Frontier Weapons Trade

With the rise of extrasolar colonies beyond Earth and the Sol system, all manners of technology, industries, and ideas followed the human pioneers that set the groundwork for the Inner and Outer Colonies. Weapons were no exception and over the centuries, a healthy weapons trade extended from Earth to its farthest frontier outposts. After the Human-Covenant War, this trade of both legal and contraband weapons began to include alien technologies and the hybridization of cultures and pragmatic philosophies. The following is an assessment page regarding the transaction of small arms into 2558, after which data is inconclusive due to the Created upheaval.
__TOC__
==Sidearms==
===Scrapper-6===
While starship graveyards from interstellar conflicts have been an occurrence since at least the Insurrection, the fetcher industry of reclaiming old starships exploded after the Human-Covenant War. All sorts of industries benefitted from the retrieval of dead and damaged military starships, including the illicit weapons trade. Due to the nature of weapons manufacturers protecting their weapon and software patents through various product protection methods, homegrown workshops across the frontier specialize in the development of untraceable weaponry constructed from resilient titanium and other metals recovered from starship wrecks. Small pistols modeled after the Misriah M6 series handgun, chambered in the M225 magnum cartridge, are the most prolific and often called Scrapper-6.
===MP-Guardian===
For a time, the equipment acquisition pipeline between the United Nations Space Command and the Colonial Military Administration was separate and distinct due in part to the still-developing economic and logistical diversification of the human Outer Colonies. A pre-Insurrection duty pistol for the CMA, the MP-Guardian series, experienced a very short service life in connection to the corruption scandal that shook colonial government institutions. Weapon manufacturers tied to colonial offices saw their market shares shrink as the UNSC and its own Inner Colony suppliers moved to fill the new contractor space. Adopted by Insurrectionist factions, the MP-Guardian cemented its legacy as the era's 'bad-guy handgun'. Chambered in a ten-millimeter cartridge and recognized for its shroud-like rail mount, the MP-Guardian also holds a legendary reputation for near-limitless modularity.
===M98 Compact===
==Compact Weapons==
===SAMP-10===
Originating from the distant colony of Gao, Sevine Arms distribute small arms to frontier residents for reasonable prices without regard for the extent of automatic weapons in their inventory. One of their larger automatic sidearm options is the SAMP-10 machine pistol, chambered in a ten-millimeter cartridge and notorious for its unstable fire rate. While customizable, the base and most common variant seen in public feature 30-round stick magazines that extend from the pistol grip, a U-shaped, two-point folding brace, and a fixed-position vertical foregrip. Most often they are seen in the hands of Gao's frontier agents or hired muscle of frontier businesses.
===M20 5-Step===
Developed by Misriah Armory-Tokyo, an aftermarket parts subsidiary, the M20 5-Step is a firearm body conversion kit intended for UNSC security forces familiar with the MA5 rifle series in the transition to the M20 personal defense weapon as their duty weapon. With a somewhat unfamiliar ergonomic design, the 5-Step attempts to convert the M20's frame to something closer to the MA5 rifle family. The frame replaces up to sixty percent of factory parts, only retaining the receiver, feeding mechanism, and trigger group. In return, the new body features a single body, bullpup-like construction. A forward-foldable foregrip doubles as housing for a flashlight, synonymous with other MA5 derivatives. The 5-Step has seen particular favorability with special operations units and Spartan teams familiar with the MA5K compact-carbine.
===MA5 Micro===
A skeletal test model created by Misriah Armory, the MA5 Micro evolved from a prototype to frontier sale rather soon after the Human-Covenant War. A machine-pistol-sized weapon with an impractical fire rate chambered in M118, Misriah put out the Micro as a dump-gun for the frontier market. It wasn't long before the Micro was synonymous with the bloody streets of Insurrectionist and criminal colonies beyond the Unified Earth Government's control. Rumors claim that Misriah and other companies acted on the request of Naval Intelligence to keep abandoned human territories unstable, easing the UNSC's future return plans. The Micro features a cheap, plastic aesthetic in a green-black finish.
==Combat Rifles==
===Carbine-30===
When Hannibal Weapon Systems retreated from the small arms and security technology industries due to lost market share to Misriah Armory, it did not abandon its previous ventures wholesale. Many of Hannibal's previous projects were instead directed to subsidiaries including Japan-based Seburo Technologies who took on Hannibal's small arms developments, including the Covenant War-era Carbine-30. Believing that the experimental M634 ammunition was to replace the contemporary M118 ammunition within the next decade, Seburo's engineers designed the Carbine-30 around the new round in hopes of filling the future assault rifle role in the UNSC inventory. The hope didn't become reality with Misriah Armory's MA5 family remaining undefeated; instead, the Carbine-30 saw limited adoption with select public security and intelligence units. The Carbine-30 is recognizable for its bulbous body and unorthodox handgrip design.
===Carbine-26 Arata===
Derived from the Carbine-30 project, Seburo Arms pursued further developments in its new Hannibal-derived carbine program. The Carbine-26 Arata is a post-Covenant War weapon that keeps many previous design philosophies in a package similar to the MA5 service weapon favored by the UNSC Armed Forces. The Carbine-26's nickname suggests a 'new start' premise, a rifle for a new era, and maybe intended to compete for a new service weapon bid. The rifle is chambered in the M634 ammunition, now standard in UNSC battle rifles. The Carbine-26 features a default high fire rate, Misriah Armory parts compatibility, a detachable carry handle, and often equipped with an underslung grenade launcher. The weapon is relegated to Seburo's usual customers but appeared in Iskander Syndicate armories through unknown means.
===MA5K Smart Gun===
When the Office of Naval Intelligence went looking for its own exclusive equipment, the procurement task force chose the Misriah Armory MA5K compact carbine. The acquisition expanded to a special request for ONI's mysterious special mission units. The MA5K Smart Gun features a hardened, cylinder computer more advanced than contemporary firearm computers with full sensory networking between the rifle and the user's neural implants. In collaboration with Seburo Arms, the rifle features Seburo-built ergonomic frames and earned praise from ONI teams as 'the most comfortable rifle ever built'. The weapon is chambered in the common M118 ammunition.
===M12 SpecOps Carbine===
==Precision Rifles==
===SRS99 Gorilla Gun===
Dosiac-born Jiralhanae has skin tougher than almost every animal in Earth's ecological history and shows resilience even comparative to some industrial-grade metals. Only armor-piercing ammunition or concentrated gunfire appears capable of bringing them down, therefore, UNSC armorers supporting Spartan operators during and after the Human-Covenant War modified Misriah-designed SRS99 sniper rifles into short-barreled derivatives. The informal-named SRS99 Gorilla Gun has since become a common sight among Spartan teams deployed on anti-Jiralhanae operations and in the hands of paramilitary forces on the frontier. The SRS99 Gorilla Gun is often equipped with a folding foregrip, a much shorter barrel, and 8 to 10-round magazines.