For the last five years, ARMY-2019 have been the biggest military weapons exhibition in Eastern Europe. Unlike many other military shows that occur every two years, “Army” is an annual exhibition, so Russian firearms manufacturers have to come up with something new and “groundbreaking” every single year. Anyone who is familiar with how the firearms industry works understands that it is impossible, that is why small arms-related news from “Army” are usually quite dull. But this year there were a few things worth writing about, first one being the SV-18 anti-materiel rifle.

First prototypes of SV-18 were showcased at the ARMY-2017 exhibition. It was a single-shot 50 caliber rifle, the original concept was designed by Vladimir Zlobin. It is not exactly clear why would someone design a single shot 50 caliber rifle these days, when so many semi-automatic and bolt action rifles are available, but the brains of some weapon design engineers work in mysterious ways.

An early prototype of SV-18. Photo by Andrey Soyustov.

An early prototype of SV-18. Photo by Andrey Soyustov.

Over the years, the concept changed completely. In 2018, the access to the rifle was restricted but it was apparent that single-shot prototype became a bullpup, magazine-fed, bolt action rifle named SV-18.

The second prototype of SV-18. Photo by Andrey Soyustov.

Russia has a long story of developing anti-material rifles. When the war with Nazi Germany started on 22  June of 1941, the Red Army had no rifle that could potentially penetrate the armor of armored personnel carriers, light tanks, and other vehicles. Just two month after the war started not one but two so-called “anti-tank rifles” were developed, tested and officially accepted into service on August 29, 1941. First one was developed by Degtyarov, one of the most decorated Soviet small arms design engineers, another one by Simonov, who later designed venerable SKS.

PTRD “anti-tank rifles” ready for some action

But after WW2 Soviet army abandoned “anti-tank rifles” and until the early 90s, the concept of anti-material rifles was non-existent in the Soviet military. But after Barrett M82 (M107) was procured by US Army, Soviet generals finally realized that they yet again missed the train.

Quickly, Tula factory developed V-94 (OSV-96) semi-automatic anti-materiel sniper rifle chambered for Russian 12.7×108 round. There was another interesting sniper rifle, integrally suppressed VKS with special subsonic 50 caliber ammo. But that is a story for another time.

OSV-96 and VKS sniper rifles

Next, there is KSVK, bolt action bullpup rifle developed by Kovrov (ZID). With so much competition even in Russia, the future of SV-18 is not exactly easy.

Potentially, SV-18 should be lighter (below 10 kg or 22 pounds, current prototypes weigh around 20 pounds) than most of the competition, more compact, it can also be chambered for both Russian 12.7×108 rounds and 12.7×99 (.50 BMG), but only time will tell if the global firearms market needs another 50 cal anti-material rifle.

In this video below, I go into some details about the rifle. Please excuse me for the remark in the first few seconds about “double-stack magazines”, what I meant is “one of a very few Russian 50 cal. rifles with a double-stack magazine”, since both OSV-96 and KSVK use single-stack mags.