The Volodar Obriyu has developed a new large-caliber rifle

2 February, 2025 New sniper rifle in .57 HL caliber. Photo credits: Volodar Obriyu The Volodar Obriyu (Lord of the Horizon - Ed.) team of engineers has completed field tests of the new Rifle + Cartridge system in .57 HL caliber.

The Volodar Obriyu (Lord of the Horizon - Ed.) team announced this on its Facebook page. The developers share that according to the test results, the compact multi-caliber rifle in the new .57HL caliber has a stable accuracy of less than 0.5 MOA with an initial bullet energy of up to 8000 J. The rifle is equipped with an integrated sound moderator and uses 14.5 mm Bartlein match barrels with a series of compensating holes.

Special subsonic ammunition in the .57 HL caliber with all-copper bullets weighing 63 to 85 grams was developed in conjunction with the rifle.

New sniper rifle in .57 HL caliber. Photo credits: Volodar Obriyu

The bullets used for the tests were manufactured specifically for the needs of the developers by Baltic Bullets. It is stated that due to the combination of these factors, no existing acoustic counter-sniper system is able to detect a shot.

However, it is also possible to use armor-piercing bullets to defeat protected targets if necessary.

Ammunition of the .57 HL caliber. Photo credits: Volodar Obriyu

If you need to perform high-precision shooting at a long distance, it is possible to quickly switch to the .416 Barrett caliber by simply replacing the barrel on the rifle. According to the developers, during the tests, snipers from different units who participated in testing the new system provided several comments on the ergonomics of individual rifle components.

These comments will be considered in the production of the serial sample.

Results of testing a new .57 HL sniper rifle at a distance of 100 meters. Photo credits: Volodar Obriyu

As previously reported, the production of polymer jacketed ammunition for the 12.7x114HL sniper rifle has been launched. The ammunition is a 12.7mm (.50 BMG) bullet in a re-compressed 14.5x114mm cartridge case from the KPVT machine gun.

The length of the round is 16 cm.

12.7x114HL ammunition with polymer casings. January 2025. Photo credits: Volodar Obriyu LLC

The large amount of gunpowder in the Soviet-style machine gun cartridge case allowed the heavy bullet to accelerate to high speed and transfer enough energy to it for a stable flight at a distance of over 2000 meters.

Using this rifle, in November 2023, Ukrainian sniper Viacheslav Kovalskyi and his partner set a new world sniper record by eliminating a Russian invader at a distance of 3,800 meters.