#14.5mm

Snipex, a Ukrainian company specialized in designing and manufacturing anti-materiel rifles, has recently announced the release of a new rifle called Alligator. If you recall, about a year ago, we reported about their T-Rex rifle. Both the T-Rex and Alligator are bolt action rifles chambered in 14.5x114mm and apparently share a lot of design elements. The major difference is that T-Rex is a single-shot rifle, while the Snipex Alligator is a magazine-fed one.

From the Ukrainian company Xados that brought us the MG34 lookalike .50 BMG Rhino Hunter, now comes a 14.5x144mm anti-material rifle, recently at Arms and Security 2017 held in Kiev. The rifle manually loaded with each round by inserting a round into an open chamber, then pushing the bolt forward which locks via what appears to be a rotating mechanism with a cam that is visible from the chamber. The bolt itself is operated via a sort of M3 “Grease Gun” like charging toggle that is on the right side of the receiver. The company claims it is of a bulpup configuration because the chamber and bolt are behind the trigger guard. From the images at Arms and Security 2017, it appears that the bolt is locked via a 3 sectioned, multi-lugged system into the chamber.

Creating improvised firearms is one thing, but a recent propaganda video released by the Yemeni rebel and terrorist group Ansar Allah (better known as the Houthis) threw the spotlight on some weapons that take this to the next level. 20mm, 23mm, and even 30mm caliber improvised cannons are being produced by the Houthis in makeshift workshops, representing some of the largest and most powerful improvised small arms ever produced. Footage of the cannons firing, as well as their manufacture was included in the video. Despite their large caliber, the cannons appear to be quite crude indeed, with many parts shown being ground with dremel tools, and with scope bases and muzzle brakes simply being welded together. The barrels for the cannons appear to come from military autocannons. The barrels of 20mm Hasem cannon bear the distinctive “hump” towards the muzzle of M61 Vulcan cannon barrels, for instance – which may be an indication that the barrels are being supplied to the Houthis by the Iranians, who have stockpiles of Vulcan barrels for their F-4 and F-14 fighter aircraft.

This video was posted on Live Leak showing a 14.5mm sniper rifle. The rifle is based off of the Open Joint Stock Company’s 2×35 Inserted unified self-loading gun. Or in Cyrillic: Вкладная унифицированная самозарядная пушка «2Х35»

The subject of armor penetration previously was largely confined to the realm of big bore rifles or cannons intended to tackle tanks and other kinds of armored vehicles, but as the popularity of steel and composite body armor increases, it has become more and more relevant to the subject of small arms. It may be tempting to pull contextless data from different sources, and present them as being comparable, but in most cases this is a mistake. Unfortunately, quoting armor penetration numbers from two different countries or organizations is not a good way to compare the capabilities of rounds against one another, as I will explain.

The Simonov PTRS 14.5mm anti-tank rifle was a very innovative rifle, that seemingly offered the Soviet AT gunner of the early part of World War II a frightening amount of firepower. Its semiautomatic action, and en-bloc clip loading gave the infantry five rounds of high velocity heavy AT rifle ammunition on tap, that could be fired as fast as the trigger could be pulled and the target reacquired. By comparison, the contemporary single-shot Degtyarev PTRD seems downright crude. However, as this evaluation translated by EnsignExpendable of the Soviet Gun Archives blog shows, things are not always how they seem:

The mystery of how a bullet from a 14.5×114mm round ended up in an Afghan soldiers head without killing him has been solved. It turns out the round was not fired from a gun but was used as shrapnel in an IED. It would have been travelling much slower, and probably tumbling, when it hit the soldier. Sprites.com has interviewed the surgeon and anesthesiologist who performed the operation.

I missed this when I happened, but last year Fox News reported on an Afghan soldier who had a 14.5mm bullet embedded in his head. Neurosurgeon Maj. John Bini, anesthesiologist Maj. Jeffrey Rengel and a member of the bomb disposal team removed the bullet at the Bagram Air Field hospital.

The Azerbaijan Ministry of Defence Industry has recently developed a new anti-material sniper rifle called the “Istiglal” IST-14.5. These photos are from the Ministry’s website: