This one is something of a memorial project. Sadly, the original creator of the rifle was killed in a hit and run incident in 2018; a loss grievously felt by everyone he had known and worked with. As time has dragged on a refresh of the original was requested to keep it up to modern standards by the original commissioner, a mutual friend of myself and the late Dins. around 70% of the mesh is his work; the remainder and texturing is mine. I can only hope that my spin on his work would do justice to his own skills.

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The MK.1 is the standard issue rifle of the Colonial Defense Foundation. Firing a .408 Short round with an integral oxidizer, the weapon is a gas operated short recoil rotating bolt design that employs an electrothermal-chemical ignition system. Ironically despite nearly two centuries passing, ballistics technology has not progressed very much beyond the 21st century; with most developments occurring in the realms of material science and recoil absorption. Even in 2300 a big enough chunk of tungsten flung at a high enough velocity will still go through most standard body armour. Engineering along the principles of KISS ensures that these weapons will continue to function in a startling variety of environments and atmospheric conditions- or even the absence of an atmosphere entirely. The Mk.1 is characterized chiefly by its rugged reliability, controlability and superb accuracy even in automatic mode- something which is aided by its low rate of fire at 440 RPM.

The platform is considerably modular, and with the simple swapping of a push-pin system can be reconfigured for a variety of roles or accessories. Parts commonality is also shared with many other smallarms in the CDF arsenal to ease logistical burden, including the Mk.5 GPMG, Mk.2 SMG, and Mk.8 Autocannon. Magazines are designed to be interchangeable with those of the sister family of Mk.32 assault rifles issued to airborne and specialist grenadier regiments.

By the present day the Mk.1 family is venerable in CDF service at nearly a century, and beginning to reach a state of obsolescence. Newer advances in magnetically driven kinetics are gradually being phased in for frontline use, with a limited array of directed energy weaponry undergoing feasibility trials. Despite this, the Mk.1 remains a favourite of the troops and will probably continue to see service for many years yet in remote postings or second-line units.