Russia Pretends Enhanced Accuracy Cartridges Development
22 January, 2024 New Russian 12.7mm cartridges. Freeze frame from a Russian media report The Russian 'TsKIB SOO' design bureau has developed a new line of enhanced accuracy cartridges for large-caliber rifles.
The Russian propaganda media cited the ammunition developers in its report. In an interview, a representative of the Russian Central Design and Research Bureau of Sporting and Hunting Arms (TsKIB SOO) told about the creation of two enhanced accuracy cartridges of 12.7x108mm caliber. The index or designation of the new ammunition is not reported.
According to representatives of the enterprise, they are intended for use with an OSV-96 anti-material rifle.
OSV-96 12.7x108mm anti-materiel rifle. Illustrative photo
The design bureau pretends it achieved high accuracy parameters for new ammunition due to the use of a single-component bullet design, which is actually necked from a single piece of metal. The new solution allegedly eliminated the imbalance factor of the bullet in flight, which is caused by its penetrator in traditional multicomponent bullets.
According to the developers, due to the high energy of the cartridge in this caliber and the bullet made of steel, the new ammunition is claimed to penetrate light armored vehicles at a distance of up to 1500-2000 meters. In addition, the representatives of the design bureau also claimed that they have already managed to create another munition with improved armor-piercing qualities based on this cartridge and bullets. However, instead of detailed characteristics, they voiced only an abstract example of the possibility of striking "NATO armored personnel carriers with enhanced protection into the side projection from 100 meters."
A new armor-piercing cartridge marked with black paint, caliber 12.7x108mm, developed by the Russian TsKIB SOO design bureau, 2024
The negative side of innovation
It is worth noting that the transition to single-component steel bullets carries not only advantages, but also a number of negative factors that sharply worsen the operating conditions of the weapon.
Multi-component bullets are used together with a solid penetrator and a soft metal shell (copper), which provides a tight skin and "soft" passage of the bullet through the bore. In the case of using single-element bullets, solid metal quickly wears out the rifling in the barrel, resulting in a rapid decline in accuracy and rendering the weapon unsuitable. The barrel's lifespan can be significantly reduced.
Cartridges in section: with a single-component bullet (above) and multi-component (below).
Illustrative image
The feasibility of employing such specialized weapons in combat remains an open question, especially considering that the ultimate resource of even conventional rifles, when using traditional ammunition, can be exhausted in a short time.
Recall that at the end of 2023, it became known that the Russian defense industry had developed a new intermediate cartridge, as well as the capture of small arms for it.