SHOT SHOW 2012 – CREATING THROUGH LIFE SOLUTIONS
By Julian Nettlefold
One of the key features of the 2012 Shot Show was the growing number of vendors offering a ‘One Stop Shop’ for military weapons and sniper systems in particular. Dave Heely MBE of Praetorian, although not exhibiting at the show, told the Editor that Praetorian is now offering the capability to supply the gun, ammunition, day and night sight, ancillaries, support and training in one sniper package. Praetorian has been successful in this endeavour in the Middle East and Asia and is now looking at a new customer in the Caribbean.
“Gone are the days when a Company just supplies the required gun and the customer chooses the sights and ancillaries separately. This led to customers blaming parts of the system for lack of performance when in fact it was lack of knowledge on the part of the customer to build a system to meet the requirements. The sight vendor would blame the gun manufacturer, the gun vendor the ammunition and the ammunition vendor the Training Package!” Heeley said. “Gun technology has advanced to such an extent that there is very little to choose between systems’ performance, it is in the package where the customer wins. We aim to offer a complete system which not only offers the sighting system fully mounted and zeroed but also to fully train the operative in shooting and maintenance.”
The Editor also discussed this aspect with Peter Hobson, Managing Director of the Dolphin Gun Company in the UK. “The growth in accuracy of sniper rifles in the 90s came from such individuals as Malcolm Cooper of Accuracy International who used his expertise in building ‘F’ Class rifles to build the best sniper rifles in the world. At Dolphin we aim to provide our customers not only with the best rifle but also the best ‘system of systems’ that includes rifle, ammunition, sighting and support. The quality of ammunition is often overlooked as a ‘battle winner,’ the Taleban has outwitted NATO by using NATO Standard 7.62 ammunition tweaked by using more powder combined with the heat of the desert to defeat the existing NATO STANAGS. We use our dedicated indoor range complete with cameras and marking systems to provide our customers with the best system available. We also test our armour products to what is being shot at by the enemy not that as decided by the STANAG. Sadly you only find flaws in armour when someone dies”
Lewis Machine Tool and FLIR MUNS
The UK MoD broke with tradition two years ago when it purchased the Lewis Machine Tool Sharpshooter along with the FLIR MUNS sight as a system. In former requirements one would have expected the rifle to be purchased and the sight, usually Qioptiq’s, to be integrated. In this instance the rifle and the sight were procured together. The MoD has reportedly purchased more than 2500 systems which are in service in Afghanistan, in different roles, one being to support the sniper teams using the Accuracy International gun.
The MilSight S135 MUNS™ (Magnum Universal Night Sight™) AN/PVS-27 is a high-resolution clip-on night vision weapon sight that mounts on any MIL-STD-1913 rail interface forward of an existing scope, adding night vision capabilities to daytime target acquisition platforms. The MUNS™ utilizes a full MIL-SPEC Gen 3 (autogated pinnacle) image intensifier tube, an extremely fast f/1.0 catadioptric lens for a brighter and sharper image in starlight, and patented permanent boresight alignment technology. The MUNS™ gathers twice as much light as the AN/PVS-22 Universal Night Sight™ (UNS™) and can be used against targets at 1.5 times the range of the UNS™.
The unit is installed, operated, and removed without tools and without affecting boresight (permanent boresight alignment). The unit can be mounted on a spotting scope for long range reconnaissance, hand-held as a Night Observation Device (NOD), or used in other night-time operations requiring night vision capabilities. Effective on all wea