Awesome / Aliens: Bug Hunt

• The story of the M41 Pulse Rifle, as relayed in Episode 22.
  • 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 Aliens.
  • 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.
  • 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 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.
  • While the first production run suffered some difficulties due to batches of badly-formulated ammunition, the Pulse Rifle (now in it's M41A variant, only slight changes from the initial M41) gained a reputation for power and reliability. This is capped with a story of a Marine involved in intense urban combat. Well-funded enemies wearing the latest word in modern body armor? No problem, the 10x24mm rounds punch through it. Elite Mooks in Powered Armor? No problem, the explosive bullets still stagger them enough to get close for a kill shot, or the rifle is accurate enough to hammer the same spot until something gives. Snipers in windows? No problem, launch a grenade in the window and keep moving. Have to hold a position all night against the entire insurgent army? No problem, so long as you have enough ammunition, fire your Pulse Rifle until the barrel glows orange and it won't give so much as a hiccup of protest.