A brief history of the development of sniper rifles

A brief history of the development of sniper rifles

In 1970, the British army converted the .303 caliber No. 4 sniper rifle into the 7.62×51mm caliber L42A1 sniper rifle. Although the L42A1 The accuracy is very good, but it still uses the No. 32 scope with a 3x magnification. As it experienced battles in the Middle East, Africa and Northern Ireland, this rifle became increasingly outdated. During the Falklands War in 1982 This problem became even more serious, and the British finally realized that they urgently needed a new type of sniper weapon system.

In 1982, the United Kingdom began bidding for a new sniper weapon system. By the end of 1982, the British army had narrowed down the competing companies to five remaining companies. After another round of selection, there were Only two companies have the opportunity to participate in the final round of competition - Parker Hale and Accuracy International. The British Army has very high requirements for the new sniper rifle. The first hit rate must reach 100% at the 600m range, and a good shooting effect must be obtained within the 1000m range. In addition to failing to meet the accuracy requirements, other competitors require the British Army to adopt 10 The issue of detachable magazines is rarely up to standard.

Parker Hale is also known for producing excellent sniper rifles. The M85 rifle it submitted is an improved version of the M82 rifle that is already in service with the Australian and Canadian armies. It is a traditional rotating rear The pull-action rifle is equipped with a 6x optical sight, a backup mechanical sight, and a plastic stock. In contrast, the Portsmouth-based AI company has a short history, and is only famous for its founder and chief designer, Malcolm Cooper.

Cooper is an engineer by background, but he is also an international shooting competition player. He has won many world shooting competitions, including 2 Olympic champions and 8 World Championship champions. He has won 13 European Championships and holds 12 world records for rifle shooting of various calibers and different principles. As a skilled marksman, Cooper knows what to do and what not to do when it comes to the design of a precision rifle. So he established his own company, International Precision Co., Ltd., in May 1978, recruiting 40 employees to specialize in producing rifles that meet the requirements of international shooting competitions. This is the first time that an AI company has tried to get involved in military rifles.

The sample gun submitted by AI Company is named "PM" Precision Match - Precision Match. This is also a rifle with a plastic butt, but its structure is very special and is not made of traditional solid stock. The butt is an adjustable-length hollow butt made of two nylon plates. The rotary bolt has 8 locking protrusions. The sighting device is a 6×42mm white light sight produced by Schmidt & Bender, Germany, and is equipped with a backup mechanical sight.

After carefully reviewing the two competitors, the Infantry School in Worminster concluded that the AI ??company barely won. This decision was controversial, partly because of Parker-Hare's good reputation and the quality of its prototype rifles, but also because some people questioned the bolt action of the PM rifle. However, the British army eventually adopted the PM rifle and named it L96A1. The British army purchased more than 1,200 L96A1 rifles, and then other countries such as the French Foreign Legion also purchased some PM rifles. A total of about 2,000 PM/L96A1 rifles were sold.

AI Company continued to improve the PM rifle in accordance with the requirements of the British Army. In 1990, it stopped the production of the PM/L96A1 rifle and switched to the production of a new improved AW rifle Arctic Warfare. The British Army immediately adopted this AW rifle and renamed it L118A1. The AW rifle is a PM rifle with an improved bolt action. It is faster to operate. It only needs to be rotated upward 60° and pulled back 107mm. The advantages of this design are obvious: the shooter's head can always rest on the cheek when operating the bolt. , so the sniper can eject the shell and push the bullet into the chamber while maintaining the sight in the scope.

Moreover, the bolt also has an anti-freeze function and can still operate reliably even at temperatures of -40°C, which is also a special requirement of the British army.

Otherwise, the AW/L118A1 is basically the same as the PM/L96A1. The AW/L118A1 is mainly equipped with Schmidt-Bender's 10×42mm white light sight and has a backup mechanical sight.

Based on AW, AI Company has launched a series of different types of sniper rifles, including police AWP, silenced AWS, Magnum AWM, .50BMG caliber AW50, in addition to the above models There is a folding stock type called F type, such as AW-F or AWM-F. As mentioned before, more than 40 countries besides the United Kingdom have purchased the AW series. For example, in addition to France, Sweden was among the first countries to adopt PM rifles. In 1983, the Swedish Ministry of Defense began to select a new sniper rifle. After a round of rigorous comparisons, AI Company's PM rifle won. Seven years later, the Swedish military adopted a new AW rifle and officially named it "PSG90"!

In 1998, the German army adopted the .300 Winchester Magnum caliber AWM-F and named it "G22". Australia selected an improved version of the AW-F in March 2000, named "SR98". In addition, the AW series rifles are used by the armies of Belgium, Ireland, and New Zealand, as well as law enforcement agencies in Canada, Oman, the United States, and other countries. In order to facilitate entry into the North American market, Precision International also built a new factory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA, in 1997, called Precision International North America Co., Ltd.