Rusty
Purveyor of Fine Weaponry
Image Source
Intent: To prototype and test a viable platform for future RCFC production. Also, true love.
Development Thread: Building Bertha: A Love Story
Manufacturer: Rusty's Custom Firearms and Cutlery
Model: Bertha
Affiliation: RCFC
Modularity: Interchangeable sights, ammunition
Production: Production: Unique
Material: Durasteel, carbon fiber, recoilless rifle components
Classification: Recoilless Rifle
Size: Man Portable
Length: 1 meter
Weight: 8 kg
Ammunition Type: 80mm recoilless rifle ammunition
Ammunition Capacity: 1
Effective Range:
- HE- 1100 meters
- HEAT- 900 meters
- Canister- 150 meters
- HVP- 1500 meters
Special Features: Bertha is love. Bertha is life. Also, capable of using various types of ammunition to effectively engage various targets at ranges up to but not exceeding 1500 meters.
Description: Bertha is an 80mm recoilless rifle.
Recoilless rifles are not truly recoilless. Rather, they use a measure of the gas generated launching the projectile to cancel out a significant portion of the recoil by shooting it backwards. This allows a normal human to fire rounds the size of a small artillery shell from a launcher that they can hump up a mountain on foot, though not without difficulty.
Bertha is designed to work with four types of ammunition:
- High Explosive- A simple high explosive charge with three fuse settings: contact, proximity, and delay. Useful for light armor, thin walled buildings, and troops behind cover.
- High Explosive Anti Tank- A combination antipersonnel/antiarmor shell. Uses a shaped charge to punch through light to medium armor, scours the outside of the vehicle with shrapnel.
- Canister- Fires tungsten/steel ball bearings. A lot of them. Very quickly. Basically, a giant shotgun shell.
- Hypervelocity Penetrator- A proprietary round designed to be effective against heavy armor. Fires a ramjet propelled shell that quickly reaches speeds well into the hypervelocity range. Upon impact with heavy armor, osmium spike is driven through it with great gusto. Useless against light armor and individual unarmored troops, as the osmium penetrator will not encounter enough resistance to impart a significant amount of energy. It'll leave a nice hole, but will keep going through as though the vehicle was never there, unless it hits an engine or something.
Recoilless rifles do have some serious disadvantages over traditional artillery pieces. For starters, they lack the range of a normal cannon. Instead of being able to engage targets from several kilometers away, they can hit something at one kilometer, plus some change. Also, the gasses vented rearward create a pressure wave known as "backblast", which can be harmful or even fatal if the weapon is fired in an enclosed area. With proper protection, it may be fired indoors, but RCFC discommends the practice.
The act of firing the weapon requires the operator to make themselves vulnerable, and also happens to make a gigantic fireball and cloud of smoke and dust, which will undoubtedly give away their position. In the event that they do not destroy the target with their first shot, or that the target has friends, they may find themselves in serious trouble. If the stored ammunition is hit by a stray rounds, operator will be very unpopular with the remains of their squad.
Primary Source: N/A
