British Rifle Can Hit Target A Mile Away


Geoff Meade
Defence correspondent Updated:10:02, Friday March 07, 2008
Britain's military is spending £11m equipping its top shots with the world's best sniper rifle




Weapon is lethal to 1,000 metres
At £23,000, the UK-made Accuracy International L96 is also the most expensive individual weapon ever issued.
They are already in service in Afghanistan and more guns and marksmen are leaving for Helmand this weekend.
It spells a turnaround in tactics. Sniping was being replaced by so-called smart weapons - laser or GPS guided, and claimed to be accurate within metres.
But Nato commanders have found to their cost that air strikes and artillery can inflict so-called collateral damage, killing civilians as well as insurgents.

So the record investment reflects a revival in demand for the skills of a lone marksman, the most discriminating of killing machines.
"We're definitely seeing a renaissance in sniping," said the colonel in charge of sharpshooter training at the Britain's Land Warfare Centre in Wiltshire.
Like all those involved, he asked for his name to be withheld.
Stealthy and deadly, snipers are feared and detested by the enemy. The worry is that marksmen's families could be targeted at home by extremists.
Sniping making a tactical comeback
Equipped with silencer, infra-red night vision and a 25x magnification, the new weapon is lethal to over 1,000m. In expert hands, its high-calibre round will stop a target at nearly a mile.
"It gives us an extra reach to strike much further out. The enemy won't know we're there until we've hit him," said one sniper with 17 years' experience."
Snipers are effective and punch way above their weight in numbers. In the Vietnam War, American forces expended 30,000 bullets for every enemy downed. Its marksmen used just three rounds per kill.
The work is among the toughest. Small teams in Helmand will typically spend six weeks in the field, with only two or three days off between duties.
Most combat units have added a sniper platoon to their strength.
The RAF regiment fields one as does Prince Harry's unit.

sweet.........

I thought you'd use the L115A1 (Arctic Warfare Super Magnum) to shoot at a target a mile away. .338 Lapua Magnum is vastly superior to 7.62x51mm at those ranges.

OK Major - I'll tell 'em. We have to replace our bows and arrows with something. Actually though, it is 8.59mm calibre - the old rifle was 7.62mm.

Here it is:-

Calibre 8.59mm
Wt : 6.8kg.
length 130cm.
muzzle velocity : 936 metres per second.
mag : 5 rounds.
Effective range : 1,500 metres.
Sight magnification: x 25.
Single bullet cost: £2.

Single bullet cost only 2 pounds, wow.

The high caliber sniper rifle the Americans use is the Barret 50 (.50cal sniper rifle effective of about 2 miles). A single .50cal bullet costs $50 from what I last saw (I believe the plain one).

In Canada we use the MacMillan Tac 50. Also a .50cal and has recorded kill of up to 2430 meters.

Glad the brits got a good sniper.

I think that The .50Cal they use are actually armor piercing incendiary rounds... it explains the cost...

50$ for an accurate anti material bullet? it's not that expensive. It can take a reactor on an airplane/helicopter...

Just think what would a sniper with such weapon can do against a hovering enemy helicopter... He can rip the pilot's head with one shot...

Maybe blind a tank by destroying it's sights...

.50BMG doesn't cost anywhere near $50 a round...the military pays about $.50 each for the basic stuff, tracer a little more, no more than $5-$10 for API rounds. Main problem with it is size and weight.

Originally Posted by Cdt Matteo

Single bullet cost only 2 pounds, wow.

The high caliber sniper rifle the Americans use is the Barret 50 (.50cal sniper rifle effective of about 2 miles). A single .50cal bullet costs $50 from what I last saw (I believe the plain one).

No way man... fielding the equipment would be expensive, not to mention training on it would be prohibitively expensive..

Originally Posted by LeMask

I think that The .50Cal they use are actually armor piercing incendiary rounds... it explains the cost...

50$ for an accurate anti material bullet? it's not that expensive. It can take a reactor on an airplane/helicopter...

Just think what would a sniper with such weapon can do against a hovering enemy helicopter... He can rip the pilot's head with one shot...

Maybe blind a tank by destroying it's sights..

Reactor what?

Its an Antimaterial weapon, so it is well suited for tearing things apart. obviously the bullet is dangerous in itself, but to softer targets the overpressure will tear you apart. In other words, you may not have to hit your target to damage / incapacitiate it. Just wait till you hear a few fired overhead...

I don't know where that correspondent is getting his information or his prices from, unless the MOD is being ripped off big time.

For a start a so called silencer (the correct term is sound moderator) will not hide the sonic boom of the projectile, only the report of the weapon. Even that is a bit suspect. I've done test myself with sound moderators on 223/5.56 LM4 Semi auto's as well as 7.62 NATO and 30-06 bolt action rifles, the amount of report that is reduced isn't worth the effort or expense. To effectively work, the sound moderator would have to be enormous to capture and silence the expanding gasses. The only time I found a sound moderator effective was with sub-sonic 22 rim fire ammunition in a bolt action BRNO rifle and 45ACP which is sub-sonic (830 FPS +/-) anyway.

The 8x59 ammunition (.326” diameter) is an old Italian machine gun round and produced commercially by a number of manufacturers. It should cost cents or pence to produce, if a single round is costing £2 a round, the MOD really are getting ripped off big time. I'd gladly supply them ammo at prices like that, I'd be a multi Billionaire before the year was out. As for each rifle costing £25,000 each, I can supply them for a lot less then that. Someone somewhere is making a lot of money at British tax payers expense.

Originally Posted by Spartacus

No way man... fielding the equipment would be expensive, not to mention training on it would be prohibitively expensive..



Reactor what?

Its an Antimaterial weapon, so it is well suited for tearing things apart. obviously the bullet is dangerous in itself, but to softer targets the overpressure will tear you apart. In other words, you may not have to hit your target to damage / incapacitiate it. Just wait till you hear a few fired overhead...

Actually, the US ARMY is using the M21/M24 Rifle for it's sniper program. The Barrett is being fielded by a few units who need to rellay reach out and touch someone. In fact the Army is working on fielding the Rafouss round for use against light armor. Just do a wikipedia or google search on rafouss.

As far as the expense of training... Not that much considering the Sniper program already teaches snipers about ballistics, scouting and a bunch of other things. I think they do some shooting too.

The rounds used by snipers are NOT surplus .50BMG. No way. Likely they are spending about $3-5 per round for match quality rounds. You cannot expect to consistently hit anything with surplus ammo.

Never shot the Barrett, but I have shot plenty of .50BMG through an M2. Here's a tip. Make sure you set the headspace on the M2 before you fire it. When you don't make sure it is set or you trust someone else to do it you may end up shooting the barrel downrange. (Saw it happen).