Steyr HS .50

Steyr HS .50
Steyr HS .50
Type	Sniper rifle
Place of origin	Austria
Service history
Used by	See Users
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
Action	Bolt Action
Effective firing range	1500 m
Feed system	Single shot

The Steyr HS .50 is a .50 BMG single-shot anti-materiel sniper rifle manufactured by Steyr Mannlicher.

Design and features

The Steyr HS .50 is a single-shot bolt action rifle. It has a built-in magazine (on the right side of the gun) 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 1500 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 5 round magazine feeding horizontally left from the receiver, has a longer top Picatinny rail with more Picatinny rails on the side, an adjustable cheekpiece, a newly designed fixable bipod and a monopod at the buttstock.

Controversy

The rifle made headlines when Steyr sold up to 800 rifles to Iran in 2005. There was a large amount of concern in the United States, United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent, other European countries that the rifles would find their way into Iraq and be used against the Iraqi Army or Coalition forces. Nevertheless, the sale was approved by the Austrian government in November 2004, citing Iran's declared intention to deploy the weapon with anti-terror and counter-drug units.

In February 2007, The Daily Telegraph reported that American sources claimed to have recovered more than 100 of the rifles from Iraqi insurgents. Within 45 days of the delivery of the rifles to Iran, an American soldier was allegedly killed by one of the weapons. However, according to Steyr CEO Franz Holzschuh, Steyr has not been contacted to compare serial numbers and verify if the weapons in question really were part of the Iranian shipment. According to Steyr, patents for the HS .50 ran out years ago, and fraudulent copies are produced in several countries. The Daily Telegraph admitted in April 2007 that it was not able to verify the story.

U.S. Central Command later announced that no Austrian rifle had been found in Iraq, as reported by the Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung (Eng: Vienna Times) on March 29, 2007.

Users

• Cameroon^{[citation needed]}
• Gaza Strip: Used by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza.
• Iran: A quantity of 800 rifles was purchased in 2006.
• Mexico: Used by the Corp of Mexican Army Special Forces.
• Russia: Used by police forces and special forces.
• Syria: Used by Syrian armed forces.

See also

• Steyr SSG 69

External links

• Official website