Reliquary: Karpov Arms LBV-M47

The Karpov Arms LBV-M47 (Lazernaya Bitva Vintovka Modela 47, or "Laser Combat Rifle, Model 47") is a military-grade light laser carbine manufactured by the now-defunct Karpov Arms corporation. Karpov Arms went out of business at least forty years ago, yet newly-made LBV-M47s still show up in the hands of guerilla armies, criminals and mercenaries across the galaxy, all either with the serial numbers filed off or with the stamp of some armoury nobody's heard of.


Commonly described as "the Kalashnikov of lasers", the anecdote goes that you could bury the LBV-M47 in fine dusty regolith on an airless, irradiated planet for a century and when you dig it back up, it'll still fire. You can keep your sandwich in the lasing cavity and as long as you take it out before firing (or don't mind a roasted sandwich), it'll still fire. The legends get more ridiculous from there: sliced in two by a vibroblade, boiled on the surface of Venus, left in the sunlight of a blue giant, spat on by Arkeesian acid beetles, orbital re-entry... it'll still fire. Every tall tale is backed up by someone claiming it's true, because they were there and they saw it.

The LBV-M47 has Malf. 18. If the roll indicates a malfunction, roll again. If the second roll is lower than 18, no malfunction occurs. If the weapon is overheating or firing hotshots, Malf. becomes 15 instead of 14. If the weapon is overheating while firing hotshots, Malf becomes 13 instead of 12.

This high reliability even while overheating or hotshotting makes it common to fire hotshots as standard, which increases damage to 6d(2) burn but halves the number of shots to 19. Another common modification is to jerry-rig a power cable into the power cell slot, connecting it to a thigh- or belt-mounted D cell, quintupling shots to 195 (changing weight to 5.1/Dp). This requires a successful Armoury (Small Arms) roll but gives a further -1 to Malf. unless the margin of success was 2 or more. With both options combined, the LBV-M47 can fire 97 shots per D cell at 6d(2) burn damage, making it a formidable weapon for its low price tag.

The given cost is the retail price of a new article bought legitimately from Karpov Arms. Given that all existing LBV-M47s are either old hand-me-downs or unlicensed copies, typical prices are between 40-60% of the listed price, or between $2,400 and $3,600. 

TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Cost	LC
10	Karpov Arms LBV-M47	4d+2(2) burn	12	400/1200	6.1/2C	10	39(3)	5†	-4	1	$5,900	2

Under the Hood
The LBV-M47 was made using Eidetic Memory: Blaster and Laser Design in GURPS Pyramid #3/37 with 4.5 dice of damage and a small focal array. After it was made, the Cheap and Very Fine (Reliable) properties were added.