Chapter 196: Chapter 189: Project 20mm
Project 20mm reached the proving ground on the sixth day of the Arsenal Clock.
The weapon came under canvas, accompanied by two armorers, four ammunition handlers, a spare barrel, three sealed belts, and a crate containing enough replacement parts to prove that nobody at Titanworks trusted the first assembly.
Ironbreaker considered that healthy.
The weapon had begun as an attempt to extend what Elarion already understood.
The MG-34 had taught them how a rapid-fire weapon should feed, how crews should clear stoppages, how barrels should be changed before heat destroyed accuracy, and how one design could become useful across several mounts.
Project 20mm borrowed those lessons.
The larger ammunition had forced nearly everything else to change.
The receiver had grown heavier. The locking mechanism had been reinforced. The recoil system occupied more space than the original MG-34 assembly. The feed cover required thicker components, and the barrel could no longer be changed by one man with the same ease.
The result stood on a temporary ground mount in the center of the range.
It looked finished.
That was usually the most dangerous moment in any project.
Ironbreaker walked around the weapon once before speaking.
"Remove the feed cover."
The lead armorer obeyed.
The internal assembly came into view.
Brakka leaned closer, testing the feed pawl with one finger.
"Too much side movement."
"It remains within the approved tolerance," the armorer said.
"Approved before firing."
Sera opened the inspection ledger beside the ammunition table.
Malen stood behind the marked safety line with two selected gunners and a loader. He had chosen men who already understood the MG-34, though none had handled ammunition this large in an automatic weapon.
Gandalf and Maerath occupied the measurement station.
Gandalf had brought heat crystals, recoil markers, and mana-sensitive gauges for the powered-control studies that would come later. Maerath had brought twice as much equipment and arranged it with the confidence of someone certain every future problem could be blamed on insufficient measurement.
Ironbreaker looked at the instrument cases.
"We are testing a gun."
"We are testing recoil, heat, vibration, feed timing, mount stress, barrel distortion, and operator response," Maerath replied.
"That is still one gun."
"Then it should be grateful for the attention."
Malen stepped toward the crew.
"Everyone repeats the stoppage order aloud. No one reaches into the receiver until the barrel is clear and the firing mechanism is locked. If the gun does anything strange, stop."
The first gunner looked toward the weapon.
"How strange?"
Ironbreaker answered.
"It is a new automatic cannon. Assume everything it does is strange until proven otherwise."
The test began with hand cycling.
The armorers loaded a dummy belt containing weighted inert cartridges. Each matched the length and mass of the real round but carried no primer or charge.
The gunner pulled the charging handle.
The first cartridge entered the feed path.
The mechanism closed.
He worked the action again.
The dummy round extracted and cleared the receiver while the next moved into position.
Sera marked the result.
They repeated the cycle ten times.
Then twenty.
On the twenty-third, the belt twisted near the feed tray and the cartridge nose struck the side guide rather than entering cleanly.
"Stop," the gunner called.
"Stopped," the loader repeated.
The mechanism was opened and inspected.
Brakka removed the belt.
"The tray allows too much lateral movement."
The lead armorer pointed toward the hanging ammunition.
"The belt weight pulls from the left."
Malen looked at the loader.
"How were you supporting it?"
"From beneath, as instructed."
"Support closer to the tray."
They adjusted the ammunition box and changed the loader’s position. The next fifty hand cycles passed without another misfeed.
Maerath studied the feed path.
"The design assumes the belt arrives straight."
"All feed systems assume that," Ironbreaker said.
"Battlefields do not."
Brakka looked toward him.
"You want a flexible guide?"
"I want the weapon to tolerate a loader who is tired, frightened, or standing on a moving platform."
Malen nodded.
"Record it as a crew and design issue. We continue with the present guide for today."
Sera wrote both causes into the ledger.
The second stage used primed cases without projectiles.
The gun would cycle under reduced force while allowing the crew to hear the mechanism and observe extraction.
Ironbreaker inspected the chamber.
"Single cycle only."
The gunner closed the receiver and settled behind the grips.
"Ready."
Malen checked the range.
"Fire."
The first primer snapped.
The action moved.
The empty case struck the ejection guide and fell clear.
The second cycle passed.
Then the third.
By the tenth, the crew had begun to settle into a rhythm.
The loader watched the belt.
The gunner watched the sights and charging handle.
The assistant gunner counted each cycle aloud.
No case remained inside the receiver.
Neither any feed tooth slipped.
Ironbreaker moved to live ammunition.
The first belt contained five rounds.
The shells had been inspected separately before dawn. Each cartridge bore the mark of the same loading team so any inconsistency could be traced.
Malen turned toward the gun crew.
"Single shots. One round at a time."
The first gunner seated himself behind the weapon.
The loader positioned the ammunition box beside the mount and guided the belt toward the tray.
Ironbreaker closed the feed cover.
"Charge."
The first live round entered the chamber.
The range fell silent.
Malen raised one hand.
"Fire."
The cannon struck the air with a sharp report.
The mount shifted backward against its ground anchors, then returned.
Dust lifted from the firing lane.
The shell struck the earthen bank beyond the target frame.
Gandalf checked the recoil markers.
"Within calculation."
Maerath watched the heat crystal attached near the chamber.
"Temperature rise higher than expected."
"One shot," Ironbreaker said.
"One measured result."
They fired the second round.
Then the third.
The group landed wider than the crew wanted, but all three rounds reached the target bank without a mechanical failure.
Brakka inspected the ground anchors.
"The mount is walking."
The movement measured less than two fingers, yet it had occurred after only three shots.
Malen looked at the gunner.
"Did the sights shift?"
"Slightly."
Ironbreaker ordered the rear anchors tightened and added another brace beneath the center support.
The test resumed.
Rounds four and five landed closer together.
Sera marked the first stage as passed under restricted conditions.
The weapon could fire.
That was the smallest possible victory.
The second live belt held fifteen rounds.
The gunner would fire three-round bursts with a pause between each.
Before the test began, the crew rehearsed the barrel-change procedure using the spare barrel.
The MG-34 had taught them the value of replacing an overheated barrel quickly, but the scaled-up system had become more difficult.
The 20 mm barrel was longer, heavier, and retained enough heat that one man could not handle it safely without a reinforced grip and protective sleeve.
The assistant gunner unlocked the barrel collar.
The loader supported the rear.
Together, they withdrew the barrel and placed it on the cooling rack.
The first attempt took thirty-eight seconds.
Ironbreaker looked at Malen.
"Too slow."
Malen disagreed.
"For an untrained crew on a weapon they received this morning, it is acceptable."
"Acceptable becomes slow once things are shooting back."
"Then we train them before changing the mechanism."
The second attempt took thirty-one seconds.
The third reached twenty-seven.
Brakka inspected the locking collar afterward.
"Wear on the lower lug."
The armorer leaned closer.
"From the barrel weight during removal."
"Then the crew needs a guide or the lug needs more metal."
Maerath looked toward the collar.
"A small levitation assist could carry part of the weight."
Ironbreaker did not look at him.
"No."
"You rejected that quickly."
"I have heard you describe ’small assistance’ before."
"It would not replace the crew."
"It would add a failure point to an operation that already has too many hands."
Malen stepped between the argument.
"Manual procedure first. Powered assistance can be tested after the crew reaches a stable time."
Maerath folded his arms.
"Everyone has become deeply attached to making soldiers suffer."
"Training is not suffering," Malen said.
"You have clearly never trained under yourself."
Even Brakka almost smiled.
The gun was reassembled.
The fifteen-round belt entered the feed tray.
The first three-round burst passed cleanly.
The weapon climbed under recoil despite the heavy mount, but the gunner brought the sights back quickly.
The second burst followed.
The belt moved smoothly.
The empty cases cleared.
Heat shimmer began to rise above the barrel.
Gandalf watched the temperature crystal.
"Twenty percent above the predicted curve."
Ironbreaker nodded toward Sera.
"Record it. Continue."
The third burst fired.
On the second round, the receiver gave a harsher metallic sound.
The gunner stopped before completing the third shot.
"Abnormal cycle."
"Stopped," the loader repeated.
The mechanism was locked open.
One live round remained halfway through the feed path. The cartridge had entered at a slight angle, and the feed pawl had scraped a bright line across the belt link.
Brakka removed the belt and inspected the pawl.
The front edge had begun to round.
"Wear."
"After eight live rounds?" the armorer asked.
"After hand cycling, primed cases, and eight live rounds," Brakka corrected.
Ironbreaker touched the damaged edge.
"The pawl is too soft for such large rounds."
Maerath looked at the receiver.
"Or the return force is too high."
"Both may be true."
Sera checked the earlier dummy belt.
Faint marks ran across several links.
The problem had begun during hand cycling, but the softer dummy loads had not exposed it clearly. Live recoil had accelerated the wear until the pawl could no longer pull the belt squarely.
Ironbreaker replaced the pawl with the spare.
The test continued after the crew cleared the receiver and inspected every remaining cartridge.
The final bursts passed without another jam.
The third live test used a fifty-round belt.
This was the stage that mattered.
The weapon had to survive sustained bursts before anyone could justify building twin or quad mounts around it.
Ironbreaker stood beside the measurement station.
"Five-round bursts. Three breaths between bursts. Barrel inspection after twenty-five."
Malen looked toward the gunner.
"Do not chase the target. Keep the mount under control."
The gunner nodded.
The first burst struck the center target frame.
The second landed slightly high.
By the fourth, the barrel shimmer had become visible even from behind the safety line.
Gandalf’s crystal brightened.
"Heat rising too quickly."
"How far?" Ironbreaker asked.
"Thirty-one percent above the predicted curve."
Maerath watched the receiver markers.
"Feed timing is also changing. The return stroke is shortening."
The fifth burst began.
Four rounds fired.
The fifth did not.
The gunner released the trigger immediately.
"jam."
The loader repeated the call.
The mechanism remained almost closed. An empty case had failed to clear completely before the next cartridge tried to enter.
No one touched the weapon.
Gandalf checked the chamber heat.
"Too hot for immediate opening."
The crew waited while the barrel and receiver cooled.
Ironbreaker watched the temperature crystal rather than the gun.
The weapon had fired twenty-four rounds from the final belt. Combined with the earlier stages, the barrel had not yet reached the number expected before replacement.
When the chamber cooled enough, Brakka opened the receiver.
The empty case had caught against the ejection guide. Its rim showed a heavy mark where extraction had pulled unevenly.
The feed pawl carried new wear.
Not as severe as the first, but visible.
"The heat is changing clearances," Sera said.
Ironbreaker nodded.
"The receiver expands. The return spring loses force slowing round ejection."
Maerath pointed toward the recoil cylinder.
"The damping fluid is heating too. The system is resisting the return stroke differently after each burst."
Gandalf looked toward the barrel.
"And the chamber heat is transferring backward faster than the model predicted."
They had found three connected failures.
The barrel overheated.
The recoil system changed behavior as it warmed.
The feed assembly wore faster when timing shifted.
Ironbreaker ordered the spare barrel installed.
The locking collar showed fresh wear, but remained usable.
Malen looked toward Ironbreaker.
"We still have ammunition."
"We also have enough evidence."
The first gunner stood from the mount.
"Can it be fixed?"
Ironbreaker looked at the weapon rather than answering quickly.
"Yes.
He walked toward the ammunition table and began separating the damaged parts.
"The core action works. The receiver survived. The chamber held. The ejection path is acceptable when cold. The mount needs stronger anchors, but it did not fail."
Brakka placed the worn feed pawls beside each other.
"The pawl material changes. Harder surface, tougher base."
Sera added another note.
"The feed tray needs better belt guidance and less dependence on the loader holding a perfect angle."
Gandalf pointed toward the temperature record.
"The barrel requires a revised heat limit. The current firing schedule is too aggressive."
Maerath shook his head.
"A lower firing schedule avoids the weakness. It does not solve it."
"No one said it did," Gandalf replied.
Maerath looked toward the barrel jacket.
"More surface area. A different profile. Perhaps controlled mana conduction toward a replaceable cooling sleeve."
Ironbreaker considered it.
"No active cooling on the first reliable model."
Maerath opened his mouth.
"Passive mana-conductive sleeve," Ironbreaker added before he could argue. "No powered system."
"That is still magical engineering."
"It is metal doing its job without needing permission."
Maerath smiled faintly.
"I will accept the insult as progress."
Malen turned toward the crews.
"The barrel-change drill continues every day. New goal: twenty seconds without damaging the locking collar."
The assistant gunner looked at the heavy spare barrel.
"We need a better support handle."
"Design one with the armorers," Malen said. "You are the men expected to use it. Your complaints become useful only when they reach a drawing."
The test report was completed before sunset.
Project 20mm: Core mechanism functional.
Hand cycling and dummy feeding passed after ammunition-box repositioning.
Single-shot firing passed.
Short controlled bursts passed with one feed stoppage.
Sustained-fire test halted after extraction failure and feed-timing degradation.
Primary faults identified:
Feed pawl wear.
Insufficient belt guidance.
Barrel heating above predicted rate.
Recoil-system behavior altered by heat.
Barrel-change collar wear.
The final judgment remained simple.
Promising. Not production-ready.
Twin and quad mounts remain prohibited.
Ironbreaker approved the next development cycle.
The feed pawls would be remade with a hardened contact surface.
The feed tray would receive adjustable side guides and a short articulated belt chute.
The barrel profile would be revised for greater heat dissipation.
Maerath and Gandalf would test a passive mana-conductive cooling sleeve.
The recoil assembly would undergo heated bench trials before another live sustained-fire test.
The barrel collar would also receive a support guide, while the crew developed a safer and faster replacement method.
The first gun remained on the range.
Nobody covered it.
The worn pawls, marked belt links, caught case, and heat charts were placed beside the receiver so the next team would begin with the same evidence.
Late that evening, the report reached Elarion.
Lucien read it without summoning another meeting.
The System updated the branch after he reached the final page.
Standardized Anti-Aircraft Gun Family
Core weapon development initiated.
Basic firing cycle validated.
Sustained-fire reliability insufficient.
Twin and quad mount qualification locked.
Ninety-Day Review: 84 days remaining.
Arsenal Before the Breach: 2 years, 359 days remaining.
Lucien approved the revised feed parts, the heated recoil bench, and the passive cooling test.
