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1* The story of the [=M41=] Pulse Rifle, as relayed in ''Episode 22''.
2** At the time, the Marines had two options for rifles: the Harrington Assault Rifle, which was supremely reliable but underpowered, and the Weyland Storm, which could kill any target and was packed with electronic doodads to ensure that every shot did exactly that, but simply didn't work most of the time. So finally, the Marine Corps. brass put their foot down and ''demanded'' better weapons, which resulted in the Marine 70 Program that developed much of the gear and equipment seen in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''.
3** Twenty megacorporations began competing for the contract to design and build the next frontline assault rifle, throwing millions into R&D. And retired Colonial Marine Corporal Jonathan [=LaForce=] crashed the initial demo shoot with a prototype he kludged together in his garage. [=LaForce=] didn't even have an engineering degree, but designed a rifle based on his own innovations, built it with his own two hands, and ''kicked the ass'' of every multi-million dollar coporate-sponsored weapon on the range. When his kitbashed gun was frozen in mud and still fired 6,000 rounds without a malfunction, [=LaForce=] was officially invited to join the competition.
4** Of course, the hobbyist with the garage workshop had limits to his ability to refine and produce his design. He was offered huge sums of money for his patents by the other megacorporations, but [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules turned them all down because he was in it to help his fellow Marines.]] Instead, he went to Armat Battlefield Systems, a company known for never skimping on quality. As luck would have it, Armat was developing a new caseless round, very powerful, but caused so much recoil they were intending to market it for ''crew-served weapons''. But the Pulse Rifle (specifically, it's rotating breech mechanism) could handle the round's recoil, making the [=10x24mm=] ammunition and the Pulse Rifle a perfect match. Armat's resources let them make the next round of prototypes ''even more robust''. The Pulse Rifle quickly won the competition, and was ushered into production and service as the [=M41=].

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