Weapon Name- QJZ-89 .50 BMG
Round Type- 14.5mm Caseless, .50 Caliber Caseless
Over-all length- 65 inches
Barrel length- 1,003 mm (39.5 in)
Weight- 38 pounds, 53 pounds with Bipod
Rate of Fire- 600 RPM
Feed Mechanism- Belt Fed
Round Capacity- 50+, 100+
Effective Range- 1100 meters
Range- 2500 meters, 5000 meters
Accuracy- 1 MOA
Accessories- Picatinny Rails
Quick switch firing mechanism- N/A
Scope/Sights- Picatinny Rails
Muzzle Velocity- 1200 m/s, 815 m/s (55 grams, 120 grams) - 940 m/s (45 grams)
Firing System- Long stroke gas piston, forward reciprocating counter balance
Miscellaneous/electronic information- The weapon is based on the QJZ-89, that is modified to reduce the felt recoil of the weapon, be bullpup, utilize a specialized bipod, and a cobalt chrome barrel which allows is to fire at the same rate of fire as a standard .50 caliber machine gun.
Basic Information
The weapon is fundamentally based on the QJZ-89 machine gun, but is heavily modified with a number of design changes, largely designed to decrease the weight of the gun, it's recoil, and improve it's heat resistance. The weapon fires caseless .50 BMG rounds, which are far lighter weight than standards .50 BMG rounds or 12.7mm x 108mm Russian rounds, although it is also capable of being chambered in similiar caseless 14.5mm rounds, which is far less common. These .50 caseless cartridges are approximately 63 grams with the belt, in comparison to about 125 grams for the .50 caliber BMG round, and thus is much lighter weight or approximately half the weight of these rounds. Furthermore, the gun itself is approximately 53 pounds in comparison to approximately 125 pounds for a standard M2.50 BMG machine gun, with the tripod, making it capable of being carried and utilized by a single soldier, although with a limited amount of ammunition (with usually both weapons carried in 3-4 man teams). The weapon makes extensive use of recoil reducing systems, such as a hydraulic recoil buffer, a recoil spring, a muzzlebreak, and reciprocating barrel designed to reduce the felt recoil of the weapon. It also utilizes a specialized recoil absorbing bipod, similar to the Kord machine gun, with a recoil absorbing mechanism inside the bipod (also similar to the British 60mm mortar bipod). Finally, the weapon utilizes a very heat resistant cobalt chrome polygonal barrel, designed to reduce the heat and friction of the weapon, while simultaneously being able to absorb high temperatures. The weapon is designed to be fired at vastly lower rates of fire than the M2HB machine gun, but is much lighter weight. The weapon is a hybrid of a sniper rifle and machine gun, capable of being used by a smaller team by the useless of caseless rounds which are roughly half the weight of standard cartridges, and the lighter weight weapon. The weapon can be chambered in .50 caliber and 14.5mm rounds, with the 14.5mm rounds capable of being used with etheir high velocity long range AP variants, or lower velocity high explosive air bursting munitions, replacing the 25mm grenade launcher cartridge with a more aerodynamic and higher velocity round. The weapon falls in to three categories, a hybrid between a machine gun, sniper rifle, and automatic grenade launcher when the 14.5mm variant is used. The extreme versatility gives the weapon good characteristics for most combat conditions, however it does not excel as well as purpose built weapons for their role.
Like the XM806 and XM312, the weapon has a reciprocating barrel and long stroke gas piston to help reduce the recoil. Unlike the XM806 and XM312 however, the weapon utilizes a muzzlebreak that helps to reduce the recoil by about 30-40%, a hydraulic recoil buffer system to help reduce the felt recoil, a dual-spring recoil buffer and a recoil buffer like in the HK45, and utilizes a specialized bipod which can help absorb recoil. This allows the machine gun to fire at extremely high rates of fire without severely impacting the user, given the relative power of the weapon. The weapon fully assembled with the bipod is 53 pounds with the bipod, in comparison to a .50 caliber machine gun which is 120-125 ponds with the tripod. The ammunition is also half the weight, at 63 grams per round, allowing twice as much ammunition to be carried. For a typical 4 man team, typically between 500-700 rounds of .50 caliber machine gun ammunition can be carried; instead with this system, for the same weight 1500 to 1900 rounds of ammunition can be carried. This raw volume of fire increases the versatility and usefulness of the weapon, and the weapon is small enough to be handled and fired by a single user. The barrel comes with an optional quick detachable locking system, capable of being locked in tight with a barrel locking mechanism similar to the Tavor, or loosened to allow for the quick changing of barrels.
The barrel is a polygonal, cobalt chrome flow-formed barrel, with a gain twist chambered in either .50 BMG of 14.5mm caseless rounds. The barrel is more than 50% chrome and incredibly heat resistant, designed to allow for far longer heat resistance than ordinary barrels. In testing, a cobalt chrome barrel fired approximately 24,000 rounds in 30 minutes and heated up to 1100 degrees, at a rate of fire 800 rounds per minute. Under ordinary conditions a steel barrel will start to weaken after 300 rounds, and begin to fail at over 1000 rounds. With cobalt chrome allowing for rates of fire far beyond that of an ordinary machine gun, different weapon designs are possible, allowing a sniper rifle sized weapon to perform the role of a machine gun. The barrels are also polygonal and have a gain twist, which further reduces the friction of the barrel and increases accuracy. Progressive or gain twist weapons increase the rifling twist incrementally rather than all at once, reducing barrel wear at the throat of the barrel and at the breach, where most of the barrel's wear occurs. Polygonal barrels act as smoothbore's, providing slightly higher velocities and decreasing friction with the barrel. The barrels have .8 MOA when using match grade ammunition, which the weapon is designed for.
