Br55

The BR55 Battle Rifle is a United Nations Space Command infantry service rifle seen in the fictional science-fiction game series Halo. A newer variant, the BR55HB SR Battle Rifle was introduced in the Halo 3 Beta.
Summary

The BR55 Battle Rifle is an automatic UNSC rifle. It started service by the year 2552, and replaced the MA5B Assault Rifle seen in Halo:Combat Evolved. The BR55 fires 9.5mm rounds from a 36-round magazine, in 3-shot bursts. It features a 2X optical scope for precision targeting. The BR55 is commonly used by the UNSC marines in the first few levels. The weapon also has an integrated computer, like the MA5B, that shows how many rounds are left in the current magazine. However, It does not show the relative position of the planet Delta Halo orbits like the MA5B Assault Rifle.

Advantages
The BR55 Rifle has reasonably high power and a decent rate of fire. In multiplayer, four full bursts to the head will kill a fully-shielded opponent, assuming standard shields. This weapon will kill an unshielded enemy in a single head shot. This requires that only one of the three rounds from a burst hit an enemy. Therefore, it is possible to kill up to three unshielded opponents in a single burst if they are grouped close enough to each other, though this is an uncommon occurrence. Although weak against flood and heavier bodied foes, the rifle does perform extremely well when in the hands of two or more Marines as its punch begins to take its toll when in large numbers. The rifle has a noticeabley longer range than the MA5B rifle in Halo: Combat Evolved, and a fairly stronger punch. It's also far more accurate bursts can down incoming drones from a great distance and can pin down hordes of grunts and light infantry. Jackal shield strength is also more softened since a single Marine need simply to use the BR55's mid-range accuracy to place a burst of rounds in the Jackal's shield notch. The BR55 is especially helpful in urban combat scenarios against rooftop grunts or flying drones.

Disadvantages

At longer ranges, it is necessary to minimize strafing movements when firing to avoid "splintering" the shot grouping too much. Since each "shot" is really a three-round-burst, certain movements can break up your shot's grouping and greatly reduce accuracy. This also affects accuracy when firing from a moving vehicle such as a Warthog (especially when firing at a 90-degree angle from the vehicle's heading).

The Battle Rifle is not as effective at close ranges, nor is it particularly effective against Elites on higher difficulties due to the slow rate of fire. Each bullet also acts as a tracer which gives away the shooter's position. Also, the range is limited compared to the Sniper Rifle. The Battle Rifle is also not particularly effective against Flood Combat Forms due to its slow rate of fire. It is also not effective against Sentinels, and does negligible damage against vehicles.
Influence

The BR55 is largely based on the French standard issue FAMAS assault rifle, and also has features resembling the U.S. Army's prototype XM8 rifles. Other weapons that may have influenced its design are the SA80, the SAR-21, and Steyr AUG because of their bull pup and scope layouts.
Appearances

It is used since the battle for Harvest.

The Battle Rifle was not featured in Halo 1, but was created for Halo 2, though it makes its first in-universe chronological appearance in Halo: First Strike. It was designed to replace the Pistol from the original game; this was because the developers felt that the pistol was overbalanced as compared to the other weapons in the game, and perhaps also because a rifle made more sense as a mid-range weapon than a pistol when comparing its abilities to the other weapons.

The BR55 was originally designed by Bungie to be a semi-automatic weapon, but the idea was apparently used for the Covenant Carbine instead.

Another idea the developers were working on was a three bullet minimum per burst and full auto that resulted from holding the trigger. Zoomed in, the rifle only shot a single round. However, these features were ultimately scrapped in favor of the more simplistic design that was used in the final version of Halo 2.
The Battle Rifle will be returning in Halo 3. The screenshot below shows that the "new" Battle Rifle, or BR55HB SR Battle Rifle has a longer barrel, a modified carrying handle, the scope resembles the modern-day Trijicon ACOG, and there is now a trigger guard over the trigger, a feature lacking in the Halo 2 Battle Rifle.
The new variant of the UNSC Battle Rifle, the BR55HB SR, for Halo 3.
The new variant of the UNSC Battle Rifle, the BR55HB SR, for Halo 3.

In the Halo 3 Beta, it functioned identically to its Halo 2 iteration. However, Bungie has stated that certain weapons will be tweaked slightly between then and the time the game is released, so the BR may function somewhat differently in the final game.
Ammunition

It is interesting to note the ammo used for the Battle Rifle. It uses a new 9.5mm x 40 Experimental Round. The 7.62 x 51 mm NATO round is a rather high-powered round used on the MA5B and on modern-day marksman rifles and machine guns. The 7.62 mm already has a history of having too much recoil because of the rounds' high power, which made it hard to fire fully-automatically in assault rifles. While the BR55's larger 9.5 mm round would be heavier and would thus presumably generate even more recoil than the 7.62 mm NATO, this is not necessarily the case. Since the Battle Rifle's rounds have a noticeably shorter case length than the 7.62 mm NATO (40 mm vs. 51 mm), they most like contain much less powder that the 7.62 mm NATO, which would yield less muzzle energy and thus less recoil, making the weapon more manageable.

However, the size of the ammo would have a problem fitting in the 36-round magazine of the current Battle Rifle. If a Heckler Koch G3 (which is chambered in 7.62mm x 51) has a standard magazine count of 20 and be the size that it is, it would be hard to see a cartridge much wider than the 7.62mm fit inside of a magazine of the Battle Rifle's size and with a capacity of 36 rounds. The Battle Rifle's magazine would have to be about twice as long as it actually is to hold that many rounds. This is a continuous pattern with UNSC assault rifles as a similar instance occurred with the MA5B. The MA5B has a magazine of 60 rounds chambered in the 7.62mm x 51 with a rather "small" magazine size, which looks to be smaller than the Battle Rifle's magazine.
Trivia

* On the side of the Battle Rifle, (opposite side to the bolt) there are three Chinese symbols. Some people have stated that it may mean "The Monkey King".

* This weapon was first introduced in Eric Nylund's Halo: First Strike novel. It was noted that this rifle had "a longer barrel and stock, with a cut down muzzle shroud.", "A scope was mounted on an optics railing along the top of the rifle". Spartan 043 (Will) once commented on the rifle: "Auto zoom, nice."

* The Battle Rifle variant in Halo 3 is called the BR55HB SR Battle Rifle. The "HB" most likely stands for "Heavy Barrel".

* The Battle Rifle was originally supposed to shoot single rounds in its zoomed mode in Halo 2 based on the Zanzibar play video before its released, it was later changed to contain the normal three shot fire mode.

Character Compatibility
* Elites
* Spartans
* Marines
* Flood Combat Form (Human)
* Flood Combat Form (Elite)

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See Also

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