Steyr HS
| Steyr HS | |
|---|---|
|
|
| general information | |
| Civil name: | Steyr HS .50 / .50 M1 / .460 |
| Military designation: | HS .50, .50 M1, HS .460 |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Steyr Mannlicher |
| Manufacturer country: | Austria |
| Model variants: | HS .50, HS .460, HS .50 M1 |
| Weapon Category: | Sniper rifle , anti-materiel rifle |
| Furnishing | |
| Overall length: |
HS .50: 1,370 mm HS .50 M1: 1,478 mm HS .460 Steyr: 1,435 mm |
| Total height: | 205 mm |
| Total width: | 105 mm |
| Weight: (unloaded) |
HS .50: 12.8 kg HS .50 M1: 14.2 kg HS .460 Steyr: 11 kg |
| Barrel length : | 900 mm |
| Technical specifications | |
| Caliber : |
12.7 × 99 mm NATO .460 Steyr |
| Possible magazine fillings : | .50 M1: 5 cartridges |
| Ammunition supply : |
.50 & .460 Steyr: single .50 M1: box magazine |
| Fire types: | Single fire |
| Number of trains : |
.50: 8 .460 Steyr: 6 |
| Twist : | right |
| Visor : | without |
| Mounting system: | Picatinny rail |
| Closure : | Chamber lock |
| Charging principle: |
.50 & .460 Steyr: single loader .50 M1: multiple loader |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Steyr HS are large-caliber single loaders (HS .50, HS .460 Steyr) or multi-loaders (HS .50M1) sniper rifles from Steyr Mannlicher . The weapons use the 12.7 × 99 mm NATO caliber ( Steyr HS .50 , HS .50M1 ) developed for machine guns , or the .460 Steyr caliber ( Steyr HS .460 ) developed by Steyr . The Steyr HS .50 was presented for the first time in February 2004 at the ShotShow-2004 in Las Vegas . The current version HS .50 M1 is a multi-loading rifle .
Naming
The name of the sniper rifle is made up of the company name, an abbreviation and the caliber or the cartridge ammunition used. In the acronym HS stands H for heavy (English for hard ). The S is an abbreviation of Sn ((military) weapons for snipers) and Sp (weapons for sport shooters). The calibres .50 and .460 each refer to .50 BMG (12.7 × 99 mm NATO) and the .460 Steyr cartridge ammunition (11.64 × 90 mm) developed by Steyr.
HS .460
The HS .460 and the HS .50 are almost identical. The main difference lies in the ammunition used. The HS .460 was nevertheless developed and brought onto the market as a sporting weapon in order to circumvent the ban on 12.7 × 99 mm NATO ammunition in many countries.
Legal situation in Austria
In Austria, the HS .460 was declared an anti-tank rifle or war material in 2004 by an official from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. According to § 1 para. 1 lit. b War Material Ordinance, an anti-tank rifle is to be regarded as war material. According to Section 17 of the Weapons Act 1996, the rifle falls into category A, which means that acquisition, import, possession, surrender and carrying are prohibited. The ban applies not only to the weapon, but also to the barrels and breeches and the ammunition used.
In 2007, the district authority of Amstetten ruled that a buyer of an HS .460 was not allowed to own the weapon according to the current legal situation. The Administrative Court had to rule on this matter through a complaint . The complainant stated that the assumed breakthrough performance was merely a presumption that was never checked in practice. In addition, an anti-tank rifle can not only be reduced to its penetration power, which means that the weapon and ammunition should be examined by an expert. Although it is correct that the cartridge base of the 12.7 × 99 mm NATO and the .460 Steyr are the same size, the easy interchangeability of the two types of ammunition assumed by the authorities and resulting from this fact is not correct. The rifle can only be loaded with the other type of ammunition after exchanging the barrel and bolt. The replacement was made technically impossible by the manufacturer.
For questions to be clarified in this case, an employee of the Office for Armaments and Defense Technology (ARWT) was asked about the criteria for classifying a weapon as war material. The staff member stated that anti-tank rifles are characterized by three of the following features: The weapon is rested, shoulder-supported or mounted, has the potential to combat armored targets and a projectile energy greater than 10,000 joules. Elsewhere, the penetration of 25 mm armor steel and more at 100 m was cited as a criterion. The armor-piercing effect of an anti-tank rifle is said to be the "potential of an ammunition effect against objects whose structure has a protective effect against ammunition effect (armor)" and it has "a mass that is significantly higher than that of heavy hunting weapons". Furthermore, the assessment as an anti-tank rifle resulted "from the overall picture of the structural design with regard to the purpose and performance potential of the weapon", which "fulfills the characteristic features of anti-tank rifles in all points".
technology
The Steyr HS are designed as single-shot cylinder breeches , which means that the empty cartridge case is ejected when the bolt is opened after the projectile has been fired. Since the HS .50 version does not have a magazine from which a new cartridge can be reloaded, the shooter must insert it himself.
The Steyr HS .50 has a typical for this weapon class accuracy of less than 0.5 MOA (Minute Of Angle, dt. Arcmin ). As a result, the projectile deviates from the firing direction by a maximum of 0.5 arc minutes (0.0083 degrees ), thus creating a scattering circle with a radius of less than 1.45 cm at 100 m; at 1000 m and without the influence of wind, accordingly 14.5 cm.
The rifle has a cold-hammered, flooded barrel - with cooling fins - on the muzzle of which the highly effective muzzle brake , distinctive for the Steyr HS , is located, which considerably reduces the recoil of the rifle after the shot, but also partially reduces the pressure wave in the direction of the shooter directs. Since the weapons were not designed for hands-free use, they have an attachable bipod . The rifles do not have an open sight , rather a number of sights and night vision devices can be mounted through the integrated Picatinny rail .
With special ammunition , a steel wall as thick as a thumb can be broken through at 1000 m. The two-stage trigger releases at a pressure point weight of 1.8 kg and can be secured with a trigger safety. The stock can be individually adjusted to the needs of the shooter.
The HS was designed as almost all military weapons so that they can be disassembled in a few steps and reassembled. With their technology, they are among the most modern and precise sniper rifles in the world.
The improved version HS .50 M1 is characterized by a 5-round magazine, a ground spur , an improved bipod and additional Picatinny rails . Compared to other weapons such as the Barrett M82 , users criticized the fact that the weapon does not reload itself (semi-automatic) and the magazine protruding to the left, which, despite a relatively small capacity of 5 rounds, exerts a noticeable force on the weapon and thus the shot pattern worsen.
commitment
A trained precision marksman can get a head hit with such a rifle at a distance of one kilometer under optimal conditions. A body hit is possible even at a distance of more than two kilometers. In the past, this caused concern for the authorities in Northern Ireland, for example, when an IRA shooter with a Barrett M82A1 of a similar type became active there. It can also be used against lightly armored vehicles such as armored personnel carriers.
Occurrence in Iran and Iraq
The gun became known to a wider public when the Steyr Mannlicher company requested an export license to sell 800 copies to Iran in 2004 . When this became public, some states voiced criticism, including the USA and Great Britain , which include Iran as part of the so-called axis of evil . Weaker criticism also came from countries such as Denmark , as they feared that the rifles could get from Iran to Iraq and then be used there by extremists for attacks against the Iraqi army or the occupation forces at the time.
Despite all the criticism, the sale was approved by the Austrian government in November 2004, whereupon the US government imposed an embargo on products from the Steyr Mannlicher company on December 23, 2005 . It is not known how many rifles were actually delivered to the Iranian border police, but the quota of 800 copies was not exhausted.
According to a report in the British newspaper Daily Telegraph in February 2007, US soldiers were able to seize around 100 of these precision weapons during a raid in Baghdad . After the news, Steyr Mannlicher announced that patent protection had expired for years and that the weapon was being copied in several countries around the world. Whether or not the guns were Austrian-made could be determined from the serial numbers on the guns. According to a report in the Wiener Zeitung, these are by no means weapons made in Austria. According to a statement published on the official website of Steyr Mannlicher, the company was interested in a quick clarification, as the allegation not only harmed the company but also the Austrian state.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c decision of the Administrative Court on HS .460 on the classification as anti-tank rifle
- ↑ The Federal Ministry of the Interior was classified as GZ 13.650 / 1789-04
- ↑ § 1 War Material Ordinance
- ↑ STEYR HS .50 M1 on steyr-mannlicher.com
- ↑ www.eliteukforces.info
- ↑ Vol. 70, No. 250, 12/30/05 Federal Register Notice regarding the embargo against Steyer Mannlicher ( memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Spiegel online over 100 HS.-50 rifles found in Iraq.
- ↑ US soldiers find Austrian weapons. Spiegel online , February 13, 2007
- ↑ But no Austro weapons in Iraq. Wiener Zeitung , March 29, 2007
- ↑ But no Austro weapons in Iraq!