The anti-material rifle is not intended to destroy enemy manpower, but to destroy material objects using elements of armor.
After creating a sword, they immediately strive to create a protection against it - a shield.
The development of armored vehicles and equipment, the constant increase in armor on them sharply raises the question of protection and means of dealing with them.
The main types of personal weapons for the destruction of armored vehicles were, as they were created, grenades, anti-tank guns, grenade launchers, unguided and guided anti-tank missiles and other developments in this area.
The idea of combining a grenade launcher and a sniper rifle is not new, the American designer R. Barrett picks up the baton of ingenuity and designs an armor-piercing weapon called the XM109.
A bit of history
The Barrett XM109 weapon is rooted in the OCSW and OICW programs - the creation of new grenade launchers using ammunition that has the ability to control detonation, high explosive and penetrating power. The projects of the OICW program are practically all frozen for various reasons. And the projects of the OCSW program are being tested and finalized.
It was within the framework of the program that Barrett Firearms began developing a fundamental weapon to combat armored vehicles.
We can be proud that it was the Soviet AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher that pushed the American designer to the idea of using grenade ammunition in the Barrett M82A1 large-caliber rifle. Technically, the M82 rifle could use larger ammunition, so it was not required to create a weapon from scratch, but simply to upgrade a sniper rifle for a grenade launcher.
The idea was named Objective Sniper Weapon - a sniper target weapon. The project was based on a large-caliber sniper rifle.
The ammunition for the new development was a 25x59 grenade.
Grenade ammunition already had weight in military affairs, was characterized by small dimensions, a stable flight path, as well as the ability to be used in individual weapons.
When used in a new project, grenade ammunition was deprived of the ability to control detonation, which ultimately reduced the cost of the project, since the use of high-tech solutions entailed a significant increase in the price of weapons in general.
Another reason for the rejection of programmable elements is that fire from weapons will be produced at clearly observable and specific units of armored vehicles.
But the designers did not completely abandon the idea of a guided grenade ammunition and continue to conduct research and testing as part of the development of the entire OCSW program.
Prospects of the program - the creation of grenade ammunition and the use of various combinations of gases, ammunition with camouflage properties instead of a warhead.
As further tests of the weapon showed, the choice of this grenade ammunition was the right decision - the Barrett XM109 penetrated 40 mm armor from a distance of half a kilometer.
Creation of the Barrett XM109
When designing this type of weapon, the designers did not want to make big changes to the design of the Barrett M82A1, but wanted to achieve maximum similarity with a rifle of their own production.
As a result, one of the few changes in the rifle has undergone the barrel, the upper part of the barrel box, the magazine and the new DTK.
The barrel turned out to be a little shorter, naturally with a caliber of 25 mm, while it became more weighty due to the use of powerful grenade ammunition and a thread with a direction to the right.
The accuracy of the rifle has not suffered, at a distance of one and a half kilometers its accuracy is comparable to the original - the M82 rifle.
The muzzle compensator turned out to be very interesting, the effectiveness of which is visible when used on the Barrett M82A1 rifle, it simply does not allow loading the ammunition.
A muffler of our own production, made specifically for the XM109, is installed on the barrel.
Changes to the receiver - installed 2 additional and 1 standard return spring. The additions are natural, since the ammunition is used more powerful, the extraction of the shot cartridge case is structurally improved, the wear of the working parts of the barrel box is reduced.
The changes in the store were also caused by the use of new ammunition, the feeder and the spring were slightly changed.
The rest of the rifle design remained unchanged, we can say that this anti-material rifle is a modernized Barrett M82.
The XM109 is equipped with the BORS optics system. The shooter catches the desired object in the sight and receives information from the BORS system. Uses the information received to fire a shot and opens fire.
The BORS system is also available on the civilian market and can be used for any precision weapon.
The rifle can be supplied with various mounts for installation on various equipment (helicopters, cars, armored personnel carriers, boats).
Fate Barrett XM109
Ten test pieces were collected for various tests. In 2004-2005, anti-material rifles showed the expected results, the samples fully corresponded to the declared reliability.
The main drawback is the excess of the permissible level of recoil when firing (meaning the excess of American standards).
Although one of the writers describing the XM109, having tried to fire from a sample of the weapon, reported that the recoil is quite normal, the weapon did not leave bruises and bruises on the body, the butt did not hit the body.
So, due to excess recoil, the project called Barrett XM109 is currently frozen. Perhaps the company will soon solve the problem of recoil, and we will see a real killer of armored vehicles.
Main characteristics:
- unloaded weight 15 kilograms;
- length 1.17 meters;
- barrel length 44.5 cm;
- maximum distance for shooting 3.6 kilometers;
- sighting distance 2 kilometers;
- magazine with a capacity of 5 grenade ammunition;
- initial flight speed 425 m / s.
