Lobaev sniper rifle (svl and svlk-14s), technical characteristics of the weapon, modifications svlk-14s, dvl-10, tsvl-8 and 10, dxl-3 and ovl

Ultra-long-range "Twilight"

On April 16, the website of the weapons company Lobaev Arms reported tests of a new modification of the long-range high-precision rifle SVLK-14S with an attempt to set a world record for firing range. The tests were carried out on April 9 in field conditions on the border of the Kaluga and Tula regions. The founder of the company, sniper Vyacheslav Lobaev, set himself the ambitious goal of surpassing the existing world record for precision shooting range (2475 m) - the targets were installed at a distance of 3400 m from the shooter (at this distance the target is almost invisible to the naked eye).

Vyacheslav Lobaev at the position of valcomtech.net

The shooting was carried out from a rifle with a shortened barrel (780 mm), the design of which had some changes made (in particular, the tire and firing pin of the weapon were made of titanium). In addition, special cartridges with the new D30 bullet developed by the company were created for ultra-long-range shooting. All this made it possible to achieve almost the same initial bullet speed as when fired from a weapon with a 900 mm long barrel. When shooting, we used the IOR Valdada 5.8-40x optical device, which experts describe as a high-quality sight.

SVLK rifle lobaevarms.ru

After making numerous adjustments for range and weather conditions, five shots were fired. After each of them, specialists entered additional data into the sight settings, taking into account messages about the coordinates of the point of impact of each bullet relative to the target. At a distance the length of 32 football fields, the sniper needed the help of spotters positioned in safe shelters near the target and reporting the results of each shot. With the last shot, the shooter hit the target - the bullet entered the shield about a meter below the center of the target, which means setting a new record for sniper shooting range. Vyacheslav Lobaev told journalists present at the shooting that in the near future he intends to set another shooting range record - 3500 m.

SVLK-14S is a unique weapon that has no analogues in the world. The design of the rifle was developed personally by Vyacheslav Lobaev and is produced by his company as a piece on high-precision machines. The model bears the unofficial name “Twilight”, but the developer prefers another name option – “Mortal Memory”. The rifle weighs almost 10 kg and has a .408 Cheyenne Tactical caliber, with a bullet diameter of 10.3 x 77 mm and a cartridge length of almost 114 mm. The mass of a bullet for a given caliber usually ranges from 25 to 32 g. To shoot at a record distance, Lobaev slightly changed the shape of the bullet, making it more streamlined. Thus, the weight of the bullet that hit the target was 28 g.

During its existence (since 2005), Lobaev Arms has designed six models of rifles, including the SVLK-14S, which is a modification of the basic model of the SVL sniper rifle, created in 2009. Weapons produced by Lobaev Arms have repeatedly helped set world records in sniper shooting competitions in the benchrest discipline, where the accuracy with which weapon parts are made is especially important for effective shooting. The founders and team of the company profess a perfectionist approach to organizing technological processes, striving to achieve maximum accuracy when processing parts. According to Vyacheslav Lobaev, the current level of weapons production in the world makes it possible to hit targets at a distance of over two kilometers only “by luck.” According to Lobaev, he sees the mission of his company as creating high-precision weapons for which targeted shooting from such distances would be the norm.

The official world shooting range record so far is a shot by British Army soldier Craig Harrison, made from an L115A3 Long Range Rifle sniper rifle in 2009 in Afghanistan (during one of the combat clashes he managed to hit a target from a distance of 2475 meters). If Vyacheslav Lobaev’s shot from the SVLK-14S rifle is registered, then the book of world records will be replenished with a new sniper achievement.

The quality level is many times higher than in the USA

— How do you assess the prospects for creating new types of high-precision long-range small arms, including those with remote control?

— For further development, we need orders so as not to fight with the equipment of the last war. We could and should be at the forefront of moving into the future. The recent sabotage operation against an Iranian nuclear physicist showed the highest level of professional execution: a weapon controlled from out of nowhere...

Already five years ago we could make weapons for special operations at a higher level than those supposedly used by American or Israeli intelligence agencies.

— When you started your production, what was your goal?

— Make the longest-range weapon in the world. Before us, the American companies Barrett and CheyTac were considered leaders in terms of range. But if we take the accuracy, then for the same Barrett it is 2 arc minutes, and for us it is 0.3-0.4. CheyTac, the ancestor of the cartridge, has 1.5 minutes. That is, ours is many times better. This affects the range. The greater the dispersion, the shorter the range. In terms of this factor, we have long been several hundred meters superior to any foreign competitor.

CheyTac M200 "Intervention" - sniper rifle. Uses special Wildcat sniper cartridges: .408 CheyTac and .375 CheyTac.

The level of our quality and characteristics is incomparable to either American or European weapons. In addition, we were able to transfer the production of high-precision products to a serial basis. And this is what we are most proud of. Neither Mannlicher, nor Sako, nor Accuracy International, nor others can produce such barrels as massively as our company in Russia.

I would also like to note that we have virtually no defects in the production of barrels. Our passport parameter is 0.3-0.4 arc minutes, depending on the caliber. And we are the only manufacturer of accuracy tests in groups of 5 shots. Such passport indicators for several groups of 5 shots seriously exceed the capabilities of competitors.

In general, the larger the caliber, the more difficult it is to shoot. Many manufacturers do not understand at all how to start producing such barrels.

Anyone who tries to get into this topic will easily understand that a lot of complex know-how is required, since this is an extremely high-tech technology. And, frankly speaking, the niche in the market is very narrow: sniper weapons are a real master's tool that does not require large quantities.

Sniper rifle SVLK-14S “Twilight”, which hits the target at 4 km

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Rifle DXL-3

The DXL-3 high-precision rifle is a kind of transitional link between the TSVL and SVLK-14S family. Its main feature is the original aluminum stock, where all the units are mounted. For ease of use, the rifle is equipped with a folding stock, which is used on products of the TSVL family.

Characteristics of DXL-3:

Trunk lengths of 740 or 680 mm are used. The total length in the basic configuration is 1350 mm or 1076 mm with the stock folded.
Total weight - 7.2 kg.
Ammunition is supplied from a detachable box-type magazine with 5 rounds.
The maximum effective range is 1600 m.
The initial bullet speed is 900 m/s.
Accuracy - 0.35 MOA.

At the customer's request, the rifle can be equipped with a bolt group and barrel chambered for .300 Winchester Magnum and .338 Lapua Magnum.

Russian spare parts for the Russian army

Vladislav Lobaev directly states that his specially prepared SVLK-14S will fire with the longest range and the best accuracy among all world analogues. If in the case of the Americans, the “warm-up” for sniper shooting begins at 500 meters, then in the case of the Lobaev rifle, we begin to “warm up” from a distance of 2000 meters. Watching the target through the rangefinder visor, you can observe how the chest area of the rubber growth target is pierced by a group of shots. A very good indicator for “warming up”. Regarding what the Russian record-breaking rifle is made of, Vladislav Lobaev himself says simply:

We are currently working on the production of our own sniper ammunition in .408 caliber. We have already mastered a good bullet, it’s up to the cartridge case. I think we will do this too in the near future

“
Vladislav
.

Regarding what the rifle is aimed at, Vladislav Lobaev says unequivocally:

To serve the state. My product is, first of all, a sword to protect my country, my Motherland. And the first place where I would like to see the best weapons in the world is in Russia. When special forces units in the army, and in some other structure, are armed with such a rifle, then I will know that my developments are being used successfully. In addition to the SVLK-14S , which we are preparing to set a record, we have projects that will shoot even further. I can’t give all the information yet, but the complex that we are developing will shoot at three and five thousand meters, respectively. These distances are not for sport and not for records, but for the confident work of a sniper within specific dimensions. In conditions where it is not possible to get closer, such a distance will protect the sniper and determine the success of the work

Production of SVLK-14S

In the small Russian town of Tarusa on the banks of the Oka, two hours drive from Moscow, in a small one-story building there is an amazing. Even if she had put into production the production of those very Tsar Cannons, it would not have become more amazing. The Tsar Cannon is known among precision shooting professionals for its rifles. The most accurate in Europe. No more, no less.

“If my rifle shoots in a competition, then the rest fight for second place,” says Lobaev

Among people who can easily hit, let’s say, a soccer ball from a distance of a kilometer, Vladislav Lobaev is a famous person. An almost permanent judge of most long-distance shooting competitions, the participants of which are prohibited from being photographed, he himself at first gives the impression of being a person “from the structures”. Although, as they say, he was “not a member” of either the army or other law enforcement agencies.

Nevertheless, he talks sparingly about his past: he became interested in long-distance shooting - benchrest, and when he started shooting at the world championships, he ran into problems with equipment. He went to America, completed an internship with Speedy Gonzalez and Clay Spencer, returned to Russia, founded, received a license from the Federal Agency for Industry to produce rifled weapons, bought several million dollars worth of high-precision equipment in America and now makes the best rifles in Europe. It's simple. I would just like to note that not every hobby leads to the world championships in precision shooting. It is no easier to learn how to make rifles from Speedy Gonzalez (this is not a cartoon racer and the hero of a popular song) or from Clay Spencer than it is to learn machine guns from, say, Mikhail Kalashnikov.

No one except Vladislav managed to obtain a private license in Russia, nor, indeed, did they manage to privately import a weapons factory into the country, albeit a small one.

Well, when asked where he could talk to the owners of his rifles, Lobaev immediately sent him to the Presidential Security Service . And, what’s even more incredible, when the Service heard Lobaev’s name, they did not refuse to comment. In general, the biography of Vladislav raises more questions than the biography of, say, Stirlitz. But the article is not about him, but about his rifles. He can talk about them for hours.

Working with material

Theoretically, there are only two models of Tsar Cannon rifles - OVL (Lobaev's hunting/experimental rifle) and SVL (Lobaev's sniper/special rifle). Practically - an uncountable number, since Lobaev makes rifles to order. Everything can be discussed: barrel length, caliber, bolt group, stock, rifling pitch, compensator, muzzle brake, etc. You can simply bring a bullet, and they will make you a rifle specifically for this bullet. Vladislav himself has not deciphered abbreviations for a long time. It’s just that if “OVL” is written on the barrel, it means the customer is a private person. If “SVL” means special structures.

“The Tsar Cannon” only works with stainless steels, or more precisely with grades 416R and 416T, if that tells you anything. Other stainless steels are not actually used for the production of barrels. “We work only with stainless steels, and not because we can’t work with any other,” says Lobaev. — It’s just that stainless steel has the necessary corrosion and wear resistance. From the point of view of service life and preservation of performance characteristics, it is an ideal material today.” What are the difficulties of working with stainless steel? This is a high alloy steel, it is harder than traditional barrel steels and requires more wear-resistant tools.

The steel is usually American or German. In principle, it would be possible to use domestic steel - Zlatoust, for example, undertook to brew such, but in very large volumes, which the Tsar Cannon was simply unable to master. It is more profitable to import.

By the way, if you see a Russian stainless steel barrel, then it can only be the Tsar Cannon - no other company makes barrels from this metal. And in all of Europe there are only two more companies: the German Lothar Walther and the Scottish Border Barrels. All other European barrel manufacturers make maximum barrels from medium-alloy chromium-molybdenum steel.

Blanks

The steel comes in the form of six-meter rods, which are cut into the required pieces. Initially, the workpieces are quite uneven, so they are ordered with an allowance for grooving and turned on a lathe to an ideal cylinder of the required diameter. The maximum length of barrels that the Tsar Cannon can drill on its equipment is 95 cm. All production equipment is American, which can be explained simply: in the USA there are several hundred (!) manufacturers of high-precision barrels and rifles, and this industry is developed like nowhere else in the world world. In addition, Vladislav learned the art of making such rifles in America.

After the blanks are turned to the required diameter, they are inserted into a dual-spindle drilling machine, which can process a pair of barrels at the same time. A special tool is used - deep drills. The Tsar Cannon has almost the entire range of calibers: .22, .25, .270, .234 (6 mm), 7 mm, 6.5 mm, .30 (7.62 mm), .338 (8, 6 mm) and .408 (10.3 mm). The 408 caliber is Lobaev’s pride. “We are the only ones in Europe who do it. This is not to go after elephants, but for shooting at 2-3 km,” adds Vladislav.

The main problem in this operation is the tool moving away from the drilling axis. They fight it by choosing the correct processing mode (feed rate and revolutions) and - most importantly - by correct sharpening of the drill. This is generally a key operation - if the sharpener gets sick, production can stop.

One drill without re-sharpening, depending on the steel grade, can withstand from 10 to 50 barrels. A set of a pair of drills costs $1500-2000, and with proper care they last almost forever. Since Soviet times, there have been stories that the best trunks are the first from a batch drilled with one drill. This is nonsense, explains Vladislav Lobaev, since drilling, although important, is a preliminary and not a finishing treatment of the barrel bore.

After drilling, the barrel is marked. For example, 338 is the caliber, then 323 is the diameter of the drill, 330 is the diameter of the reamer, 3415 is the mandrel, 12 is the pitch and 75 is the technological batch number, by which the company can track the fate of a particular barrel. For example, if a certain barrel shoots record-breakingly well and reacts minimally to the wind, using the markings you can restore the technology and make a “twin”. From one batch (1.5-2 tons) of steel, 240-320 barrels are produced.

Additional drilling

Reaming - the next, one of the most critical operations - forms the final diameter of the trunk along the fields. It is produced on a precision lathe with a tool called a reamer. We can say that this is precision drilling of the barrel. When reaming, the alignment of the barrel is not so critical, since the tool goes along an already drilled channel. By the way, unlike drills, the reamers on the Tsar Cannon are made by themselves, which gives a wide scope for maneuver.

But that's not all. The next operation is honing. An abrasive hone is made under each barrel, which is pulled through the channel, performing rough polishing.

Should you chop it?

The process of applying rifling is called burnishing. The machine is a horizontal press with a copier, which sets the pitch of the rifling. To put it simply, the machine, rotating smoothly, pulls a carbide mandrel of very high hardness (70-80 units on the Rockwell hardness scale; barrel steel, for example, has a hardness of 32-34 units) with protruding rifling through the bore. This is a one-time operation that produces rifling using pressure in literally ten seconds. Before pulling the mandrel, a special lubricating fluid is applied to the internal bore of the barrel to reduce friction, the composition of which is a professional secret of each barrel manufacturer and is kept secret.

A separate mandrel is required for each caliber and pitch (plus or minus an inch). For example, for 30 gauge there is a mandrel with a pitch of 12 inches. This means that the machine can make cuts in increments of 11 to 13 inches.

Dorn is the most expensive item among all gunsmith's tools and, depending on the caliber, costs from $1000 to 3000. Dorn is a long-liver. If you care for it properly (and after each pass the mandrel is re-polished to remove possible micro-burrs), then it can last for several thousand barrels.

The advantage of this rifling technology is that it creates surface hardening of the barrel bore, which in turn has a beneficial effect on the service life and resistance to temperature influences. The downside is the inevitability of internal tensions that have to be relieved. If you don’t know how to relieve stress, then the formation of rifling using the burnishing method is a road to nowhere, says Lobaev. This is know-how.

In words, everything is very simple - heating to a certain temperature, and then cooling. Temperature conditions are selected individually for different steel grades. If we let go too much, we will lose survivability and the barrel will become more flexible. If you keep it very hard, you may not release the tension, and the barrel will bend after several shots under the influence of temperatures, reminiscent of barrels made using rotary forging technology.

Cutting in the Tsar Cannon is the fastest process - only ten seconds. Drilling, for example, takes an hour or twenty hours, and deployment takes about thirty minutes.

Into the furnace!

After cutting, the almost finished barrels are mounted vertically and sent to a vacuum oven. The principle of tempering is simple - first, the barrels are smoothly heated to a certain temperature, maintained at it, and then cooled smoothly, and all this happens in a vacuum. If you do the same thing in air, it will no longer be tempering, but hardening of the metal. And Lobaev, let us remind you, makes not checkers, but rifles.

Graters

The next operation is grinding the barrel. For it, a lead lap is smelted in the shape of a corresponding mandrel, a special abrasive composition is applied to it, which the craftsmen prepare themselves, and each barrel is polished by hand. All. This is the most final, finishing polish. The operation, by the way, is extremely critical for the quality of the barrel, allowing you to obtain different geometries - for example, barrel cones or bells. Why cones and bells are needed is a topic for the next article.

Bolt groups

The two main components in precision shooting are the bullet and the barrel. Everything else in the rifle should not degrade its qualities, says Lobaev. For example, a shutter. “My shutter doesn’t make things worse. This is my pride - our new development, our own bolt group. In particular, it is now found on rifles adopted by one of the domestic security forces. Although we do everything - we have a full production cycle. We can custom make any bolt group in the world by simply repeating it.” The new bolt group was designed to accept .408 and .338 caliber cartridges and other smaller caliber magnums.

Speedy Gonzalez

Wikipedia knows only one Speedy Gonzalez - a Warner Brothers cartoon character. In the shooting world, Speedy Gonzalez is primarily a legendary American gunsmith , known for his high-precision barrels and especially stocks. How Lobaev managed to get his blessing, only he himself knows, but the “Tsar Cannon” installs its barrels in stocks designed by Speedy Gonzalez himself. There are simply no better recommendations in the world. Although the Tsar Cannon makes them itself.

“We used to make stocks from three materials: fiberglass, carbon fiber and Kevlar carbon,” Vladislav shows a huge collection of multi-colored stocks on the wall of the workshop, “but now we have settled only on carbon fiber and Kevlar carbon. In the world, besides us, only one other company from the USA makes a benchrest stock made of carbon fiber, and Kevlar carbon, which is even stronger, is made only by us; no one wants to mess with it: it cuts and mills poorly.” Lobaev has something to be proud of - the European Championship was won on his boxes.

Tarusa

Rifles from Lobaev are not a cheap pleasure, although there is no alternative. “If our rifle shoots in a competition, then everyone else is fighting for second place,” Vladislav categorically snaps. “Since we started working, not a single major competition in either sniping or benchrest in Russia has been won with a rifle other than ours.” Indeed, if we take 2008, in the European Benchrest Championship, two gold medals in the overall standings and in the “heavy varmint” class were won by Novosibirsk resident Igor Zhukov using a Lobaev rifle.

Prices for OVL in medium calibers 6.5 mm - .308 start from 350,000 rubles, and the most expensive and long-range in 408 caliber will cost no less than 520,000 rubles. However, even if you have that kind of money and desire, you should not rush to Tarusa - until the end of the year, Lobaev’s company does not accept orders from individuals, since it is overwhelmed with orders from special forces. Whatever one may say, ultra-long-range shooting is a purely applied sport, intended for testing technologies that are later used by military and police structures. In the USA it’s the same - benchrest legends mainly make weapons not for competitions, but for law enforcement agencies.

The day is coming to an end, it's time to get ready to head back to Moscow. Vladislav and I are standing on the porch of his small factory near Tarusa. The weather is clear, the provincial setting is somehow relaxing and peaceful. “Why Tarusa? - Lobaev asks again. “It’s just that I have a dacha here.” And slyly squints at the sun.

Russian spare parts for the Russian army

“
Vladislav
.

Regarding what the rifle is aimed at, Vladislav Lobaev says unequivocally:

Ferrari in the world of rifles

Regarding the shooting record above three thousand meters, which the entire Lobaev Arms team is now preparing to set, it is difficult to say directly. An analogy with Ferrari cars involuntarily arises in your head - powerful, fast, expensive and insanely fast piece products that instill in owners the confidence that at any speed and any maneuver they have a reserve of power. For a long time, the philosophy of the Ferrari company has been the slogan: “Do the best, or not do it at all.” The SVLK-14S rifle is the Ferrari of the world of high-precision sniper systems. It is not a mass-produced product, but it gives the shooter a performance that no other rifle in the world can provide.

SVLK

— a kind of standard of reliability, a guarantor of the task assigned to the rifle.
The upcoming record for shooting at a distance of more than three kilometers, which the Lobaev Arms team is going to set with the help of this rifle, opens up new horizons for sniping and its use in combat, which will no doubt be appreciated in the high offices of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Delight, joy, pride, strength, confidence are the only feelings that are felt when firing from the SVLK-14S
is completed and the target is hit.