Vostu-pattern carbine

"Oh man! You really need to learn to recognize the symbols on top of the charger—and count your shots, too. First time I picked one up I just about brained myself when it ejected."

- Anonymous serviceman

The Type-51 Carbine, otherwise known as the Covenant Carbine is a Covenant ground firearm.

Summary
The Carbine is the Covenant equivalent of the UNSC BR55HB SR Battle Rifle and the BR55 Battle Rifle. It is a semi-automatic weapon that combines high accuracy with decent stopping power, used primarily for mid-range combat. When a round is fired the bolt goes back and foward. Unlike most standard-issue Covenant weapons such as the Plasma Rifle, the Carbine does not run on a battery. Rather, it fires solid, radioactive projectiles from an 18-round cylindrical magazine, sometimes suggested as being analogous to a "stripper" style magazine. It has a similar feature to the assault rifle and the battle rifle in that it tells how much ammo is in the magazine. It is sometimes carried by Brutes and Elites, though this is not usually their preferred weapon. They are most often found wielded by Jackals. In the hands of an enemy Brute or Elite they can be extremely deadly, allowing them to engage their enemies at mid range with deadly accuracy. This weapon is the weapon of choice for a sniper Jackal, along with the Beam Rifle.

Advantages
With a 2x zoom ability, it's possible to make lethal head shots from afar. When you get your hands on one, be sure to take advantage of it. It is also quite effective at killing an unshielded opponent in Multiplayer, and has equal effectiveness to an unshielded enemy as that of a Battle Rifle, M6D, M6C and M6G. Like those weapons, it will kill an unshielded opponent with one shot to the head.

Because the Carbine fires projectiles, not plasma bolts, it is more useful against Flood than the other Covenant weapons, excluding explosives. One of the best uses for this weapon is to shoot the armored headpiece off of Brutes, after which another headshot from the weapon will dispatch them.

The Carbine, when used correctly, can take down an enemy slightly faster than a Battle Rifle can, though it requires more aim, taking at least seven shots to the head in Multiplayer. Damage done by the Carbine is slightly lower than that of the Battle Rifle (if all three bullets hit), but it fires about twice as fast making it equally deadly.

The Covenant Carbine has one other advantage over the Battle rifle. It is able to do damage to Jackal Point Defense Gauntlets, Enforcers shields, Stationary Shield Generators, Brute Power Armor, and other shields of such nature.

It also very useful in the Halo 2 campaign against Brutes. The weapon can do head shots, and can be use at most all ranges. Because Brutes have very little head protection, a skilled player can take out three or four brutes with one clip.

Disadvantages
The Carbine's only real shortcomings are that your position is betrayed by a yellowish-green trail with each shot, just like the Sniper Rifle's steam trail or a Battle rifle's tracer trail.

Reloading Speculation
In the final version of Halo 3, when reloaded, it emits a small cloud of steam, or gas. Fans speculate that the gas comes from overheating. Although the Carbine doesn't "overheat", the pressure used to project the shot out of the Carbine may, in fact, produce internal overheating, meaning that the pressure causes gas to form inside the weapon. So, when reloaded, the fully used magazine has all of that condensed pressure, inside, and the gas comes out along with the magazine. Another speculation, based off the fact that the carbine's ammunition is similar to the fuel rod cannon and a remark made by an anonymous marine that the carbine's "gas" can give you Boren's Syndrome, is that the gas is actually residual radiation left from the ammunition itself.

Halo 3
During the Halo 3 Beta, there were concerns that the Carbine was overpowered compared to its counterpart the Battle Rifle. This disparity was attributed to an excessively high rate of fire, which allowed it to inflict more damage over time than the Battle Rifle. In the final game, the Carbine's rate of fire has been reduced to about that of the Halo 2 version. Furthermore, its power has been reduced slightly. It now takes eight head shots to kill a fully-shielded opponent in multiplayer, as opposed to seven in Halo 2 and the Halo 3 Beta. In addition to the reduction in per-shot damage, the Carbine also starts with two spare magazines when found in multiplayer, whereas it only started with a single spare magazine in Halo 2 multiplayer.

Also, in the Beta, when reloaded, it did not emit a small cloud of gas as it does in the final version of the game.

As far as the Carbine's role in the campaign, it is still occasionally wielded by Brutes, but it can most frequently be found in the hands of Jackals.

UNSC Remarks
“So—it’s just their projectile weapons that we’ve figured out how to reload? I guess I’m cool with that.”

“It’s almost a direct analog of the BR55. I just wish it had a more—um—conventional scope.”

“In my youth I used to board Olympus a couple o’ times a year—you see where I’m going with this? Yeah. That foxtrot gun is the size of my old board.”

“Wish it was smaller; wish it had a proper stock—or at least a butt pad.”

"Hey—don’t inhale immediately after the charger ejects. I heard that **** will give you Boren’s Syndrome.”

Character Compatibility

 * Elites
 * Spartans
 * Marines
 * Brutes
 * Jackals
 * Flood Combat Form

Trivia

 * In the Sacred Icon level the dead Brutes will have Carbines with ammo levels at 104, but when reloaded the extra ammo is 99.
 * The ammo of the Type-51 carbine is loaded similar to most modern human weapons, unlike many other Covenant weapons.
 * When the entire magazine of the carbine is spent, it will automatically eject itself from the weapon, which can be startling for someone who has never used the gun before. This feature is also similar to the workings of the U.S. M1 Garand rifle of World War II.
 * In the level Gravemind after you rescue the Marines, one Marine will take a Carbine that has 120 rounds in it.
 * In the level High Charity and Sacred Icon, you start out with a Carbine with 78 rounds.
 * In Halo 2, if you give a Marine a carbine with a partially used clip, he or she will discharge the clip, a rare instance of a marine actually reloading a weapon.
 * The Covenant Carbine is Frank O. Conner's weapon of choice.
 * In Halo 3 Campaign when The Arbiter or one of the Elites die they respawn with a Carbine
 * In the Halo 2 instruction booklet, the Carbine is incorrectly labeled as having 36 rounds, instead of the actual 18 rounds. Ironic as this is the number of rounds the Carbine's human equivalent, the Battle Rifle has.
 * This design however far fetched it may seem, might work, provided the right technology is available.
 * Despite having a 2x zoom scope capability, the carbine dosn't apear to have a scope mounted on it. It is possible that the Carbine links directly to the users HUD just like the M6D pistol. This suggests that the Spartan and Elite HUD software is not only astheticaly similar, but also works in a similar fashion as to be compatible with each others weapons. Or the ammo canister functions as a disposable scope when it is locked in.
 * Despite being refered to as a Carbine, the Carbine would more correcly be classified as a rifle due to its size. Ironicaly the Plasma Rifle would more likely be classed as a carbine in comparison to the Covenant Carbine via size.
 * With the exception of the Needler, this is the only Covenant projectile weapon known.

Related Articles

 * Covenant Weapons