Accuracy International AWM


The Accuracy International AWM is a bolt-action sniper rifle manufactured by Accuracy International designed for magnum rifle cartridges. The Accuracy International AWM is also unofficially known as the AWSM, which typically denotes AWM rifles chambered in.338 Lapua Magnum.
On 9 September 2012, Accuracy International announced that the.338 Lapua Magnum AWM rifle was phased out and replaced by the Accuracy International AXMC sniper rifle.

Arctic Warfare Magnum System

The Accuracy International AWM sniper rifle is a variant of the British Accuracy International Arctic Warfare rifle that was the basis of a family of sniper rifles using the Arctic Warfare name. As such the design details of the AWM variant are similar to the ones found in the basic AW rifle system. Compared to the AW, the AWM has a longer bolt to accommodate dimensionally larger magnum-length cartridges such as the.300 Winchester Magnum and the.338 Lapua Magnum. The bolt head, locking ring, and extractor and magazines were also revised to work with the increased size and operating pressures of magnum rifle cartridges.
The AWM features a detachable single stack removable box magazine which holds five rounds. The normal cartridges for this rifle, and the ones which have been accepted by NATO for use in AWM rifles, are.300 Winchester Magnum and.338 Lapua Magnum.
Muzzle brakes are fitted to reduce recoil, jump and flash and act as a base for optional iron sights and suppressors.
Normally, the AWMs are outfitted with a Schmidt & Bender PM II 10×42/MILITARY MK II 10×42 telescopic sight with 10× fixed power of magnification. However, a Schmidt & Bender PM II/MILITARY MK II with variable magnification of either 3–12×50, 4–16×50 or 5–25×56 can be used if the operator wants more flexibility to shoot at varying ranges, or when a wide field of view is required. Accuracy International actively promotes fitting the German made Schmidt & Bender PM II/MILITARY MK II product line as sighting components on their rifles, which is rare for a rifle manufacturer. The German and Russian Army preferred a telescopic sight made by Zeiss over Accuracy International's preference.
The AWM rifle is normally supplied in a metal transit case together with a telescopic sight, mount, butt spacers, bipod, spare magazines, sling, cleaning and tool kits.

Magnum chamberings

.300 Winchester Magnum

The.300 Winchester Magnum cartridge was designed as a magnum hunting cartridge and offers a flatter trajectory and a significant increase in muzzle velocity, wind resistance and supersonic range over the dimensionally smaller 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The ability of the.300 Winchester Magnum chambering to obtain fairly high muzzle velocities, combined with relatively heavy and long very-low-drag bullets, significantly enhance the hit probability at longer ranges and hence the effective range compared to the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. For precision shooting, the Federal Cartridge's Gold Medal Match grade is the most commonly used ammunition.
The AWM chambered for the.300 Winchester Magnum is fitted with a fluted, stainless steel barrel that is long for optimum muzzle velocity and nominal weight. The.300 Winchester Magnum barrel features a non-traditional 279.4 mm right-hand twist rate.

.338 Lapua Magnum

The AWM in the.338 Lapua Magnum calibre was designed as a dedicated long range sniper rifle.
The rifle is fitted with a stainless steel, fluted, barrel, which research has found to be the best compromise between muzzle velocity, weight, and length. The barrel has an unconventional 279 mm right-hand twist rate, optimized for firing.338-calibre very-low-drag bullets up to 16.85 g. When the AWM.338 Lapua Magnum was developed military issue cartridges were loaded with 16.2 g very-low-drag bullets. Longer, heavier very-low-drag bullets like the Sierra HPBT MatchKing.338-calibre 19.44 g and the 21st century 19.44 gram .338-calibre HPBT Scenar can be used, but require a 254 mm twist rate to stabilize them under high air density conditions as found on arctic coasts.
A limitation of AWM rifles is that.338 Lapua Magnum cartridges loaded to the Commission Internationale Permanente pour l'Epreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives maximum allowed overall length of 93.50 mm do not fit in the magazine due to a lack of internal magazine length. This is because the AWM bolt action was initially developed for dimensionally smaller cartridges, and then modified for the.338 Lapua Magnum chambering. Ammunition manufacturers produce.338 Lapua Magnum military issue cartridges loaded with 16.2 g very-low-drag bullets that fit in the long AWM magazines. As long as.338 Lapua Magnum cartridges that fit in the magazines are used, the AWM rifles can be used as repeating rifles instead of single shot rifles.
To address.338 Lapua Magnum ammunition length limitations of the AWM Accuracy International has since developed the AX338 long range rifle as the AWM successor model. The bolt action of the AX338 is longer and wider than the AWM, and the internal magazine is lengthened, allowing the unimpaired use of.338 Lapua Magnum cartridges loaded to the C.I.P. maximum allowed overall length of. Furthermore, the AX338 has a 238 mm twist rate to adequately stabilize longer, heavier.338 caliber very-low-drag projectile designs that became more common in the 21st century.
Ammunition types available for the.338 Lapua Magnum are FMJ, hollow point, armour piercing and armour piercing incendiary.

Extreme range confirmed sniper kill

In November 2009, British Army sniper Corporal of Horse Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, set the record for longest recorded sniper kill, at the time, by killing two Taliban machine gunners consecutively south of Musa Qala in Helmand Province in Afghanistan at a range of taking 10 shots to hit the target, using a L115A3 Long Range Rifle.
In the reports CoH Harrison mentions the environmental conditions were perfect for long range shooting: no wind, mild weather, clear visibility.
In June 2017, a Canadian JTF2 sniper broke this record for a confirmed kill at with a C15 Long-Range Sniper Weapon.

Ballistics and use of environment and equipment to achieve the aiming solution

According to JBM Ballistics, using drag coefficients provided by Lapua, the L115A3 has an approximate supersonic range of under International Standard Atmosphere conditions at sea level and at the altitude or elevation of Musa Qala. This illustrates how differences in environmental conditions can significantly affect bullet flight.
The Schmidt & Bender MILITARY MKII 5-25×56 mm scope used by Harrison on the L115A3 Long Range Rifle has windage and elevation adjustment of 0.1 milliradian, double turn elevation turret, and parallax and illumination control. The sight has a maximal vertical elevation range of 26 mil, and the sight adjustment increment of 0.1 mil equates to a point of impact shift at a distance of. To increase the maximal elevation range Accuracy International produces mounts for telescopic sights with a 13.1 mil built in vertical cant designed for their.338 Lapua Magnum rifles fitted with the 5-25×56 telescopic sight. Even with a 13.1 mil canted mount the employed sighting system is not able to dial in over 39.1 milliradian of vertical aiming correction, which is significantly less than Harrison required during his record shot.
The external ballistics software program by JBM Ballistics predicts that the bullets of British high pressure .338 Lapua Magnum cartridges using 16.2 g Lapua LockBase B408 bullets fired at 936 m/s muzzle velocity under International Standard Atmosphere conditions at elevation and assuming a flat fire scenario and a zero arrive at distance after approximately 6.017 seconds flight time at 251.8 m/s velocity and have dropped or in angular units 48.9 milliradian on their way. Harrison had to use the P4 reticle offering 0.5 mil spaced holdover hash marks in his 5-25×56 telescopic sight to compensate for the lack of vertical aiming correction and thus achieve the required aiming solution. The long horizontal line at 5× zoom or magnification represent 49.1 milliradian or slightly over the required assumed vertical elevation.

Military adoption

British Armed Forces

The British Armed Forces adopted the AWM rifle chambered in.338 Lapua Magnum as the L115A1 Long Range Rifle. The British L115A1 rifles are outfitted with Schmidt & Bender 3-12×50 mm PM II/MILITARY MKII 3-12×50 mm 0.1 mil telescopic sights. The L115A1 is in service with the Royal Marines, British Army and RAF Regiment in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In November 2007 the British Ministry of Defence announced that their snipers in the Army, Royal Marines and RAF Regiment were to get a new rifle. Accuracy International would supply 580 L115A3 Long Range Rifles with day telescopic sights. The L115A3 is being supplied as part of a broader Sniper System Improvement Programme which also includes night sights, spotting scopes, laser range finders and tripods. The L115A3 rifle was first deployed to Afghanistan in May 2008.
Some features of the improved L115A3 include:
The MOD claims a muzzle velocity of 936 m/s for the L115A3.
When the L115A3 Long Range Rifle was only 6 years into its life cycle the British Ministry of Defence recognized the improved capabilities of the AX series rifles in regard to special forces use. The AX series new chassis system provided more flexibility to utilize low light and day light aiming optics, laser designators, and other accessories without the need for custom made mounting interface kits. The right folding AX series chassis system was also more compact in the folded configuration making it more portable and concealable, and featured a pistol grip. On request of the MOD Accuracy International explored the possibility of updating the L115A3 Long Range Rifle to the AX series chassis system, to produce a rifle that is a hybrid of AWM and AX features. The AX enhancements were well received by the MOD and British snipers, and an update program was launched thus producing the L115A4. The L115A4 can easily be mistaken for a new AX series rifle. The Schmidt & Bender 5-25×56 mm PM II LP/MILITARY MKII 5-25×56 as well as the suppressor, bipod and several other accessories from the L115A3 were reused in the L115A4 resulting in significant cost savings. Along with the rifle updates, the L115A4 includes a new deployment case, maintenance kit, and other accessories.

Dutch Armed Forces

The AWM-F commonly referred to as Geweer Lange Afstand chambered in.338 Lapua Magnum has been introduced from 1996 by the Dutch Army’s Korps Commandotroepen snipers and the AWM is used by all Schutter Lange Afstand of the 11 Luchtmobiele Brigade, 13th Light Brigade, 43rd Mechanized Brigade. In 2007 the snipers of the Netherlands Marine Corps also received this sniper rifle. The Dutch AWM rifles are outfitted with Schmidt & Bender 10×42 PM II and 3-12×50 PM II telescopic sights. The rifles are designated as Accuracy, antipersoneel scherpschuttersgeweer.338 and the Military of the Netherlands claim a maximum effective range of for their AWM rifles and have used these rifles in Afghanistan with great success.

German Armed Forces

Since 1998 the Bundeswehr fields an AWM-F chambered in.300 Winchester Magnum, with a 3–12×56 SSG telescopic sight made by the German company Zeiss, under the designation of G22 or Scharfschützengewehr 22. The German G22 rifles have folding stocks and emergency iron sights. For their G22 rifles the Bundeswehr claims an effective range of.The German ammunition manufacturer Metallwerk Elisenhütte Nassau has specially developed 7.62 × 67 mm ammunition for the G22.
The Carl Zeiss Optronics telescopic sight has a mil-dot reticle and a scale that enables the operator to see the dialled in elevation setting through the rifle scopes ocular. The Bundeswehr 3–12×56 SSG telescopic sight differs somewhat from the further developed 3–12×56 SSG-P telescopic sight. The Bundeswehr telescopic sight has no parallax setting option and the range scale has a setting range from 0 to 10 instead of 0 to 11 symbolizing the 11.2 milliradian elevation adjustment range shown in the current Carl Zeiss Optronics 3–12×56 SSG-P telescopic sight brochure.
The G22A1 has a Schmidt & Bender 3-12×50 telescopic sight and Harris Engineering bipod and is in use with German special forces.
The G22A2 is an upgraded variant featuring an AX series chassis stock, a new monopod and bipod, a new double chamber muzzle brake and a Steiner-Optik GmbH M5Xi 5-25×56 MTC LT LPF – TreMoR3s telescopic sight. The accessory pack besides spare and maintenance parts includes a Kestrel 5700 Elite Weather Meter with an integrated ballistic calculator. In 2019 Accuracy International was awarded a contract to refurbish and upgrade all G22 and G22A1 rifles to the G22A2 standard.

Royal Malaysia Police

The Unit Tindakhas of the Pasukan Gerakan Khas snipers from Royal Malaysia Police using the AWSM, chambered in.338 Lapua Magnum alongside the 7.62mm Accuracy International Arctic Warfare.

Norwegian Special Forces

The snipers of Marinejegerkommandoen and Forsvarets Spesialkommando are known to have used the AWM, chambered in either.300 Winchester Magnum or.338 Lapua Magnum, though by now they've probably been replaced by the new Barrett MRAD.

Russian Alpha Group

The snipers of the Russian Alpha Group counter-terrorism unit are using the AWM-F chambered in.338 Lapua Magnum with Zeiss 3–12×56 SSG series telescopic sights.

South Korean Special Forces

The 707th Special Mission BN from ROK Army and the Republic of Korea Naval Special Warfare Flotilla from ROK Navy use AWM series sniper rifles chambered in.338 Lapua Magnum outfitted with Schmidt & Bender 3-12×50 PM II telescopic sights. It has some telescopic sight attachment problems.

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