Engineering:Steyr HS .50
Steyr HS .50 | |
---|---|
Steyr HS .50 | |
Type | Anti-Materiel Rifle/Sniper Rifle |
Place of origin | Austria |
Service history | |
Used by | See Users |
Wars | Iraq War Syrian Civil War[1] Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)[2] Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)[3] |
Production history | |
Manufacturer | Steyr Mannlicher |
Unit cost | $5,299 |
Produced | 2004 |
Variants | HS .460 HS .50 M1 |
Specifications (HS .50) | |
Mass | 12.4 kg (28.5 lbs) |
Length | 1,370 mm (54 inches) |
Barrel length | 833 mm (33 inches) |
Cartridge | .50 BMG .460 Steyr |
Calibre | .50 BMG |
Action | Bolt action |
Effective firing range | 2500–1500 m |
Feed system |
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The Steyr HS .50 is a .50 BMG single-shot anti-materiel sniper rifle manufactured by Steyr Mannlicher. The rifle has been widely exported; in addition, Iran produces an unlicensed copy under the name AM-50 Sayyad, while Syria reportedly began producing a second unlicensed copy, dubbed the Golan S-01, in 2019.
Design and features
The Steyr HS .50 is a single-shot bolt-action rifle. It has no built-in magazine so each round has to be loaded directly into the ejection port and is pushed into the chamber by the bolt. The fluted barrel is cold hammer forged and provides excellent accuracy at an effective range up to 1,500 m. It has an adjustable bi-pod, a highly efficient muzzle brake which reduces recoil substantially to increase shooting comfort and a Picatinny rail for installation of various optics.
However, due to customer demand, a recent change to the HS .50 has included a 5-round detachable magazine that can be inserted on the left-hand side of the rifle much similar to the Denel NTW-20
Variants
HS .460
The rifle is also available in the proprietary .460 Steyr round, developed for markets where ownership of the .50 BMG by private citizens is banned, but .46 rounds are not, such as California. The .460 caliber version is known as the HS .460.
HS .50 M1
The HS .50 M1 is an evolution of the HS .50. The biggest differences are: it is magazine fed from a five-round magazine feeding horizontally left from the receiver, has a longer top Picatinny rail and more Picatinny rails on the side, an adjustable cheekpiece, a newly designed fixable bipod, and a monopod at the buttstock.
AM-50 Sayyad
Iran produces an unlicensed version under the name AM-50 Sayyad.[4] Because of its wide exports, AM-50 rifles have also been sold to or captured by many groups opposed to Iran, such as Syrian rebels.[3]
Golan S-01
In June 2019, media organizations affiliated with the Syrian Government reported that Syria had begun producing an unlicensed variant of the rifle, dubbed the Golan S-01 in reference to the Golan Heights. It is reportedly manufactured by the Syrian Defence Industries Corporation, a state-run company managed by the Syrian Ministry of Defense. Unlike the original HS .50, the Golan S-01 fires the Soviet 12.7×108mm anti-materiel rifle cartridge.[citation needed] It is slightly heavier than the HS.50, weighing in at 13.5 kg and boasts an effective firing range of 1,600 meters, a 100 meter improvement over the previous generation of anti-materiel rifles used by the Syrian Army. It is also 100mm longer than the HS .50, measuring in at 1,470mm total length.[5]
Users
- Albania - Albanian army
- Argentina - Used by the Argentine Army
- Austria - Austrian army
- Bolivia
- Cameroon
- Iran - 800 rifles were purchased in 2006.[2]
- Mexico - Used by the Corp of Mexican Army Special Forces.
- Namibia - Used by the Namibian police special Forces
- Russia - Used by police forces and special forces.[6]
- Turkey - Used by the Turkish Land Forces
- Uruguay
AM-50 Sayyad operators
- Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq[8]
- Badr Organization[8]
- Hamas[3]
- Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba[8]
- Hezbollah[3]
- Template:Country data Houthis[3]
- Iran
- Iraq - used by the Shia militia, Iraqi Special Operations Forces,[2] and the Iraqi Armed Forces.[3]
- Iraqi Kurdistan – Peshmerga[3]
- Islamic State[3]
- Islamic State Sinai Province[3]
- Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada[8]
- Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)[3]
- Liwa al-Zulfiqar[8]
- Liwa Fatemiyoun[9]
- Saraya al-Aqida[8]
- Saraya al-Khorasani (ar)[8]
- Saraya al-Salam[8]
- Saraya Ashura[8]
- Syria[3][1]
- Syrian Social Nationalist Party[3]
- Tahrir al-Sham[3]
- Syrian National Army[3]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "La 104ème brigade de la Garde républicaine syrienne, troupe d'élite et étendard du régime de Damas" (in fr). France-Soir. 20 March 2017. http://www.francesoir.fr/politique-monde/la-104eme-brigade-de-la-garde-republicaine-troupe-elite-regime-damas-combats-alep-ghouta-deir-ezzor-bachar-al-assad-issam-zahreddine-etat-islamique-arm%C3%A9e-syrienne-artillerie-druze-daech-forces-speciales.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Correspondent, Thomas Harding, Defence (13 February 2007). "Iraqi insurgents using Austrian rifles from Iran". https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1542559/Iraqi-insurgents-using-Austrian-rifles-from-Iran.html.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 "Iranian .50 Cal- The AM-50 Sayyad and Its Use in the Middle East". 13 December 2018. https://www.calibreobscura.com/the-iranian-50-cal-am-50-sayyad/.
- ↑ "Iran Army hints at deployment of Special Forces to Syria and Iraq - FDD's Long War Journal". https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/03/iran-deploys-army-special-forces-to-syria-and-iraq.php.
- ↑ Desk, News (2019-06-23). "First Syrian-made sniper rifle enters military service: photos" (in en-US). https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/first-syrian-made-sniper-rifle-enters-military-service-photos/.
- ↑ "Спецподразделения МВД вооружатся австрийскими пистолетами". https://lenta.ru/news/2009/12/11/glock/.
- ↑ Binnie, Jeremy (6 July 2016). "US-led coalition trains Iraqi soldiers to use the Iranian copy of the Steyr HS .50 anti-materiel rifle.". https://twitter.com/JeremyBinnie/status/750621504346488834.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 "Iraq: Turning a blind eye: The arming of the Popular Mobilization Units". Amnesty International. 5 January 2017. https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1453862017ENGLISH.PDF.
- ↑ Puxton, Matteo (25 February 2019). "Pour se battre en Syrie, l'Iran enrôle massivement des Afghans chiites" (in fr). France Soir. http://www.francesoir.fr/en-coop-matteo-puxton/pour-se-battre-en-syrie-iran-enrole-massivement-des-afghans-chiites.
External links
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