20mm SNIPER RIFLE--AWESOME !

The South African Denel-Mechem NTW-20mm Anti-Material Rifle qualifies quite admirably for the title of Worlds Most Powerful Sniper Rifle, and I don't think that this will be disputed.

This rifle fires 20mm cannon rounds as favored by helicopter gun-ships, fighter aircraft, warships and armored vehicles and anti-aircraft batteries. Since the 1930's up until recently the 20mm round has never been deemed suitable rifle ammunition by the military, as the rifle required to fire it would be fantastically heavy and way too cumbersome for any infantry soldier to carry. Plus the fact that the 20mm cartridge produces such excessive recoil that no-one would withstand the force.

In 1998 when Anthony Neophytou a South African arms designer, developed after much research, a relatively lightweight 20mm, recoil buffered rifle weighing 57 lbs that could now be carried and indeed fired by the average build infantryman.

Mechem a division of Denel a South African arms manufacturer were so impressed with the rifle when it was shown to them they bought all rights and patents of it, they then manufactured it themselves on a production line. The rifle was sold to the S A National Defense Force. It was also available for overseas purchase.

On the 19th June 2006 Denel-Mechem introduced and upgraded to the NTW20 whereas the barrel and firing assembly are interchangeable with the awesome 14.5mm caliber ammunition. The 20mm setup can be changed over to a 14.5mm setup in less than a minute making the NTW20 more versatile than ever before.

The NTW20 is designated an anti-material rifle as it is designed to destroy material rather than men, although it will destroy the latter very easily. The main purpose of the NTW20 is to totally destroy enemy ordnance, fuel silos or render inoperable such things as radar installations, parked helicopters, planes, vehicles and well, anything you can think of ! The 20mm cannon round will obliterate anything it blasts into, its a powerful bullet and blasts big holes into things !

The 20mm round is designed from WWII German Luftwaffe MG151 Fighter ammunition, the round can be of a high explosive, incendiary or high fragmentation type. The accuracy although adequate at 1500 meters is not as good as the M82 Barrett Light 50 or other .50 caliber rounds or the superior Russian super high velocity armor piercing 14.5mm round that exceeds an accurate distance of 2300 meters. The 20mm does make up for this though, by the devastation it delivers to any target via comparatively massive explosive capability even if its an " off target " hit.

The damage a 20mm round can inflict on a vehicle, be it fired from the NTW or even an F-16 fighter jet is graphically illustrated below...

..The car as pictured, was driving 3 miles behind a ' live fire ' training ground in Utah, USA by off duty Air Force personnel when it was accidentally hit several times by stray rounds fired from an F-16 Fighter Jet. Luckily no-one got seriously hurt !

The bullets were normal non-explosive 20mm rounds. Had the F-16 been firing incendiary or explosive ammunition, then the car would have been blown apart killing the occupants too.

The operation and design of the NTW20 is such that it can be carried in 2 separate parts each about 26lbs by 2 soldiers with ease and minimum effort. The NTW20 is a bolt action rifle, making it very strong in design and more accurate than a semi-auto loading weapon, the bolt actually locks to the barrel with no less than 6 locking lugs.

The recoil is efficiently compensated for by spring buffers and hydraulic dampers, whilst the entire barrel and firing assembly move backwards the frame remains static. Also a large vented double chamber muzzle brake is incorporated onto the end of the barrel, this is to arrest even more recoil. Therefore the blast and tremendous gases of the fired round is diverted sideways as the bullet exits the muzzle.

The NTW20 has a 3 round box magazine that is situated on the left hand side of the receiver. There are no open sights on this rifle, instead a telescopic sight set for 8X magnification is fitted.

WWII Hispano-Suiza 20mm guns that these Rifles took a lot of their design from weighed in at over 200 lbs and were far from portable...more often than not they were attached to a gun platform on a half track or within the turret of a tank as coaxial support fire or as an Anti-Aircraft gun

Here we see a 20mm gun utilized as an anti-aircraft piece

Today's high tech rifles are much lighter and infinitely more portable due to the use of advanced recoil suppression and more advanced metallurgy in the overall construction of the rifle.

These colossal 20mm rifles are not just made with the military in mind, in countries where legal ownership of various weapons are allowed, a 20mm rifle would impress just about anyone down at the local outdoor range. This is where The Anzio Iron Works Company in USA steps in with its single shot Anzio 20 at a mere $6,800 or you can have the 3 round box fed version at $11,900. These are prices as of Nov 2008.

The specification of this Anzio 20 rifle is quite impressive. At 6 foot 8in tall...it sports a 49inch match grade fluted barrel with heavy duty clam-shell brake recoil suppressor. Huge bolt handle for ease of operation.

Detachable 3 round magazine and a titanium firing pin. Quick change take down barrel, four large locking lugs, heavy duty bi-pod, Fully adjustable rear monopod and a Duracoat finish of any color.

It would be dangerous to fire this gun without the muzzle brake that is attached and serious injury could result from the recoil. The 20mm Bullet that's fired is accurate up to 1500 meters, yes, that's just the accuracy we are talking about but the bullet is lethal at well over 5000 meters (3½ miles) and more.

Available in 3 different flavors...the awesome 14.5mm - incredible .50cal or the Fantastic Anzio Vulcan 20mm x 50mm.

With Special thanks to Vietnam War Veteran "Andrew A.'Tony' Illes" for help regarding this page.