Barrett M82A1 heavy sniper / anti-material rifle :

    In 1981 a 26-year old American entrepreneur named Ronnie Barrett designed a semi-automatic .50 calibre rifle, when the only thing available was a machine gun that was too complex to own and too costly to shoot. Working in his garage, he built a rifle based on the recoiling-barrel Browning short recoil cycle.

    The Barrett M82A1 ' Light Fifty ' was the first large caliber sniper rifle, and after a short time it gained worldwide popularity. First, no one wanted to accept the necessity of such a large caliber, but after Barret explained that destorying a million dollar jet/helicopter/vehicle with a one dollar cartridge really worth its price, the idea spreaded. Now a lot of country uses it. Thanks to its unique desing and operation, it easily fires the .50 BMG (12.7x99mm) ammo, and yet claims to have the lowest recoil force of any comparable rifle. The recoiling barrel and bolt
act against effective spring and buffer assemblies, this turns the sharp, sudden recoil to a longer-acting but lower recoil force. To reduce it more, it is fitted with dual chamber muzzle brake. This brake redirects the high velocity gun gas, and this lower recoil by almost 70 percent. So, firing this gun causes only as much recoil as a 12-gauge shotgun. It is equipped with an adjustable bipod too.
Though the magazine is 10 rounds, some snipers prefer to load only 8 cartridge into the clip. Why ? Only because the fully loaded clip likes to jam sometimes.

Barrett M82A1 NG in Norwegian service (Norwegian Home Guards)
Thanks to Thor Christoffersen for the picture

There is only one disadvantage in snipers' opinion. Factory claims that it shoot 1 MOA with match ammo, but there is no match ammo, and because of too many moving parts, its not as accurate as 1MOA. Nevertheless as a long range hard target interdiction rifle is very good.

In service : USA, Australia, Israel, Norway. United Kingdom, Sweden

Just an interesting fact : In Israel, ALL the ' Light Fifty' instructors are women.

! See a comparative table ...GEPARD vs Barrett M82A1 !

Attention !! Those who are interested in only sniper weapons, turn back now :) But those, who want to know, how can a true .50 BMG sniper rifle be turned to a Personal Defense Weapon, or to even a handgun, just check out the following. I promise, it worths it. I have never seen such a weird thing before.....

Well, maybe these pics are only some kind of a joke, because the site where I have found them contained some weird, and when I say it I do mean REALLY WEIRD weapons. And I can only imagine what a strong wrist is needed to shot a 12.7 x 99 mm handgun...but even it is not real, not a bad idea, eh? :)