Production of ammunition with polymer casings for the Horizon’s Lord rifle has been launched

The production of polymer-cased ammunition for the Ukrainian large-caliber sniper rifle Horizon’s Lord has been launched.

The rifle manufacturer’s press service reported this on its Facebook page.

This assault rifle is fired by a unique 12.7x114HL cartridge of Ukrainian design. The cartridge is a 12.7 mm (.50 BMG) bullet in a re-compressed 14.5×114 mm cartridge case from the KPVT machine gun. The length of the cartridge is 16 cm.

The large amount of gunpowder in the Soviet-style machine gun cartridge case allowed the heavy bullet to accelerate to high speed and transfer sufficient energy to it for a stable flight at a distance of over 2000 meters.

However, the mass production of powerful 12.7x114HL ammunition was severely limited due to the difficulty of obtaining brass casings in the 14.5×114 caliber in Ukraine. To solve this problem, the manufacturer engaged leading Ukrainian specialists working with high-strength polymers.

A series of research and development activities were successfully carried out to design and manufacture a new polymer case for the 12.7x114HL cartridge with the appropriate parameters.

It is noted that the cartridge case for the Horizon’s Lord rifle was designed as a disposable one. Still, most of the fired polymer cartridges were reloaded after a small compression of the bottom part.

“Now we can say with certainty: there will be a lot of 12.7x114HL ammunition!” a company representative stated.

These bullets can be used to destroy lightly armored vehicles and enemy firing points and to conduct counter-sniper operations.

The Volodar Obriyu rifle is available in single-shot and magazine configurations and weighs 15.7 kg or 17.0 kg, respectively. The rifle’s length, when deployed, is 1.82 meters, and with the stock folded, it is 1.5 meters.

World record

In November 2023, Ukrainian sniper Vyacheslav Kovalskyi and his partner set a new world sniper record with this rifle, eliminating a Russian invader at a distance of 3,800 meters.

The footage taken by the soldiers shows that it took the bullet about nine seconds to reach its target at this distance.