Russia’s 12.7mm OSV-96 heavy sniper rifle will be upgraded to receive a new cartridge and become a precision weapon, a representative of the Shipunov Instrument-Making Design Bureau told TASS.

Russian 12.7mm OSV-96 heavy sniper rifle (Credit: Vitaly Kuzmin)

The Shipunov Instrument-Making Design Bureau is the developer of the rifle.

Today, the rifle is less accurate than other weapons developed by the Shipunov Instrument-Making Design Bureau, in particular, the MTs-116M sniper rifle.

"Work is currently in progress to upgrade the OSV-96 heavy sniper rifle to increase its fire accuracy and density. R&D work is under way and then development work and tests will follow," the representative said.

"We expect the upgrade of the rifle to be completed in 2020," the design bureau’s representative said.

During the upgrade, the OSV-96 is planned to get a new sniper cartridge.

The OSV-96 is a Russian-made large-caliber sniper rifle designed to hit enemy manpower and military hardware at long range.

The rifle is chambered for the 12.7x107mm machinegun and sniper cartridges. According to the producer, it has a firing range of 1,800 meters. The OSV-96 is fed by magazines of five rounds. The rifle is operational with the Defense Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service.

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