#HcateII

Photo Of The Day: Airborne sniping is a special thing and probably one of the most difficult tasks for any target shooter. Here we’re looking at the power of the 12.7x99mm round (.50 BMG) in the Hécate 2 Long-range anti-material rifle made by PGM Precision in France. Note the rather large suppressor and the arm that supports the rifle.

A new dimension for the Hécate II Sniper Rifle – this is our topic for today’s Photo Of The Day, but there’s room for other sniper rifles as well.

It is generally accepted that the first serious attempts at using the .50BMG (or 12.7x99mm, if you’re into metrics) round for long-range sniping dates to the Vietnam War era, first using actual, scope-fitted Browning M2HB machine guns, and at a later stage some improvised bolt-action guns in that chambering. The whole thing would eventually lead to the U.S.-made Barrett family of guns that emerged in the early 1980s with the M82 “Light Fifty”, which would later become the M82A1 used by the American military in the Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations as the SASR – Special Applications Scoped Rifle for anti-materiel and ordnance disposal use. Since then, those heavyweight guns have proliferated worldwide in different calibers, configurations, origins, manufacturers, and, of course in use by varied operators. At the same time, the term HTI – Hard Target Interdiction has become generally accepted to describe the primary duties of such weapons, much more politically correct than simply blasting an enemy head from very far away.