According to several Russian sources, the OSV-96 anti-materiel rifle was spotted again in Syria (see the above image). It is used by the special forces of the Syrian army. It’s been spotted in Syria starting from the very beginning of the Syrian war. Back in 2012, The Firearm Blog reported about this rifle in Syria.
The scope on the rifle is most likely a Russian POS 12×50 (ПОС 12х50). This scope is frequently seen with the OSV-96 rifles.
In 2012, the rifle was also seen in the hands of forces fighting the Syrian army (see the video below).
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OSV-96 is designed and manufactured by a Russian arms company called TsKIB SOO. It is a magazine fed semi-auto anti-materiel rifle chambered in 12.7x108mm. It has a huge one-meter barrel (39.4″). However, its barrel folds 180 degrees to the right side of the rifle making its folded length comparable in size with the SVD rifle.
Here is also a video telling about this rifle.
And an animation of the rifle’s action by Noble Empire.
You can download the user manuals (in Russian) of the OSV-96 rifle and POS 12×50 scope by clicking HERE and HERE respectively.
A website called Warbook.info has also two posters (large jpg files) of this rifle, which you can download by clicking here and here.
