.416 Barrett

.416 Barrett
Type Rifle
Place of origin United States
Production history
Designer Chris Barrett and Pete Forras
Designed 2005
Specifications
Bullet diameter .416 in (10.6 mm)
Neck diameter .465 in (11.8 mm)
Shoulder diameter .732 in (18.6 mm)
Base diameter .797 in (20.2 mm)
Case length 3.27 in (83 mm)
Overall length 4.58 in (116 mm)
Case capacity 200 gr H2O (13 cm3)
Ballistic performance
Bullet weight/type Velocity Energy
398 gr (26 g) Solid Brass 3,150 ft/s (960 m/s) 8,767.4 ft·lbf (11,887.0 J)

The .416 Barrett or 10.6×83mm centerfire rifle cartridge is a proprietary bottlenecked centrefire rifle cartridge designed in 2005. It is an alternative to the .50 BMG in long-range high-power rifles. It was designed in response to a request for a medium/heavy rifle/cartridge combination that was issued from Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division in late 2004. Its metric size is 10.6×83mm.

Design

The Barrett .416 cartridge was designed by Chris Barrett,[1] son of Ronnie Barrett, with the help of Pete Forras. The bullet was designed using some NACA low-supersonic-drag equations to design the shape.

The cartridge was designed as an improvement to the .50 BMG cartridge, a common machine-gun and rifle cartridge. It is similar to a wildcatted .50 BMG case, shortened to 3.27 inches (83 mm) and necked down to accept a .416 caliber, 398-grain (25.8 g) projectile;[2][3] It is however of proprietary dimension.[4] Because the two cartridges, the .50 BMG and .416 Barrett, have identical base dimensions, all that is needed to convert a rifle to use one or the other cartridge is a relatively quick barrel swap.

For some time, the only commercially-available rifle in this chambering was the single-shot Barrett Model 99. In August 2009, Zel Custom Manufacturing released the Tactilite .416 Barrett upper for AR-style rifles.[5] Recently the Bohica Arms FAR-50 MK-II bolt-action, single-shot AR-15 upper receiver conversion became also available in .416 Barrett.[6][7] Noreen rifles makes a rifle in .416 Barrett and other large calibers. Barrett now also chambers its semi-automatic M82A1 in .416 Barrett. Desert Tactical Arms offers a Bull Pup Rifle in .416 Barrett.

Performance

Barrett 398 gr solid brass boattail spitzer bullet

The use of a lighter, narrower bullet results in a significantly higher muzzle velocity and superior ballistic performance to the .50 BMG, and the .416 Barrett is claimed to retain more energy than the .50 BMG at distances over 1,000 yards.[8] Barrett claims that this cartridge is capable of propelling a 398 gr solid brass boattail spitzer bullet out of the 32-inch (810 mm) barrel of a Model 99 single-shot rifle at 960 m/s (3150 ft/s), giving it a ballistic coefficient of .720, and keeping the projectile supersonic out to 1,737 metres (1,900 yards).

In a second season episode of Future Weapons the host (Richard Machowicz, a former Navy SEAL) engaged in a shooting competition with another sniper. Machowicz achieved a cold-bore first-shot "kill" at 2,500 yards (2,286 m) using a .416 Barrett Model 99 rifle while his competition, using a .50 BMG, required three shots to achieve a "kill".[9] The .416 Barrett Model 99 rifle Mr. Machowicz used during this competition was equipped with a Barrett Optical Ranging System (BORS) module attached to the telescopic sight.

.416 Barrett MSG bullet

Improvement beyond this standard while still using standard .416 Barrett brass seems possible, but the bullets have to be specially designed. An example of such a special .416 Barrett very low drag extreme range bullet is the German CNC manufactured mono-metal 27.5 gram (424 gr) .416 Barrett MSG (G1 BC ≈ 1.103 – this ballistic coefficient (BC) is calculated by its designer, Mr. Lutz Möller, and not proven by Doppler radar measurements). The solid brass .416 Barrett MSG bullet has an overall length of 56 mm (2.2 in) and derives its exceptional low drag from a radical LD Haack or Sears-Haack profile in the bullet's nose area. Rifles chambered for this cartridge bullet combination, with a cartridge overall length of 116 mm (4.6 in), have to be equipped with custom made 1,016 mm (40.0 in) long 279 mm (1:11 in) twist rate barrels to stabilize the .416 Barrett MSG projectiles and attain a projected 1032 m/s (3385 ft/s) muzzle velocity.[10]

Muzzle velocity

.416 Barrett ballistic comparison with other long-range sniper cartridges
Cartridge Bullet weight gr (g) Muzzle velocity ft/s (m/s) Muzzle energy ft·lbf (J)
.338 Lapua Magnum 250 (16.2) 2970 (905.2) 4893 (6634.0)[11]
.338 Lapua Magnum 300 (19.44) 2717 (828.1) 4919 (6669.2)[12]
.408 Chey Tac 305 (19.8) 3500 (1066.8) 8298 (11,250.5)[13]
.408 Chey Tac 419 (27.2) 3000 (914.4) 8376 (11,356.3)[13]
.416 Barrett 398 (25.8) 3150 (960.1) 8767 (11,887.0)
.50 BMG 700 (45) 2978 (907.7) 13,971 (18,942.1)

Legality

A few jurisdictions in the United States, most notably California as well as a few nations such as Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands and Poland restrict or prohibit civilian ownership of rifles chambered to use the .50 BMG cartridge, but not the .416 Barrett.

Gallery

See also

[14]

References

  1. ↑ Shooting Times
  2. ↑ cartridge picture
  3. ↑ Barrett FAQ
  4. ↑ "Barrett FAQ"
  5. ↑ Zel Custom Mfg. website
  6. ↑ Bohica Arms FAR-50 MK-II
  7. ↑ Bohica Arms website
  8. ↑ Airborne Combat Engineer's article on the .416 Barrett
  9. ↑ Future Weapons, 11 min. 22 sec. into episode.
  10. ↑ .416 Barrett MSG Loads by Lutz Möller (including images)
  11. ↑ Lapua product brochure .338 Lapua Magnum ammunition.
  12. ↑ VihtaVuori Reloading Guide, 2006.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Cartridges of the World 11th Edition, by Frank C. Barnes, edited by Stan Skinner, Gun Digest Books, 2006, ISBN 0-89689-297-2, pp. 265, 541.
  14. ↑ http://www.barrett.net/ammunition/416barrett

External links