Sniper rifles are relatively new to the battlefield. This weapon, equipped with optical sights, began to play an important role in hostilities since the First World War. During the war, Germany supplied hunting rifles with telescopic sights, which were used to smash British periscopes and signal lamps. Thus, the first sniper rifles were used, among other things, as an anti-material weapon. Today, a hundred years later, a huge number of sniper weapons have been created in the world, a special place among which is occupied by large-caliber rifles, which are used as antimaterial and anti-sniper weapons.
One of the most famous and widespread examples of large-caliber sniper weapons is the 12.7-mm Barret M82 rifle manufactured by the American company Barrett Firearms Manufacturing. This American self-loading sniper rifle is now in service with the US Army and a huge number of other states (there are tens), and the Barrett Firearms Manufacturing company itself is rightly considered the trendsetter in this segment of firearms.
Surprisingly, the creator of the Barret M82 sniper rifle was not a designer and did not even have a technical education. Ronnie Barrett was a retired police officer from a military family. He retired from the police service, deciding to devote himself to professional photography, started a small photo studio in Nashville (Tennessee). In 1982, at the age of 28, he took the picture that changed his life. While on a walk near the Cumberland River, he photographed old river patrol boats on the pier, on which were installed large-caliber 12.7 mm Browning machine guns. As he showed the pictures he had taken, he noticed these machine guns, and an idea came to his mind. As a creative person, he drew up a schematic representation of a large-caliber sniper rifle, which, according to his idea, was to use the large-caliber American army ammunition for weapons of caliber.50BMG, which had no alternative at that time.
The original Barret M82
Inspired by his idea, he worked for several days on the drawings of the future weapon. For a long time they did not want to consider these drawings at any of the industrial enterprises where he applied. Everywhere he was politely refused to make a prototype, hinting that if it were a really worthwhile idea, someone would have implemented it long ago. But Ronnie Barrett was not the type to give up. In the city of Smyrna, he found his like-minded fellow - a local train driver and part-time fan-craftsman Bob Mitchell, who seriously listened to the young inventor, got acquainted with his drawings and agreed to provide all possible assistance in the implementation of his idea. Further, the story moves to the garage, where many American billion-dollar projects were born, which then conquered the whole world. In their free time, enthusiasts spent in Barrett's garage, where they installed a multifunctional lathe. Later, Barrett's colleague from the photo studio Harry Watson joined the work. Even then, they named their joint venture Barrett Firearms Manufacturing.
Four months of labor resulted in the birth of the first 12.7mm sniper rifle. It was mid-1982 in the yard. The first tests revealed a large number of flaws and critical errors. The main drawback was the huge recoil, which made accurate shooting impossible. The second prototype turned out to be more successful, it received the designation Barret M82. After creating a promotional video for his weapon and packing a rifle, Barrett went with her to a weapons exhibition in Texas. The exhibition showed the shooters' interest in new weapons, and Ronnie Barrett received the first single orders. After that, he was engaged in small-scale self-assembly of weapons that were sold on the US domestic market. In 1986, he registered the company, in the same year the most popular modification of the Barret M82A1 sniper rifle appeared, for which he received a patent in 1987.
The first serious order for 100 large-caliber Barret M82A1 sniper rifles came in 1989, they were acquired by the Swedish ground forces. But the real success for Barrett and his partners came in 1990, when a significant number of rifles were acquired by the American armed forces, which were preparing for the Gulf War. First, 125 rifles were purchased by the US Marine Corps, and then orders from the army and air force followed. With these anti-material rifles, US soldiers took part in battles in Kuwait and Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield. After that, the Barret M82A1 rifle began its triumphant campaign around the world.
Barret M82A1
It is no coincidence that such a weapon is called antimaterial. Using a cartridge 12, 7x99 mm for his rifle, Barrett achieved that it could be used to damage or disable unarmored and lightly armored enemy vehicles (trucks and jeeps, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers), helicopters and aircraft in unprotected parking lots, antennas and radar equipment, and a large effective firing range - up to 1800 meters, allows the use of such a rifle as an anti-sniper weapon.
The Barret M82A1 is a self-loading, short-travel sniper rifle. The rifle bolt turns the barrel to three lugs. At the time of the shot, the barrel rolls back a short distance (only about 2.5 cm), after which the pin on the bolt begins to interact with the figured cutout in the rifle bolt carrier, forcing the bolt to turn and unlock the barrel. The barrel runs into an accelerator lever, which transfers the recoil energy of the barrel to the bolt carrier of the sniper rifle, causing the bolt to open. Then the barrel stops, and the bolt extractor extracts and discards the spent cartridge case. The barrel returns to the forward position under the action of its own return spring. In turn, the bolt of the rifle, under the action of its own return spring, is brought to the extreme forward position, along the way, a new cartridge is sent into the chamber from a box magazine designed for 10 rounds, and then locks the barrel. The sniper rifle drummer is cocked by positioning the sear when the bolt is moving forward, the Barret M82A1 is ready for the next shot.
The receiver of the Barret M82A1 large-caliber sniper rifle consists of two parts, which are made by stamping from sheet steel, and their parts are connected by pins. Cold-forged barrel, it is equipped with a massive two-chamber muzzle brake, which absorbs about 30 percent of the recoil when fired. Since the rifle uses a fairly powerful.50 caliber cartridge, Barrett paid great attention to the issue of reducing recoil. When developing weapons, he tried many varieties of muzzle brake-compensator, trying to find a kind of middle ground between reducing recoil energy and maintaining good bullet ballistics. As a result, he settled on a characteristic arrow-shaped muzzle brake-compensator, which has become a kind of hallmark of Barret sniper rifles.
The breech of the barrel of a sniper rifle is enclosed in a steel casing with holes that are used for cooling and reducing the weight of the weapon. There are special longitudinal grooves on the barrel, which serve for better heat dissipation and also reduce the weight of the rifle, which for the Barret M82A1 model does not exceed 14-14.8 kg - depending on the barrel used (it is possible to use two barrels of different lengths).
The Barret M82A1 large-caliber sniper rifles can be used with both standard mechanical ring and telescopic sights, and with removable telescopic sights. The US military prefers to use this rifle with a Leupold Mark 4 telescopic sight. Later, the M82A1M rifles have a Picatinny rail, which allows the use of a wide range of sniper scopes of all types on the market. Each sniper rifle must be equipped with a carrying handle and a bipod, which is similar to that found on the M60 machine gun. The rifle buttstock is equipped with a rubber butt pad. The rifle has a mount that allows you to install it on a special M3 or M122 tripod machine, in addition, it is possible to mount the weapon on an armored personnel carrier or a jeep using a special shock-absorbing cradle from Barrett. A carrying strap can be attached to the rifle, but fighters prefer not to use it. The sniper rifle comes with two case options: hard and soft.
The trigger mechanism of the rifle is unregulated, the pistol grip is made of high-quality impact-resistant plastic, the removable box-shaped magazine is designed for 10 rounds. Its latch is located between the magazine and the trigger guard. The M82A1 sniper rifle fuse is located on the base of the trigger guard on the left side. In the "fire" position, it is raised vertically; to block the firing, it must be lowered to a horizontal position.
The shooting accuracy for the Barret M82A1 sniper rifle is about 1.5-2 MOA (arc minutes) when using match-class ammunition. At a distance of 500 meters, the deviation of the bullet from the aiming point does not exceed 20-30 cm. This value can hardly be called ideal for sniper weapons, but do not forget that the M82 was created as an anti-material sniper rifle to combat various enemy equipment. At the same time, the M82A1 is a self-loading large-caliber sniper rifle, which also leaves its mark on the accuracy of the weapon. In this regard, it is difficult for her to compete with manual reloading sniper rifles and a sliding bolt action. For example, the American CheyTac M200 sniper rifle of the same caliber as the Barret M82A1, but with a sliding bolt, has an accuracy of 1 arc minute (the deviation of the bullet from the aiming point at a distance of 500 meters does not exceed 14.5 cm).
The performance characteristics of the Barret M82A1:
Caliber - 12.7 mm.
Cartridge - 12, 7 × 99 mm NATO (.50BMG).
Barrel length - 508 mm / 737 mm
Overall length - 1220/1450 mm.
Weight - 14/14, 8 kg.
Effective firing range - 1800 m.
Magazine capacity - 10 rounds.
