Today, you rarely see a fighter who does not wear personal protective equipment, that is, body armor, and modern clashes are now less likely to take place in open areas, increasingly moving to densely populated urban areas where the enemy can easily hide behind an obstacle. Do not underestimate the prevalence of armored vehicles.
In order for all of the above to cease to be a problem, in the mid-90s the Tula Design Bureau of Instrument Making made a large-caliber rifle OSV-96.
PTRS
However, it is worth starting from afar, namely on August 29, 1941. It was on this day that Simonov’s self-loading anti-tank rifle entered the arsenal of the Red Army, which in some way became the progenitor of OSV-96. It proved itself primarily as an effective means of combating lightly armored vehicles, fortified combat points and enemy manpower, hiding behind an easy obstacle.
Representing a massive length of just over 2 meters and weighing 21 kilograms, the design of the gun possessed tremendous power. Largely due to its monstrous caliber, it was powered by large-caliber cartridges specially designed for piercing tank armor 14.5 by 114 millimeters. Armor-piercing, that is, having a steel core inside, a bullet weighing 64 grams, flying out of a rifled barrel at a speed of 1000 meters per second, with a direct hit was able to penetrate a sheet of steel up to 40 millimeters thick, which was enough to destroy the most vulnerable points of enemy tanks.
As you can see, with such a caliber and the weight of the weapon, the shooter was exposed to tremendous recoil when fired. In order to reduce its impact on the shooter, the gun was equipped with a massive muzzle brake-compensator, and the back of the stock had a shock-absorbing butt plate.
A separate plus of PTR Simonov is his self-integrity. When fired, part of the powder gases from the barrel was transmitted through a special channel to the piston, which, in turn, pushed the shutter back and sent out a new cartridge from a non-removable magazine with a capacity of five rounds. This is the main similarity of PTRS with OSV-96, since both rifles are self-loading.
And contrary to popular belief, anti-tank rifles were never equipped with sniper optical sights. As an aiming device, an open sector-type sight was used.
PTRD
If we already touched the gun of the Simonov system, then we simply could not mention his direct competitor. On the same day, August 29, a second model of long-range anti-tank weapons was adopted. Its designer, Vasily Alexandrovich Degtyarev, is most likely known to you, but as the author of a well-known machine gun, however, as it turned out, Vasily was able to make his invaluable contribution to the victory by creating an anti-tank gun of his own design.
The PTRD was much simpler than its counterpart, but at the same time lighter - its mass was 17.5 kilograms in running order - and slightly shorter. Also, unlike the Simonovsky variant, the Degtyarev rifle was single-shot, with a longitudinally sliding rotary bolt, which greatly simplified its production.
OSV-96
The next stage in the history of large-caliber long-barreled weapons was the rifle, which had the catchy name “Cracker”. Developed by the designer of the Tula Instrument Design Bureau Arkady Shipunov, this large-caliber rifle is a reliable design that meets all modern standards, combining tremendous lethal force, penetrative ability, battle accuracy,Convenience and compactness.
The production of OSV-96 began in 1994, however, according to official figures, the rifle was adopted four years earlier.
She went through her baptism of fire on the battlefields of the First Chechen campaign, where she proved herself to be the best. This was followed by the Second Chechen Campaign, and after it a series of armed conflicts. At the moment, judging by the numerous photos, OSV-96 is actively used in Syria.
TTX
Now we pay attention exclusively to the rifle and discuss its characteristics. First of all - dimensions. The length of the rifle is 1 meter 76 centimeters, while the weight of a fully equipped rifle equipped with a sight is 16.4 kilograms. Significant weight, however, for a large-caliber rifle with a caliber of 12.7 mm, this value is more than acceptable.
By the way, about caliber. For firing from the “Burglar”, cartridges of 12.7 by 108 millimeters are used, which have sufficient penetrative ability to defeat even lightly armored vehicles.
Although the penetration characteristics of the OSV-96 are largely dependent on the ammunition, but the accuracy of the battle is on the rifle and the shooter. So, a bullet fired from a 1 meter long rifled barrel is capable of hitting a target at a distance of 1800 meters.
According to the principle of operation, it is very similar to PTRS, since the system for sending the cartridge to the chamber is also based on the removal of part of the powder gases from the barrel bore. The rifle is also equipped with a removable box magazine for five rounds.
Design features
As can be seen from the description and photo, OSV-96 is not a compact rifle. In a battle, any soldier should be as mobile as possible. Therefore, the designer decided to complicate the design of the rifle and add the possibility of folding it in the area of the articulation of the rear cut of the barrel and breech. In this position, the length of the rifle is comparable to the standard SVD rifle.
Another feature that, most likely, not everyone noticed: OSV-96 does not have a forearm, as it is not suitable for shooting from hands.
Analogue
Oddly enough, but our domestic rifle has its own analogue abroad. His name is Barrett M82. Of course, this is a popular rifle that has been to many conflicts around the globe and has proved to be the best in each of them. In many ways, it is really similar to the OSV-96, in some aspects it even surpasses it, however there are a couple of aspects in which the domestic rifle wins. Like, for example, length. Yes, the “Burglar” is longer than the M82, but if you just fold it, the rifle becomes shorter than its foreign competitor, while maintaining an advantage in the useful length of the barrel. Accordingly, OSV-96 will be somewhat more accurate, however, the M82 is more rapid-fire due to the twice as large capacity of the store.