MadOgre posted a link yesterday to a 25mm sniper rifle being developed by Barrett. While the .50 cal is often seen as being the pinnacle of long range sniping there are a few other big sniper rifles around. While the traditional hierarchy of sniping runs from 7.62mm to .338 Lapua and then to the .50 BMG, there are some calibres equal to, or surpassing, the Fifty. These are not the most man-portable weapons around and their use is extremely limited, but there is a place for them on the modern battlefield. While they may be reminiscent of the WW1-era Boys Anti-tank rifle, these are a whole new breed.
Here are a few that I know of, if you know of more do let me know-
1. HK WSG2000- unfortunately this seems to be stuck in prototype hell, along with the new 9mmx90 MEN round it was designed to fire.
2. Aerotek (or Mechem NTW-20- I’ve seen this on the net under both names) 20mm.
3. Truvelo Armoury 14.5mmx114- I have an image of this one saved on my PC but no link. The company’s website doesn’t list the weapon and Google won’t turn up the site I found this on. I’ll have another look and update with a link if I can find it. The 14.5mm is an old Soviet anti-tank round.
4. Steyr AMR/IWS 2000 chambered in an unbelievably massive 15.2mm- check out the pic to see it dwarf a 7.62mm cartridge. I don’t fancy carrying this one!
While I wouldn’t say no to having a .50 cal in my armoury I think that the Lapua .338 is as big as I’d go- there’s plenty enough challenge in shooting at its ranges, without having to go further out. Accuracy International make a pretty nice bolt action in this calibre which I think would suit me very nicely. As far as a standard calibre sniper goes, there’s only one choice for me- the Steyr SSG Police in 7.62mm. Wow, but that’s a nice gun.
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