Explain in detail the origin of Barrett's anti-equipment rifle

Explain in detail the origin of Barrett's anti-equipment rifle

I don't know when Barrett M82 began to be widely called heavy sniper, and even considered as a typical long-range large-caliber sniper rifle with high precision, high lethality and long range. But Barrett M82 has never been used as a sniper rifle. Perhaps the long-range trajectory and energy storage of 12.7x99mm BMG bullets are too excellent, or perhaps Barrett's sight is too chaotic, which always gives people the illusion of being attacked. This article tells you how Barrett M82 came from and why he was not a spy.

The story happened in 1982, when Ronnie Barrett, the founder of Barrett, was still a photographer. At that time, he was taking photos by the Si Tong River in Tennessee and happened to pass by a water patrol boat. Two M2 dopted mother heavy machine guns on board ignited Barrett's heart. At that time, he thought it would be exciting for thieves to make a rifle with a bullet of 50 BMG and then sell it to those rude red necks for hunting.

Ronnie Barrett should be a strong executive. After he came back, he drew a rough sample of a.50 rifle and took it to some local mechanical processing plants for guidance. But it happened that he didn't have any experience in gun design, and people in the local machinery factory laughed at him, saying that if your idea worked, someone would have done it long ago, and it was not your turn at all.

But as an entrepreneur, being ridiculed several times is not a problem. A few days later, Barrett found Bob Mitchell, a mold manufacturer in Smyrna, who was willing to provide some technical and on-site support.

Four months later, the Barrett.50 prototype rifle came out.

Of course, the gap between the prototype and the finished product is still far away. Barrett made the second generation prototype and participated in the Houston gun exhibition. At that time, three people placed orders, which was Barrett's first business.

Barrett used the money to upgrade his studio, and tried to continue to produce 30 guns, which were sold out after being advertised in magazines, and the road to the peak of his life began. In the following years, the CIA also bought a batch of Barrets and threw them to Afghan militants to fuck the Soviets (when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan). The Irish Peace Army also obtained Barrett M82 through smuggling channels to fight against the British army.

1989, the Swedish military officially purchased 100 Barret, which was the first batch of serious military orders. 1990. On the eve of the Gulf War, the United States Marine Corps purchased 125 pieces. (Barrett in the picture below was shot at 9 1, when its muzzle brake was different from the present one. )

Back to the point, why is Barrett not a sniper rifle? At that time, when the US military bought it, Barrett was named SASR, a special purpose rifle with a sight.

Because the US military bought this thing for soft targets such as light armored vehicles, radar stations, ammunition depots, oil depots, and explosive disposal, in fact, in the early 1980s, the US military had a batch of .50 bolts, which were mainly used to detonate mines on patrol boats.

In Iraq, semi-automatic Barrett can also accomplish this task. For some unknown explosives or unexploded shells on the roadside, it is best to use 12.7x99mm armor-piercing projectile Mk2 1 1 armor-piercing projectile to detonate directly at a long distance.

Therefore, shooting and killing people is not Barrett's main job ... Moreover, at that time, the US military did not have a .50 sniper bomb, and Barrett's semi-automatic principle was barrel recoil. This structure of barrel movement has a great influence on the consistency of ejection chamber, so the general accuracy is only 3 MoA, and snipers really don't need such a large warhead. ....

In the future, the US Army did consider the .50 caliber high-precision sniper, and even issued a tender. Barrett also took out a M90 sniper rifle with a bolt operated without supporting structure to bid, but in the end, the military still felt that it was unnecessary to use this caliber to spy on people, and then it was over.

So Barrett's gun barrel short recoil principle (because the gun barrel recoil force can absorb the huge recoil force of .50 to some extent) is not friendly to accuracy. In addition, this kind of large caliber bullet has strong kinetic energy, which can be well used in anti-equipment and armor-piercing burning warhead to detonate explosives. However, these targets do not require high accuracy, so Barrett M82 can only be said to be an anti-equipment rifle, not a sniper rifle.