#PGMHcateII

Photo Of The Day and we’re looking into the cleanest shooting range I have ever seen, don’t you agree? The “model” is the PGM Mini Hécate II, in PGM’s new shooting tunnel. The original design was for the 338 Lapua Magnum caliber, but it is now also available in calibers like 300 PRC, 300 Norma Magnum, 375 SwissP and similar to suit everyone’s needs.

TFB’s Photo Of The Day is where you can discover the world of firearms through a camera lens. Every day we run a new theme, selected pictures, a short story and credit to the person behind the lens. Today we have some HOT images of French snipers and spotters from the 35e régiment d’infanterie.

POTD, short for Photo Of The Day, is TFB’s recurring articles where we go to great lengths trying to find the best pictures and stories out there. Today we’re pretty sure you’re going to learn something you had no idea about. The French Army uses a rifle called the FR-12.7 (12.7mm calibre bolt-action rifle). It is made by PGM Précision, and you may know it better under the name PGM Hécate II. We all know that the .50 BMG round is pretty violent and not the most fun thing to shoot for a long day. PGM has now made a rimfire version in .22LR to provide training for future snipers.

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.

Photo Of The Day – Established in 2014 this is TFB’s way to show various photographs on a daily basis. As a bonus you get a short story and hopefully, you’ll learn something new. Today we visit New Caledonia. The machine-translated caption from  RIMaP-NC Plum reads: 

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.

In today’s Photo Of The Day, we take a look at the elite snipers from the French 126e Régiment d’Infanterie. These snipers are training on the Larzac plateau shooting .50 BMGs through the heavy sniper rifle of the French Army. The rifle is called Hecate II, a name that comes from Greek mythology. It is produced by PGM Precision and uses a barrel manufactured by FN Herstal.

The French company PGM Precision in the French Alps was created back in 1993. In 1995 they won the tender for the .50 BMG / 12.7 mm caliber Hecate II rifles for the French army, which has been used by all infantry regiments and the French Special Forces. Since then they have created rifles like the Mini Hecate I and II,  PGM338 and the LUDIS for sports shooters.

Long Range Shooting up to 1,800 meters is the subject of this Photo Of The Day.

Having previously shown some of the items that the Força Aérea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) ground elements currently pack for their ground work (http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/06/23/brazilian-air-force-infantry-weapons/), it’s time, now, to see what their Marinha do Brasil (Brazilian Navy) counterparts employ. Most of the firearms, as expected, will be found in Navy-subordinated Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais (Marine Corps) hands, and these will be briefly covered here.

Weapons in use by the world’s leading military and LE forces are usually well known to the general public due to their being frequently shown in the mainstream media as a result of their respective countries’ public relations efforts and/or some publicity generated by the manufacturers involved. TFB, incidentally, recently had a look at what Western ( http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/11/10/rifles-european-best-sniper-squad-competition-2016/)  and ComBloc ( http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/12/01/international-army-games-combloc-sniper-frontier/)  sniper teams use, but for lower-profile nations like Brazil, however, very little usually comes to light. Then,  the following pictures and concise info may be of interest. They follow no specific sequence, and are just here for your general appreciation. Nope, this is not a comprehensive list.