Examining the rifle from the muzzle rearward, you will find a 35-inch long, heavy, fluted, forged steel barrel. It contributes most of the rifle’s weight, and that is a good sign. It has been my experience, and this is corroborated by Austrian SF snipers, that with it you can shoot the 661-grain Multipurpose “Raufoss” bullet at more than 3,000 fps. That is much more than the 2,850 fps you obtain from the standard 29-inch .50-caliber military barrels and gives you an edge, whether shooting a Taliban at over a mile away, or targets at a 1,000-yard FCSA (Fifty Caliber Shooting Association) competition. Running these numbers on a LoadBase 3.0 ballistic software was even more impressive. Those extra 100 yards of supersonic flight may not seem like a lot, but going from 1,600 to 1,700 yards is not only a matter of getting some extra range, it means that at 1,000 yards you need 3.5 MOA less elevation and get a half MOA less deflection from a 10 mph wind. And that is a lot less, as any long-range shooter worth his salt knows. Best of all, these higly impressive numbers reflect just the standard MK211 military ammunition, which is not loaded very hot. I can’t even begin to anticipate the bullet speed that competition reloaders will get from this barrel, but this could surely mean the difference between merely a good and a record 1,000-yard shot grouping. The numbers are even more impressive with RUAG AP 664-grain ammunition which is supersonic up to 2,150 yards.
