Weight: 1.61kg
Length: 279.4mm (11 inches)
Barrel length: 165.1mm (6.5 inches)
Cartridge: 12.7mm x 35mm caseless telescoping (.50 Lyran CaseLess)
Action: gas-operated
Rate of fire: semi-automatic
Muzzle velocity: 460m/s
Muzzle energy: 2284.5 J
Effective range: 60m
Feed system: single-stacked magazine (7+1)
Sights: v-notch, with picatinny rails for additional fittings
Abstract
The LY46 Hellhammer is a large-bore, gas-operated, high-lethality, semi-automatic pistol, designed and manufactured by the Lyran Protectorate, and produced primarily at Highcairn Manufacturing Zones 198 through 212.
Background
The Protectorate of Lyras maintains a large numbers of embassies around the world, staffed by personnel of Diplomatic Command. On more than one occasion, protests (against Lyras or Lyran policies) of various kinds have turned violent, and Lyran embassies are sometimes considered easy (or, in any case, easier) targets. Personnel, as per Lyran law, must always carry a weapon within arm's reach, and thus the embassies are never defenceless. However, in some parts of the world there are restrictions on what firearms can and cannot be carried, and as a consequence Diplomatic Command has at times found itself in the unenviable position of facing aggressors wearing body armour with nothing more than their L45 handguns. While the L45 is an exceptionally effective weapon for its type, it is designed to be a sidearm for use in conjunction with a heavier primary system, and is not designed to offer notable penetrating power against armoured attackers.
While the instances where Diplomatic Command has come under attack have been few, and the defence mounted by personnel involved successful (in that the embassies held until local law enforcement could arrive), the Lyran Protectorate has always been loathe to look to others for defence of its own.
As a consequence, a requirement was submitted to the Protectorate Research and Development Commission for a weapon which would qualify as a pistol, thereby satisfying international legality for firearms maintained at an embassy, yet possessed of sufficient potency to ensure Diplomatic Command personnel are able to reliably employ lethal force against armoured personnel.
The conclusions reached from the initial assessment were that a two-prong approach would be required, one in which both weapon and ammunition were considered. It was also quickly determined that the finished product may be quite successful on the international export market, and is also, arguably, the first Lyran product that may be more suitable for civilian employment than in the broader military context, where combatants are likely to have access to heavier weaponry.
Construction
The LY46 is an unusual blend of heavy and light construction, due in no small part to the war being waged between the requirement to make the weapon as light as possible and the requirement to make it as heavy as possible to minimise felt recoil. A number of compromises were put into place, with recoil attentuation still very much a consideration, but making the weapon's total weight considerably less than it might otherwise have been.
The LY46's combined bolt-carrier and slide assembly are made of tungsten, both for heat tolerance during firing and also for added weight to the working parts, tungsten being considerably heavier than steel. The pistol, where feasible, uses fibreglass reinforced polyamide, with a variety of finishes available, depending on the preference of the individual, unit or purchaser. The weapon's barrel is cold hammer forged steel, as are the minimum parts required to operate the firing mechanisms and gas system.Anything that can be made out of synthetic materials, without compromising the weapon's reliability and performance, has indeed been made thus.
Operating System
The LY46 itself was built using a variation on the gas-actuated pistol design patented by Magnum Research in 1983, which later went on to become the Desert Eagle. However, a number of issues pertaining to the Desert Eagle have been addressed in the LY46, making the two systems, while visually similar, somewhat different in their operating systems. Gas-actuation was selected to allow for the LY46 to utilise far more potent cartridges than are normally featured in semi-automatic pistols. However, the use of direct-impingement was frowned upon, and was quickly scrapped in favour of a more conventional (in rifle terms at least) short-stroke system.
Recoil attentuation
Given the high power of the .50LCL cartridge, and the fact that this is a pistol, not a rifle, mitigation of felt recoil is an extremely high priority. The LY46's 165mm barrel is fitted with a muzzle brake and recoil compensator, which vents propellant gases sideways and up, which counteracts the conventional tendency for a weapon's muzzle to rise when fired.
The unusually heavy tungsten bolt-carrier/slide takes much of the felt recoil with it as it moves rearwards, and the heavy duty recoil springs at the rear of the bolt-carrier's movement path takes the edge off the contact/impact with the back of the weapon.
Further, use of the patented Pachmayr-designed 'Decelerator' handgrips has been approved, following a lengthy period of discussion with the Lyran Governmental Trade Department, for use with the LY46. Decelerator grips feature ergonomic finger grooves, carefully machined tactile palm grips, and a patented soft-durable rubber composite.
In total, the LY46, while still possessing considerable recoil, has far less than the power of the round would have lead one to expect. Indeed, personnel unfamiliar with the weapon will actually tend to fire second and subsequent shots low, as they overcompensate.
Ammunition
Related as it is to the Desert Eagle family of weapons, the LY46 can come in a wide variety of calibres, and conversions are a simple case of swapping out the barrel, bolt-carrier/slide and magazine.
However, the weapon is, as established above, designed to use the new 12.7 x 35mm caseless telescoping ammunition (.50LCL).
Caseless telescoping may seem like an odd choice for use in a handgun, and it is indeed unusual. The logic was simple, however. Caseless telescoping ammunition was the type of ammunition for which the most propellant could be provided for a given length and width. Of further consideration is the fact that the 12.7 x 35mm cartridge is not cylindrical in cross-section, but, like the 4.7 x 33mm ammunition of the G11, is square, allowing more propellant to be packed into the cartridge's area. The caseless ammunition is used, rather than cased, to lower the weight of the charge, while allowing more of the space to be used to pack in further propellant. This same reason motivates the selection of telescoping ammunition, which provides for explosive charge packed further forward, around the point of the round.
The 12.7mm projectile is otherwise near-identical in dimensions to the .50AE, but, propelled as it is by more propellant, is over 60 metres per second faster at the muzzle of the LY46 than it is from the muzzle of the Desert Eagle. Further, the .50LCL has just shy of 2300J of energy at the muzzle, compared to the 1900J of the .50AE. By way of comparison, a conventional 5.56 x 45mm rifle round (FN SS109) has 1,767J at the muzzle of an 18 inch test barrel.
Sights
Integral standard pistol sights are fitted, but dorsal and ventral picatinny rails are fitted to allow compatibility with most international standard weapon sights. Commonwealth Arms' patented taclight is also compatible with the ventral rail, and is recommended, should a taclight be sought.
Export
The LY46 'Hellhammer' is available for purchase at NS$1500. All queries and purchases can be lodged through the Lyran Arms subsidiary of the Lyran Governmental Trade Department.
