Rifts Up Close: NEMA M-12 Automag (AMT) Pistol

By Tim Willard

Designed by Colt Firearms Industry in 2068 to replace the aging light pistol currently in use by NEMA forces and the United States Military, the M-12 AMT is a masterful combination of third-generation plastics and lightweight but superstrong metals.

This weapon has an active firing life of over a half-million rounds, thanks to high-tensile materials used in it's construction. In addition, barrel wear is limited, resulting in near perfect accuracy even years down the line.

The weapon uses caseless rounds, and has built in recoil compensators, allowing for rapid and accurate firing, even if the weapon is submerged. In addition the ability to fire three round bursts is added on the military version and the NEMA version of this pistol, allowing for rapid firepower for a soldier or peacekeeper who is only left with his sidearm for defense.

Soldiers and peacekeepers are trained to fire the weapon out to 80 meters unassisted (240 feet) and most police agencies train to fire to 65 meters unassisted. The high tensile materials allow for greater chamber compression, while the intregal recoil compensators allow for precision shooting at those ranges even when using the rapid fire mode.

During field trials, this weapon performed admirably, the 10mm shell feeling "heavier" to users, and providing more knockback than the 9mm round, with only slightly less penetration, without the weight of the .45 round.

The weapon itself is jet black, with a white mark on the rear of the front sight and two white dots on the two rear posts, allowing for increased precision. In addition the dots can be lit up for night use by rubbing them briefly with the thumb.

The trigger is usually set to 5 lbs and the trigger guard is large enough to allow soldiers wearing military grade body armor the ability to fire the pistol without removing the bottom of the trigger guard. The bottom of the trigger guard can be removed to allow this pistol to be used by heavy cyborgs. The safety is usable from either side, making the pistol functional for both right and left handed soldiers In addition there is a grip safety that keeps the weapon from being fired unless someone is gripping it firmly, preventing the weapon from discharging when dropped or loosely held.

The M-12 can also be modified depending upon the mission, including:

• Silencer: With the threaded exterior of the barrel, a silencer can be screwed on quickly and easily, as well as be firmly attached to the weapon. This reduces the pistols retort to a mere 6 decibels, making it inaudible over 1 meter away. Testers often claimed all you could hear was the slide action.
• Underslung Illuminator: This modification can be placed under the barrel, in front of the trigger guard. Available in UV/IR/ or visible light (with a twist of the forward housing) this light is usable to a 25m range, providing a narrow cone of light. (1.5m wide at 5m, 2m wide at 10m, 2.25m wide at 15m, 2.5m at 20m, 2.6m at 25m) This is often used in high threat, low light areas.
• Underslung Laser Scope: This laser target designator falls in three categories, selectable by a small switch on the underside of the housing. The first is a standard red-dot laser, the second is an IR/UV dot visible only through night vision goggles or IR/UV sight faceplates common in body armor or power armor. The third is a laser designator that can be used to guide in laser guided munitions. In addition, by using a small port on the side, it can be connected to a compatible communications device, set down, and used for laser communication at a distance up to 150m.
• Scope: On the top, a scope can be added. The standard issue scope utilizes x2/x3/x5/x10 magnification, as well as nightvision. In additional a field soldier can attach a cable from his armor's helmet to the sight and use it to see around corners.

In addition to this, NEMA and the US Military have recently fielded APDS rounds, APDSFS rounds, and Solid Fuel Ring Penetrators for the M-12 combat pistol.

Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS)
This allows the pistol to fire a hyper-velocity dart, mainly aimed at penetrating military grade body armor, as well as civilian knockoffs in the hands of insurgents, terrorists, or high tech criminals. These rounds do increased damage due to the hardened ammunition (usually a neo-tungsten dart) and the collected kinetic energy striking on such a small surface, allowing it to overcome next-generation ballistic weaves, nano-fluidic compensating armors, and limited thickness ballistic plates. However, they do less soft tissue damage due to lack of round fragmentation upon entering the body, as well as a more frequent "through and through" strike. In addition an APDS round does not have the same hydrostatic shock properties upon the human body as normal bullets.

Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot Fin Stabalized (APDSFS)
This is essentially as above, except the "dart" has three micro-fins that cause the round to spin to stabalize its flight and allow for greater accuracy at a distance.

Solid Fuel Ring Penetrators
Misnomered as "Ramjet Rounds" this rounds area circular ring, the forward leading edge made of high tensile neo-carbide material, while the rear part of the shell is a "flight shell" that contains solid rocket fuel. This fuel is ignited by the high speed of the round, propelling the round further and faster, allowing it to penetrate armor better, as well as giving it increased range.

Weight: 1.6 lbs
Length: 7.5 inches
Caliber: 10mm
Maximum Range: 500m (1500 ft)
Maximum Effective Range: 200m (600 ft)
Typical Combat Range: <50m (<150 ft)
Magazine Capacity: 18 rounds, however 30 round extended clips exist