Mexico will produce locally copy of US Barrett M82 sniper rifle

According to the Mexico News Daily website, the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) is planning to manufacture high-powered .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifles as the M82. Sedena wants a Mexican replica of the weapons made by the American Company Barrett Firearms Manufacturing in order to counter firepower of drug cartel members.

U.S. soldiers using Barrett M82 anti-materiel sniper rifle. (Picture source Pinterest)

The Mexican Secretariat of National Defense will launch the first step for this project with the design of a first prototype under a program of US $1.3 million that includes research and development.

According to the Sedena, this new weapons will be used by Mexican military forces deployed to the northern states of Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Tamaulipas, that are involved in the fight against the drug cartels.

The Barrett M82, standardized by the U.S. military as the M107, is a recoil-operated, semi-automatic anti-materiel sniper system developed by the American Barrett Firearms Manufacturing company. Despite its designation as an anti-materiel rifle, it is used by some armed forces as an anti-personnel system.

The M82 Barrett is chambered in .50 caliber (12.7x99mm). This ammunition was originally developed for and used in Browning M2 heavy machine gun. It has an effective firing range of 1,000 m.