Monster Hunting Guns Made in or Associated with the UK

[Icelander]

When faced with a monster from one's darkest nightmares; what does one need? Beside a miracle?

Guns. Lots of Guns.

I've discussed the melee and unarmed combat styles of people who go out on behalf of the Queen of England* and hunt rogue magicians, spirits made corporeal and sidereal monsters; in this thread. The kind of foes they usually face are mentioned here, along with what happens to the bodies and witnesses. Here's some stuff about their melee weapons, also know as decapitation tools, as well as speculation about less-than-lethal alternatives.

More broadly, I extended the speculative research and solicitation of feedback from forumites to the whole circle of people around HM who were aware of the existence of the supernatural in this thread.

After having more-or-less made up my mind on the question of how the men who jokingly refer to themselves as the Queen's Paranormal Rangers would fight unarmed and with melee weapons, I started to wonder about their primary armament, namely firearms.

In a post in the thread on Ranger Combatives, I lay forth some of the problems with obtaining military grade weaponry for an unofficial group that essentially operates outside the law. Of course, by thus hiding a post on modern weaponry in a fairly long thread on martial arts, I've ensured that HANS or other people knowledgable about or interested in firearms are unlikely to ever see it. It is really more suitable for its own thread.

I'm assuming, for the reasons given in the linked post, that the conspiracy obtains most of its armament through technically-illegal, but practically very hard to track, subterfuge like having foreign monarchs or government, such as the Sultan of Brunei or one of the friendly Emirs in the UAE, order smallarms from a British factory, receive an empty case and conspiciously failing to complain, with a wink and a nod.

They also have the option of having one of their people still inside the armed services or police forces write off some arms cached in one of their armouries, but would only do so if it was almost certain not to come out.

This need not imply that they tell those who handle the transaction what it's for. The foreign monarch would know that he had done a favour for a British royal or another very important person and someone important at the UK factory would know the same thing. Same could apply to senior police or military men giving orders to 'lose' armoury weapons. Some would do it because they knew about the supernatural and agreed with the need to counter it, even if the government didn't yet.

In other cases, the transaction could be more quid pro quo, the influence of the Shadow Court used on behalf of someone who did them a favour within knowing too much, perhaps with an (implied) cover story about a secret government agency needing the weapons for some sort of black operation. Such a cover story, in any event, would be all that was needed for the actual people who 'lose' the weapons.

Practically speaking, the conspiracy is thus more-or-less limited to weapons made in the UK or issued at some point to their armed services or police. Granted, they could probably obtain some other weapons in small numbers, but it will be much easier to get their hands on UK-made stuff. The first time the conspiracy started to buy weapons, it was ca 1991-1995, when they would have tried to get weapons for maybe 10-20 people. By 1998-2000, they'd have started to prepare weapons for more people than they had and a large purchase might conceivably date from that time. After 2001, at the latest, they decided to upgrade what they had and stock much more weaponry. The numbers below are minimums to be met by 2010. They should keep on going up every year after that and in the current day, they should have at least 50% more if they can arrange it.

With that in mind, what weapons does the Hive Mind recommend?

I know that L9A1 pistols, MP5SFA2 (and possibly other semi-automatic variety) submachine guns, L1A1 SLR rifles and L2A3 Sterling submachine guns would probably be comparatively easy to obtain from government armouries during the period when the conspiracy starts to collect arms, i.e. between 91-95. I'm wondering about more modern weapons, primarily. TL8 for preference, and for the longarms ideally fairly easy to fit with night-vision devices and suchlike, while at least some of the pistols need to be able to be fitted with effective suppressors without too much hassle.

Glock 17s arm most of the police and would thus be easier to get than many other weapons. A bit big for their purposes, I should think, however. And while the L105A1/A2/A3 pistols are great weapons, I don't think there were ever very many of them in British Army issue and, in any case, they are also a bit big for concealed carry. There are also these weapons, courtesy of Roger Burton West. I don't know how difficult it would be to get hands on some of the more interesting items there, though.

I don't know how many modern HK weapons like the G36C are in the hands of their police tactical units and how practical it would be to obtain a few of them surreptiously, but if they can, it would be an ideal longarm.

The most important needs are the following:

a) Carry pistols. In all, would need some 250 of those. Maybe 50 could be full-size, but most of the rest would need to be comfortable for all-day carry and even suitable for carry by civilians with limited training and while wearing clothing that could not always be selected merely for covert carry suitability. Ideal weapons are high-capacity and power for their size, but still slim and small enough so that most people can carry them all day. Some might also need to be small enough for carry as a backup weapon or by slight persons, such as women.

b) Entry longarms. The most power in a small package possible, because they might need to be concealed in vehicles or carried while disguised as deliverymen or repair staff. Need about a fifty of these. Also need the optics, NVGs, flashlights and all those accessories, in a way that won't raise eyebrows when you have to get fifty or so of each.

c) Extra-power longarms. Something that can take down beings resistant to regular SMG or carbine rounds, like a cut-down 7.62mm rifle, a .50 Beowulf carbine or a small but high-capacity squad automatic weapon. Something like a G3KA4 or the F.R. MC-51** would be nice. Need at least ten.

d) Tactical shotguns. Again, as easy to conceal as possible, but as powerful as possible. Need a round dozen, maybe two dozen.

e) Covert longarms, fairly easily suppressed. Need a dozen or two. Not only the guns are a problem here, because they'd also need a source of really good suppressors.

*And Scotland, Nothern Ireland and some fifteen other Commonwealth nations.
**Both of which are possibilities, but somewhat rare for our purposes. Even if they managed to snag some from storage, I think they'd need a source of more such weapons.