8x50 FAE

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The 8mm FAE differs greatly from its predecessor due to the shape of the bullet. The round-pointed, 9mm long nose of the Renaud was replaced by a spire-pointed tip and the overall projectile was lengthened by 4mm, resulting in a slender 20mm conical nose. Its base was also trimmed from 8.1 to 1.15m, creating a boat-tail of 4.2mm long and with an angle of 7.8°. These features greatly improve the ballistic properties of the bullet itself, though the powder remains mostly equivalent. The switch from steel cases to brass cases allows it to be manually hand-loaded where the older rounds could not be.

History

The 8mm FAE as it is more colloquially known is the current service cartridge in all Seilurid rifles and machine guns. Its design mostly spanned the years of 1899 and 1900 while it was formally introduced and began production in 1901 to replace the older 8mm Renaud. Unlike its predecessor which was presented as a fait accompli by renowned general Flavien Renaud, the 8mm FAE was developed by the internal design bureaus of the Fabrique d'Armes d'Elfame. The driving motivation behind the 8mm FAE was that while the older Renaud cartridge had been cutting edge at the time of its introduction ten years prior due to its use of guncotton rather than black powder as a propellant, it featured a bullet of classical design. While tried and true, this bullet shape failed to take advantage of new innovations in ballistics that began to appear in the previous decade and which had a considerable impact on the trajectory, speed and drag of the bullet. The FAE round was thus intended to remain ahead of the curve in small-arms design by integrating these new properties into a new round. An important aspect of the design of the 8mm FAE was backwards compatibility. It needed to be able to be fired from the FS-89 rifle which had been designed around the Renaud ammunition. However, it was discovered that boat-tailed bullets required much sharper rifling twist to stabilize and it became important to ensure the new round would remain adequately stabilized from the old rifling, as otherwise, all existing stocks of FS-89s would require a new retreaded barrel. Another immediately visible detail was the change from cheap mild steel to slightly more expensive brass in the case. This change was prompted by widespread steel shortages within the Seilurid Empire at the time of the design, which were not expected to go away any time soon. Therefore, the more available brass was selected instead.

Item type

Ammunition

Creation Date

1901

Manufacturer

Fabrique d'Armes d'Elfame

Owning Organization

Seilurid Empire

Weight

29g

Dimensions

70x11mm

Base Price

1/4 Scinti for a box of 50

Raw materials & Components

The core of the standard, original 8mm FAE ammunition is a solid lead projectile jacketed within a fine layer of bronze to reduce friction and lead deposits against the rifling of the barrel. The propellant is a nitrocellulose-based smokeless powder kept in a brass case.

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