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Barrett M82

Sniper Rifle

The Barrett M82 is a semi-automatic anti-material rifle, designed and developed by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing company. This company was founded by Ronnie Barrett. This weapon is very popular. It is used by armed forces and special operation units from nearly 60 countries. As of 2017 this weapon is still in production. In some countries this anti-material rifle is used as a long-range anti-personnel sniper weapon. Development of this powerful anti-material rifle began in the early 1980s. Working versions were ready by 1982, hence the designation M82. It is worth noting that the M82 is a company designation, rather than a US military designation. The Barrett Firearms Manufacturing company developed and manufactured every part of this weapon on its own. In 1986, and improved M82A1 version was introduced. The company successfully sold 100 rifles to Swedish Armed Forces in 1989. In 1990-1991 US Marine Corps obtained around 125 of these rifles. Soon followed orders from the US Army and Air Force. Today this anti-material rifle is in service with nearly 60 countries and used by military and law enforcement forces. The Barrett M82 is primarily used as anti-material weapon. This rifle was designed to destroy sensitive enemy equipment at long distances, which traditionally would have required rocket launchers, recoilless rifles, anti-tank missiles, mortars, or even artillery to engage. These include parked aircraft, radar units, lightly-armored vehicles, trucks, pillboxes, fuel silos and various other important assets at long range. It is also used for remote destruction of explosive ordnance. Despite its anti-material origins, the Barrett M82 is also used as a long-range sniper rifle. It can neutralize enemy snipers at standoff range. The rifle can be also used to hit enemy soldiers, that are hiding behind cover and walls, as its powerful ammunition can penetrate through bricks and concrete. These make the Barrett M82 ideal for raids, special forces applications, harassment of enemy forces, and interdiction missions. Even though Barrett M82 is not among the longest range sniper rifles in the world, a couple of long-range kills were made using this weapon. In 2004 American sniper Brian Kremer made a record kill in Iraq from 2 300 meters using his M82A1 rifle. In 2008 another American sniper Nicholas Ranstad made a kill in Afghanistan from 2 092 meters using his M82A1 rifle. So far these two are the longest range kills made by the Barrett M82 series rifles. However this weapon is typically used out to a range of around 900-1 000 meters. The Barrett M82 is a recoil-operated semi-automatic weapon. It is chambered for powerful 12.7x99 mm (.50 BMG) ammunition. This ammunition was originally developed for and used in Browning M2 heavy machine gun. Sometimes the Barrett M82 is referred as "Light Fifty" for its cartridge. This weapon has a unique recoil reduction mechanism. The muzzle brake is said to absorb 70% of the recoil. It reduces the forces acting on internal mechanisms and the shooter. This weapon has a manual thumb-lever safety. This weapon is fed from 10-round detachable magazines. The Barrett M82 was often fitted with Leupold 10x magnification scope. This weapon can be also used with night vision scopes. There is a flip-up iron sight for emergency use in case of scope damage. Modern variants have a Picatinny-type scope rail on top of the receiver. The M82 is fully capable of hitting a human-sized target consistently with the first round fired at 1 000 m (and has done so on an almost daily basis in some instances), and possibly even out to 2 000 m. The original Barrett M82 has a built-in carrying handle, while the modern versions come with quick-detachable one. This rifle also has a detachable bipod. This weapon can be fitted with carry sling. However due to its size the Barrett M82 is usually carried in special case. As of 2017 the unit cost of the rifle ranges from $9 100 to $12 000, depending on configuration.