generally be reloaded.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This carbine does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

LaFrance M-16K

Notes: An assault carbine based on the M16, also known as the K-gun. The M-16K is a shortened M-16, with stubby handguards and no sights. It is designed for close combat use and ease of manufacture. It found acceptance mostly in the survival market, with only limited use by the special operations personnel it was designed for.

Twilight 2000 Notes: Due to the high standards of manufacture and the special coatings LaFrance designed for the parts, the M-16K was adopted as a close combat weapon for use by US military forces operating in Arctic climates. As such, the M-16K could often be found among certain troops fighting in Norway, Alaska, and other Arctic areas.

Notes: This weapon is brought to you by Lakeside Machine, the same eccentric geniuses who invented the BF1 Vindicator belt-fed rimfire assault rifle. It is basically a kit to convert the M-16/M-4/AR-15 series into a belt-fed rimfire weapon, similar in concept to the BF1. The conversion is extensive; the entire upper receiver and barrel, bolt, bolt carrier, buffer and buffer spring, and sometimes the hammer spring (some, but not all M-16-series weapons have a hammer spring that is too heavy for the LM-7 conversion to operate correctly). The upper and its contents are changed easily enough, but the hammer spring change are probably best left to a gunsmith, and sometimes headspace and timing adjustments must be made when first mounting the conversion.

When you are done, you have a belt-fed rimfire version of an M-4. The LM-7 has a quick-change barrel feature; overheating is not really a problem with rimfire ammunition unless you are firing real large gobs through the barrel, but the LM-7 comes with two lengths of barrel, each in three styles. The two barrel lengths are 16.25 and 7.5 inches; each may use either a standard M-16/M-4-type flash suppressor or a Lakeside-designed muzzle brake, or an AWC Mk II suppressor. The barrel attachment makes the barrel free-floating, and any sort of handguard which will fit the M-16/M-4/AR-15 series will fit the LM-7. At the rear of the upper receiver is a 4.25-inch MIL-STD-1913 rail; if the 16.25-inch barrel is fitted, another 1.75-inch MIL-STD-1913 rail is available over the gas block. Unlike the BF1, the LM-7 is fed by disintegrating link belts, and an attachment is available which doubles as a belt carrier and a brass/link catcher. The LM-7, like the BF1, is currently designed to fire .22 Long Rifle and .17 Mach 2 Rimfire ammunition (and fire both only a barrel change), but versions which fire .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire and .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire are possible in the future depending upon customer demand. I have included them below just in case. The figures below are for a telescoping stock and an automatic sear, but a standard M-16/AR-15 stock may be used, and semiautomatic-only versions are also made.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The LM-7 does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Notes: Unlike most of ArmaLite’s AR-15 clones and models, the LEM-15A4 was designed with law enforcement in mind, and its sale to US civilians is restricted. It is very much like a semiautomatic version of the M-16A4, with its flattop receiver and MIL-STD-1913 sight rail; however, the barrel is only 16 inches, and is heavier than that of the M-16A4. The handguards are specially made; they are the same length as an M-4’s handguards, and include a mount for a full-sized flashlight on top and offset to the left. The LEM-15A4 comes with an Elcan Optical Sight, but will accept any sort of NATO-compatible sight or scope.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon could sometimes be found as a substitute standard among US troops, particularly among those raised by CivGov forces after the November Nuclear Strikes. Most of these were modified for automatic fire.

Notes: Designed to be a precision rifle for civilian shooting matches, the Super Match can double as a sniping rifle as well. It is basically a VERY well made version of the AR-15A3/4 (with a flattop receiver and a Picatinny rail). Most of the parts inside are both stronger than the originals, built to exacting tolerances, and chromed for added reliability. The handguards have rails on four surfaces for the mounting of accessories, and the barrel is a beautiful chromed heavy barrel. (Being designed for civilians, it does not have a flash suppressor, nor does it have any sort of muzzle brake.) There are no iron sights on the rifle. Four barrel lengths are available.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Notes: The IAR (Infantry Automatic Rifle) began with a request from the DoD for a lighter, more manageable automatic rifle for close assaults than even the ParaSAW version of the M-249 is. As the IAR is essentially a modified M-16A2, it sort of blurs the line between assault rifle and automatic rifle. The US Army has since passed on the IAR, but the US Marines plan to replace 2000 of their M-249s with 4100 IARs. (The US Army is instead planning to replace some of their M-249s with the Mk 46 automatic rifle instead.) The Marines are already issuing them in Iraq and Afghanistan, and expect to have issued all 4100 IARs by 2010.

The IAR, though built on an M-16 platform, has a very different operation – instead of the Stoner direct gas impingement system of the M-16 series, the IAR couples a much more reliable gas piston system with a selector group that uses a closed bolt on semiautomatic and open bolt fire on automatic (called OBA, for Open Bolt Automatic, by LWRC). The closed bolt in semiautomatic allows very accurate rifle fire for long-range shots, and means the IAR can be used as sort of a DMR if necessary. However, in the IAR’s primary role as a close-assault support weapon, the open bolt fire keeps the chamber cool and prevents cookoffs, while decreasing the possibility of a mis-strike on the primer causing a stoppage. (Even in OBA, the first round fired will still be from a closed bolt.) Other improvements have increased feed reliability. The IAR is designed to use any magazine that can be used by the M-16 series; this led to US Army objections that the ammunition supply would be way too small at 30 rounds maximum. However, the Marines pointed out that as 100-round C-Mags and other increased-capacity magazine become more common, this is really not an issue. In addition, even a C-Mag is less unwieldy in a close assault than the belt boxes or bags of the M-249.

The IAR therefore looks externally like a modified M-16. The IAR’s barrel is a 16-inch barrel that is so heavy that it is essentially a bull barrel; in addition, the section of the barrel under the handguards is finned to aid in cooling. Other, unrevealed methods are also used to aid in barrel and chamber cooling. The barrel is surrounded by handguards that feature 4-point MIL-STD-1913 rails, and also act as a float tube for the barrel. The barrel can be tipped by a standard M-16A2-type flash suppressor, a muzzle brake, or various other designs of flash suppressors or muzzle brakes. The quality of the metal of the receivers and internal parts is generally higher than that of standard M-16-series rifles. A variety of stocks can be fitted, though the Marines are primarily looking at sliding stocks like that of the M-4 or made by Vltor.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The IAR does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.