The Patriot
From the Metal Gear Wiki
| This article is about the carbine wielded by The Boss. You may be looking for the secret organization of the The Patriots. |
In-game, the Patriot is described as a modified version of a Colt XM-16E1, with a shortened barrel and the stock removed. It was designed to create a carbine that combined the feel and quick handling of a handgun with the force of a rifle. The relatively light weight meant that the Patriot had a strong recoil, and was notoriously difficult to aim. The fact that The Boss used it one-handed was a testament to her skill (Naked Snake had to use both hands). It used 5.56 x 45mm ammunition and was fitted with a hundred-round drum magazine. It was rumored that the Patriot never ran out of ammo, according to Sigint, because the internal feed mechanism was shaped like an infinity symbol. The blast of the muzzle was said to resemble the sound of a threatened rattlesnake, and that no one who heard the sound would live to tell the tale.
The Patriot handles very similarly to the XM16E1; however, it is lighter, slightly silenced, demands less stamina, has infinite ammo, and the front sight and fire selectors have been removed. The Patriot can only be fired on full-automatic mode. While the Patriot does indeed have noticeable recoil, it is strangely lighter than the XM16E1's, the AK-47's, and even the Scorpion's. The already-light recoil can be controlled by crouching or going prone.
Naked Snake was given the Patriot after defeating The Boss at Rokovoj Bereg, where he uses it to eliminate her. He carried it with him back to United States, where he laid it upon The Boss's grave in respect.
Later, as Big Boss, he would go on to use the Patriot. It's possible that the Patriot he uses is the one he obtained from The Boss, but it could be one of his own procurement, as it has numerous minor differences to the original weapon; most obviously, Big Boss' Patriot has a rail mount on top of the receiver, while the original had a standard M16 carrying handle.
[edit] Behind the Scenes
- The Patriot is in fact based on a rather obscure M16 variant called the M231 Firing Port Weapon, a weapon first produced in the 1980s and designed to be fitted to the hull gun ports of early Bradley IFVs. The Boss' version has a much shorter barrel (indicating it to be based on the early 11-inch barrel FPW prototype rather than the 15.7-inch final version) and uses a modern Beta C-Mag, designed in the mid-80s.
- Bullets from the Patriot are seen to tumble end-over-end after exiting the barrel, a phenomenon which would only normally be associated with Derringer-like weapons and would result in terrible ballistics and penetration. This is most likely an error caused by misreading information about bullet performance; many bullets are designed to tumble inside an organic target after impact to increase the size of the wound channel they produce, but not before.
- After completing Snake Eater, beginning a new game on the same difficulty causes the Patriot to appear in Snake's backpack. Calling Sigint with the weapon equipped causes him to ask where Snake got it (since The Boss is still alive and using the Patriot). Snake tells him not to worry about "the details";
- When Big Boss makes his appearance in MGS4, he is shown carrying the Patriot with one hand -- although he does not fire it. The weapon can be used by Solid Snake after unlocking it by earning the Big Boss Emblem, then saving the endgame data ("Epilogue: The End"); the weapon will be available in subsequent playthroughs using the corresponding save file. It can also be acquired through a password. When it is used, the Snake Eater Theme can sometimes be heard.
