18580301 10:00:00

18580301 10:00:00

HSF #1.0065

D1 reporting progress on weaponry request. A telescoping facsimile of the Starr carbine has been achieved, in respect only of contraction of the barrel - the fully extended length of 21 inches can now be contracted to a dimension of 2.5 inches with the activation of a trigger. The resultant net difference in weapon length is 37.5 inches unaltered, and 19 inches contracted. Trials of 100 rounds fired with the rifle with contraction and protraction activated after each shot has yielded acceptable results with no degradation of performance which is significantly different than the control unaltered Starr carbine.

While the target has been achieved within the projected time frame and the reduction of weapon length is significant, it is of our opinion that this device is not presently advantageous over the unaltered rifle. The firing mechanism still requires each shot to be individually loaded by hand with the paper cartridge system, which essentially nullifies the utility of this weapon beyond a single shot. The present weapon also retains its shoulder support in its original state, which also severely reduces its efficacy in being an object which can be concealed. P3 suggests a telescoping shoulder support to be developed if this weapon is to be requested for further development. Further research and design would be desirable to make the fully contracted rifle take an appearance of something which resembles another tangible item; the current most common suggestion, on the basis of the contracted rifle's physical dimension and property (both current and proposed), is to have the object take the form of a tin can, as is used for food preservation.

A similar telescoping mechanism was attempted with a prototyped Remington New Model, which was forged on the basis of leaked production information, but the reduction of barrel length was not as significant; its 8 inch barrel length could also only be reduced to 2.5 inches, which would result in the entire handgun having a length of 8 inches. In our opinion, this reduction is not a particularly significant reduction of weapon length.