C19 rifle

The C19 rifle (Officially: Calderan rifle 2019 model) is a 5.56mm LOTA assault rifle of Calderan origin. It's the standard rifle of the Calderan Armed Forces, but it's also a rare commodity, as most Calderan soldiers use the Urcean SMP-3L for standard engagements, and the C19 is reserved to only the Volkspartei Defense and Calderan soldiers who are guarding important bases.

History
The Calderan Armed Forces began the goal of adopting a new rifle in December of 2003, after the Siege of Little Caldera revealed weaknesses in the current rifle design. The Calderan Armed Forces enlisted multiple manufacturers to come up with a superior rifle design, with the prerequisites that the new rifle being: firstly, the rifle had to use a lighter cartridge than 7.92mm Kurz, and secondly, the rifle had to reload faster than the StG-44.

To come up with a design that fit these criteria, Calderan manufacturers turned to foreign designs, applying the Levantine 5.56 millimeter cartridge to a frame of disputed origin. The Calderan manufacturer Tauk claims to have designed the operating system themselves, but other manufacturers contend this, citing the Farman FAMle-04 and the Caphirian Cileo 220 as both using the same operating system, meaning Taulk likely stole the design from one of those rifles or an even older model, but Taulk maintains their position that they invented the operating system, and similarity is a coincidence.

In summer of 2019, the Calderan government gave Tauk the task of producing 40 prototypes of their XM149 proposition for use in trials against the Keun XE54 and Lachsen XR5. The XM149 outperformed both competitors by having the lightest weight and the easiest to operate charging handle out of the 3 designs. By autumn, the Calderan Armed Forces already had 849 in service, with plans to adopt more in the future.

Replacement efforts
Since 2019, the Calderan Armed Forces have been trying to replace the StG-44 with the C19 completely, but have not finished due to the sheer number of weapons that need to be replaced. The General of the Army, Issac Pope, commented that the C19 would never be able to completely replace all rifles in service, unless all old rifles were culled, which the Calderan government is against.

Conflicts
The C19 has not been used in an official conflict, but it has been used in numerous pacification efforts.

In 2021, soldiers armed with C19 rifles captured several high profile Volin militia members, and were able to dispatch attackers while safely bringing the prisoners to a temporary quarry holding cell, before moving them onto a warship.

Users

 * Austro-Caldera