Anti-materiel rifle – Silah Report

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.

OSV-96 Anti-Materiel Rifle Seen in Syria (1) — The 12.7x108mm cartridge of the OSV-96 rifle

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.

OSV-96 Anti-Materiel Rifle Seen in Syria (5) — POS 12×50 (ПОС 12х50) scope

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.

OSV-96 Anti-Materiel Rifle Seen in Syria (3) — OSV-96 with folded barrel

OSV-96 Anti-Materiel Rifle Seen in Syria (2) — The silhouettes of OSV-96 (folded) and SVD rifles. Image by modernfirearms.net

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.

A Polish small arms magazine recently posted this to their social media page. It appears to be of a group of Iraqi militiamen from the Imam Ali Brigade, as is evidenced by the circular yellow patch with a Kalashnikov over an image of a green country profile of Iraq . The bearded militiaman is posing with a huge bolt action anti-materiel rifle. These DIY conversions had been seen multiple times during the Syrian conflict. Supposedly this gun uses either 14,5mm (from KPV or KPVT) or 23 mm (from ZU-23-2) barrel with an improvised receiver, bolt, trigger mechanism, furniture and bipod. You can also see a picatinny rail section mounted on top of the receiver for attaching a scope.

I guess they use the survived barrels from guns with damaged or destroyed mechanisms. Otherwise, it won’t be justified to take the barrel from a functional heavy machine gun or automatic cannon. Although depending on the situation it can be the case, too.

When making the new stock and forearm, the gunsmith definitely tried to make it look like an SVD/Al-Kadesiah.

Note also the other guys’ weapons: an AK, M4 Carbine and an M249 SAW LMG.

The Shi’a Imam Ali Brigade (Cited Source- The Observers)

The Iraqi Shiite militia known as the Imam Ali Brigades is accused of having committed multiple war crimes in the fight against the Islamic State organisation in Iraq, including summary executions and torture of captives. But its brutality isn’t the only thing fuelling the militia’s notoriety – it also has a well-oiled communications strategy.

In June 2014, Shiite leader Ayatollah Sistani made an appeal for mobilisation against the Islamic State organisation. Numerous Iraqi Shiite militias were formed after this announcement.

These new formations joined the four large, already-existing Shiite militias in Iraq: the Badr Brigade, founded in Iran in 1982; Saraya al-Salam (the “Peace Brigades”), which is directed by the radical Shiite religious cleric Moqtada al-Sadr; Asaib Ahl al-Haq (the “League of the Virtuous”); and, lastly, the Iraqi Ketaeb Hezbollah.

The Imam Ali Brigades have distinguished themselves by resorting to extreme violence. The militia, made up of combatants trained in Iran or Lebanon, has faced widening criticism since the release of a YouTube video showing men wearing the Imam Ali Brigades insignia burning a man.