Antebellum finished inserting the last cartridge into the drum magazine. This time she remembered to lock the magazine closed before she removed her thumb from the final cartridge. Fountains of unfired cartridges were liability when one was loading or removed a partial fired magazine from this rifle. In fact it was one of the negative features she'd jotted down in her initial notes concerning the rifle.

Firmly seating the magazine took couple of attempts to get right due to the rifle having two magazine releases/catches. This did mean that the magazine was very secure in the rifle, but it was an area where the mare wondered if a better system could be had.

Shouldering the rifle she peered through the battle aperture rear sight and started sending projectiles downrange. The rifle's overall length was a bit too long. Equestria was definitely looking for a short rifle for both its infantry and cavalry. However the recoil from the rifle's buffered gas action was quite pleasant, and appeared to be a very safe action. It was far from perfect, but it was one of the best candidates the Crown had tested in a self-loading rifle. It had possibilities. The smokeless revolution had arrived, and Equestria wanted to stay up to date with its arms in its various militaries.

This is a Patreon reward for Spypone, and Antebellum is their OC. She's involved in Equestria's weapons development and procurement.




The rifle she's firing is a real weapon. It's a British Farquhar-Hill that almost went into production at the end WWI. Ian at Forgotten Weapons did a video on it a few years ago. Link


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