WESTAR-M1 blaster rifle

"It's lightweight, packs a punch, and it'll only cost you four thousand credits—flat. You're not going to find a better deal, and you're not going to find a better blaster than this baby right here, I guarantee it."

- Pablo, a Rodian arms dealer on Nal Hutta

The WESTAR-M1 blaster rifle was a blaster rifle model produced by Concordian Crescent Technologies. Measuring 89 centimeters in length and weighing 5 kilograms, the M1 rifle was smaller and lighter than several other leading rifles of its type, and capable of supporting an under-barrel grenade launcher attachment. Together with its four-hundred-meter range and cost efficient 4200 undefined price tag, this made the WESTAR-M1 a favored weapon among mercenaries and local militaries throughout the galaxy.

The Mandalorian security contractor Ezgi Deshra purchased a WESTAR-M1 rifle from a weapons vendor Keldabe, Mandalore's capital, in the year 25 BBY. Deshra later made use of the M1 during an expedition into the depths of the Myyydril Caverns on Kashyyyk, when the party she had been hired to protect came under attack from a deadly anakkona that had made its home in the caves. When she wasn't using her M1, Deshra stored the rifle in a small armory at her Keldabe apartment with an assortment of other weapons.

Following the deployment of the Grand Army of the Republic's ARC troopers in the early days of the Clone Wars, the popularity of the WESTAR-M1 rifle dropped significantly. Numerous prospective buyers instead sought to acquire the M1's more recent successor, the WESTAR-M5 blaster, as tales of the ARC trooper's feats with the new rifle spread. The M1 remained a mainstay of the Outer Rim, but became a rare sight further Coreward by the time of the Galactic Empire's rise.

Behind the scenes
The WESTAR-M1 blaster rifle was conceived and developed by writer Mia Mesharad, as an element of the backstory for Ezgi Deshra, the main character and reader companion in her 2017 online tour piece, " Welcome to Mandalore ." Though a long time fan of the canon WESTAR-M5 rifle, first introduced in the Dark Horse-published Star Wars: Republic comic series, Mesharad felt that the M5—as well as the more common DC-series of blasters—were too intrinsically tied to the Grand Army of the Republic to be used by an unaffiliated mercenary at a point in time prior to their Clone Wars deployment. Thus, she created an earlier model that would've seen more widespread use in an era before the Battle of Geonosis, labeling it the "M1" rifle.