#Anti-materielRifle

In this episode of TFBTV Show Time, James Reeves is at the Lorist Gun Show in Serbia checking out the newest sniper rifle from Zastava, the M12 “Black Spear.” The Black Spear is a .50 BMG sniper rifle that is more or less an updated version of Zastava’s previous M93 “Black Arrow” .50BMG sniper rifle. James gives you a preview of this new release before the full video drops on the TFBTV main channel.

The 14.5x114mm cartridge proved to be very effective in an anti-materiel role in modern warfare. Ukrainian companies have designed multiple anti-materiel rifles chambered in this cartridge within the past several years. In fact, the 14.5mm Snipex T-Rex and Alligator rifles have been recently adopted by the Ukrainian army and their semi-auto sibling, Snipex Monomakh, is being tested by the government. Another Ukrainian company that is extensively exploring the capabilities of this cartridge is the Mayak Plant. Earlier, we took a look at Mayak Plant’s Horizon’s Lord anti-materiel rifle and their new 12.7x114HL cartridge created by necking down the 14.5×114 to .50 caliber. Today, we’ll talk about another Mayak Plant design, the PG-14.5 Night Predator (ПГ-14,5 Нічний Хижак), an anti-materiel rifle chambered in 14.5x114mm.

Snipex, a Ukrainian company specialized in manufacturing of anti-materiel rifles, has announced a new rifle called Snipex T-Rex. The new gun is chambered in 14.5x114mm. The model name is given because of the very powerful cartridge and the distinctive shape of the rear monopod that reminds the legs of Tyrannosaurus Rex.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the Croatian RT-20 anti-materiel rifle. This 20mm rifle has a rather unique design which allows it to mitigate the recoil of the powerful 20x110mm Hispano-Suiza cartridge that it is chambered in. Let’s see how it works and what design advantages or disadvantages it has

Images appearing on Burmese media networks have revealed that the Burmese state-run Defense Industries corporation has prototyped at least three different anti-materiel rifles (AMR), putting at least on of them into production and getting them into Tatmadaw service. Older Burmese field manuals indicate that every battalion has a sniper “squad” that is allotted up to 8 precision rifles. Previously these were the 7.62x51mm NATO BA63 precision variant (Burmese licence-produced G3 Rifle) but these have since been replaced by the MAS (Myanmar Army-Sniper) and subsequent MAS MK I, MK II (a future TFB post will be written on these precision rifles). So where this new anti-materiel rifle falls into the Burmese infantry structure isn’t known at the current time or if they are even with the sniper sections of the battalions. Many militaries treat larger 12.7mm rifles as a class separate from a precision weapon because they usually aren’t as accurate (older Barrett M82s held 3 MOA) and are better employed against fortified positions or light skinned vehicles.

Russian media has reported on the recent acquisition of .50 BMG HS .50 patterned Anti-Materiel rifles by the Syrian Arab Army in the fight against the ongoing insurgent groups within Syria. The article claims that the rifles are assembled from Iranian components shipped to Assad’s army and are most likely to be used in upcoming offensives. From the three photographs we have available, there appears to be at least 120 within a single frame, taken from inside an armory with the HS .50, or more correctly the Iranian version with the nomenclature of AM50 or Sayyad-2. One item not present with the rifles is a powered optic, which will most likely be added at a later date. What would make this story interesting is if Iran is also supplying RU60G thermal optics to the rifles, enabling Syrian marksmen to make shots out to several hundred meters at night. Although the Iranian version and the original HS .50 are chambered in .50 BMG,12.7x99mm, one of the cases is clearly marked with the Russian 12.7x108mm cartridge, showing a different chambering of the design.

In this article, we are taking a look at another firearm made in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. A YouTube channel called WarGonzo has recently published a video telling about this rifle which is called Separatist. It is a 23mm anti-materiel rifle made from one of the autocannons of the ZU-23 twin barrelled anti-aircraft weapon system.

While doing a research for another article I came across a set of photos taken during live firing exercises of Russian Ground Forces’ snipers in Alabino proving grounds. Reportedly, the images are taken in December 2017. Let’s take a look at them and discuss the most interesting aspects.

The Dutch Army is set to procure a further fifty Barrett .50 BMG M107A1 anti materiel rifles. The purchase is being made through TBM – Technisch Bureau H.A. Muller, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing’s sales representative in the Netherlands.

A couple of Russian web sources have published images of a .50 caliber (12.7x108mm) anti-materiel rifle said to be domestically manufactured in self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. They call it an anti-sniper rifle. They also nicknamed it “Donchanka” which means a woman from Donetsk.

During DSEI-2017 arms exhibition Victrix Armament, a subsidiary of Beretta, has released a bolt action anti-materiel rifle called Corvus. This is the first time Beretta (or one of its subsidiaries) introduces a firearm chambered in .50 BMG. It is also the largest caliber for them.

As you can see from our recent articles, Kalashnikov Concern has introduced a number of new products during the ARMY-2017 exhibition. Besides the firearms which we wrote about in separate articles, there were many other new products that are either not entirely small arms related or are prototypes with a very little information available about. Many of them won’t “qualify” for a separate article, that’s why I’ve decided to combine them in this article.

In an era of increasingly resilient body armor, new small arms ammunition solutions are required to even the odds between the shooter and shootee. The company Stiletto Systems, based out of the UK, is advertising its new bullet as a possible solution for this problem. The round, a relatively conventional 7.62mm tungsten cored armor piercing projectile superficially similar to Nammo’s M993 round, is advertised as having considerable penetrative power: 20.5 mm of rolled homogeneous armor at 100 meters, 100% of the time.

South African company Truvelo has released a new anti-materiel bolt action rifle chambered in 20x42mm caliber. The rifle itself is not new, because it is based on their large caliber CMS rifles, but the new caliber makes it a pretty interesting military firearm.

A Barrett .50 caliber M82-series semiautomatic anti-materiel rifle, transferred to criminal elements through the BATFE’s Operation Fast & Furious, found its way into the hands of notorious Sinaloa drug cartel lead Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, report news outlets during the week of SHOT Show. The large-caliber rifle, erroneously described as being designed to “shoot down helicopters”, is nonetheless an extremely capable weapon which can defeat a large number of lightly armored vehicles and virtually all personal body armor. Fox News reports: