Bofors CBJ-MS

     Notes: Introduced in early 1998.  It is a light personal defense weapon designed primarily for issue to home defense units and guards at high-stakes installations.  It uses a proprietary round with good penetration and average damaging ability.  The weapon's primary attributes are its small size and reasonable effectiveness for a weapon of its size.  It appearance is similar to the Mini-Uzi and Ruger MP-9, but the front end has a foregrip that can hold an extra box magazine for ready use if the drum magazine is not used.  The sights are precision adjustable sights, with the rear sights graduated up to 400 meters, the range the company states is the effective range of the CBJ-MS using 6.5mm CBJ ammunition. (It should be noted that most small arms experts say that the light weight of the 6.5mm CBJ  round, along with the short barrel lengths, would never allow any sort of accurate fire at that range, and that Bofors as still not allowed outside testers to fire the CBJ-MS at anywhere that kind of range).  Atop the receiver is a full-length MIL-STD-1913 rail, to which the iron sights are attached; this allows the user to change the sights to those necessary for use with 9mm Parabellum ammunition, as well as use other sorts of optic or aiming devices or other accessories. 

     With a simple change in barrel and magazine, the CBJ-MS can be switched to fire 9mm Parabellum.  If the CBJ-MS is using 9mm Parabellum ammunition, it may also use screw-on-type silencers and subsonic ammunition (and Bofors makes a special lightweight titanium silencer for the CBJ-MS).  Subsonic 6.5mm CBJ ammunition is not yet available, and the round is a very fast round; use with silencers is not recommended.  Standard operation is blowback, with firing from an open bolt, but with a few changes the weapon may be converted to fire from a closed bolt (normally done when the CBJ-MS is using 9mm Parabellum ammunition).  The CBJ-MS also uses a fixed firing pin as standard, but may be easily changed to use a floating firing pin.  The only external manual controls are a safety and magazine release; semiautomatic and automatic fire are controlled by the amount the trigger is depressed, similar to the Steyr AUG series. A weighted recoil buffer and heavy bolt hold the cyclic rate down to an easily-controllable 575 rpm.  If desired, a canvas brass catcher may be attached to the ejection port. 

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The weapon proved to be sturdy and had good performance in adverse conditions, being nearly dirt-proof.  Unfortunately, the CBJ-MS had only a short production run before bombing put a halt to production.

     Merc 2000 Notes: Budgetary restrictions meant that the CBJ-MS was not produced.

Weapon

Ammunition

Weight

Magazines

Price

CBJ-MS

6.5mm CBJ

2.68 kg

20, 30, 100D

$575

CBJ-MS

9mm Parabellum

2.27 kg

20, 30

$330

 

Weapon

ROF

Damage

Pen

Bulk

SS

Burst

Range

CBJ-MS (6.5mm)

5

2

1-1-Nil

1/3

1

3

24

CBJ-MS (9mm)

5

2

1-Nil

1/3

1

4

28

 

Carl Gustav m/45

     Notes: Generally known as the Carl Gustav or Swedish K (for the Swedish word for submachinegun, kulsprutepistol), the m/45 was first designed late in World War 2.  The designed has been copied by many nations, with many similar weapons or outright copies being found around the world, so that it can be found almost anywhere.  This is primarily because of the simplicity and reliability of the m/45 – it is otherwise not a particularly noteworthy or any sort of fantastically-effective submachinegun.

     The m/45 is built primarily of heavy-gauge stamped steel, which is primarily riveted or screwed together with heavy-gauge screws and rivets instead of a lot of welds.  The original m/45 was blued and had plain, uncheckered wooden grip plates for its pistol grip; the later (and far more common) m/45B used checkered grip panels, and was typically painted in light green over a phosphated finish.  The m/45 fires from an open bolt and operates using simple unlocked blowback.  The heavy construction means that the cyclic rate is low, only about 550-600 rpm.  (The bolt alone weighs about 0.7 kilograms!)  The low rate of fire is good, since the m/45 has only safe or automatic settings.  The folding stock, essentially a heavy, squared strut, locks out firmly and allows the m/45 to be easily fired when it is folded.  Original m/45 sights are quite simple (some would say crude), but m/45B sights are far better, and the rear is adjustable for elevation and windage.  The weakness of the m/45 is its safety system; it requires manipulation of the bolt, and accidental fire is quite possible if the weapon is bumped or dropped.  The barrel is surrounded for its entire length by a ventilated steel jacket, but this will not protect the non-firing hand from heat.  There is no foregrip, but a few m/45s have a lug for a Swedish Model 1914 bayonet.

     The m/45 was originally designed to feed from 20 and 50-round Suomi magazines, and the 40 and 71-round Suomi drums.  It could also take a 36-round curved magazine designed for the m/45.  The problem with the Suomi magazines and drums was (as always) that these magazines, modified from magazines designed for old Soviet submachineguns, were never the most reliable in the world and quite difficult to load to full capacity.  The curved 36-round magazine tended not to feed reliably either.  This was remedied in 1948 with the introduction of the now-standard 36-round “stick” magazine, now acknowledged as one of the best magazines ever designed.  The use of this new magazine required the addition of a U-shaped retaining pin to the magazine well.  If you remove this pin, the m/45 can still accept the Suomi magazines and drums as well as the 36-round curved magazine.  This “new” model was known as the m/45B.

     There were other versions of the m/45, all of which differ only in minor details and which are the same as the m/45B for game purposes.  These include models with different finishes.  In addition, there was the m/45C, which is an m/45B with a bayonet lug, and the m/45E, which is an m/45B which has a selective-fire mechanism.

     One notable variation never had an official designation; the SEALs (their primary users) simply called them “Swedish Ks.”  Versions used by the SEALs in Vietnam were almost always equipped with sound suppressors.  The early suppressors for the SEAL m/45s were based on those used by the OSS variant of the M-3 Grease Gun; they were quite heavy at about 2.7 kilograms, not really that quiet, and tended to severely degrade the m/45s accuracy.  Carl Gustav later designed a much lighter and far more effective suppressor for SEAL use, but little of these suppressors has been published.  The SEALs often used their M/45s with brass catchers, also designed for them by Carl Gustav.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The SF Swedish K did not see widespread use again until the Twilight War.

     Merc 2000 Notes: Since they could not usually be attributed to any given nation, the m/45s are a popular weapon for covert operations.

Weapon

Ammunition

Weight

Magazines

Price

m/45

9mm Parabellum

3.45 kg

36

$309

SEAL “Swedish K”

9mm Parabellum or Parabellum Subsonic

4.11 kg

36

$442

 

Weapon

ROF

Damage

Pen

Bulk

SS

Burst

Range

m/45

5

2

Nil

4/5

1

2

22

SEAL “Swedish K” (Standard Ammo)

5

2

Nil

4/5

1

2

20

SEAL “Swedish K” (Subsonic Ammo)

5

2

Nil

4/5

1

2

19