Kb.1917

### **Description**

The Karabin 7.53mm Model 1917 or Kb.1917 in short. In translated form, Rifle.1917.

The Kb.1917 was a rifle made entirely out of desperation and need. These two factors planned a major role in the reason why the rifle went down in history as one of, if not the worst rifles accepted into military service.

Overall, the Kb.1917 was a failure. This is most likely the reason why as soon as it was accepted into service, the War Cabinet immediately looked for a replacement.

### **History**

The Kb.1917 was Uswa's first mass-produced attempt at making a "universal rifle". Rather than being designed by a private business, the War Cabinet felt it necessary to make it themselves in order for it to supposedly be up to the standards they wanted from the start. This decision would prove to be the downfall of the rifle as the War Cabinet at the time had very little experience with designing firearms. The result of this was a rifle that was plauged with issues from the start of it's development. The first stage of it's development began in 1915 with an unnamed prototype being chambered in 7.21x49mm. After testing, it was found that this was both unreliable and underpowered compared to contemporary choices. The rifle was then rechambered into 8.22x67mm, which had the same issues but without the drawback of being underpowered. The reliability was seen to be below average, however the situation was dire so further testing was performed. During the tests, a new problem arose. This was that, instead of the cartridge being underpowered, it was now too powerful for regular infantry use as the excessive recoil caused bruising with prolonged use. In addition to this, the 8.22x67mm round was not domestically produced meaning that a production license would need to be acquired. Following this, it was then suggested that a domestically produced round be used. This gave birth to the 7.53x54mm Ministry cartridge which was chosen as the final caliber. While the Ministry round wasn't as flawed as the prior two attempts, it was still notorious for misfires, jamming and being unreliable in general.

#### **The Uswan Logistical Crisis**

In 1914, the Uswan War Cabinet came to a startling realisation. The Armed Forces were equipped with over 50 different types of firearms spread over approximately 30 different calibers. To fix this problem, the War Cabinet opted to simultaneously upgrade the logistical system while implementing standardised equipment. This would hopefully improve the logistics and prevent a repeat of the Two Year Logistical Hell which happened from 1909 to 1911.

#### **Inflated Test Results**

Once the design had been finalised, rather lenient combat testing was conducted. However, despite the relaxed tests, the rifle's flaws quickly began to show. During reliability and weather testing, mud wedged the bolt to the frame, rendering it unable to cycle. In addition to this, the report on it’s accuracy was manually inflated to make the rifle seem better than it actually was. The report stated that out of 50 rounds fired at a target at a distance of 500m, 37 rounds hit. This was an incredibly massive overstatement considering that out of those 50 rounds fired, 17 of them jammed the rifle, out of the 33 rounds that fired correctly, only 12 hit the target at all and out of that, only 2 shots could have been considered fatal.

### **Legacy**

The Kb.1917 was, as quoted by Jakub Poski, "A complete and utter fuckup of a rifle." It returned a rather abysmal reputation. It was considered a rifle for recruits and was generally frowned upon by the Army.