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35-469: Once established as United States Military Standard , its use expanded to also attaching other accessories, such as: iron sights , tactical lights , laser aiming modules , night vision devices , reflex sights , holographic sights , foregrips , bipods , slings and bayonets . An updated version of the rail is adopted as a NATO standard as the STANAG 4694 NATO Accessory Rail . Attempts to standardize

70-572: A counter- VBIED weapon system, due to their greater ability to penetrate uparmored VBIED threats that standard rifle calibers used by designated marksmen (typically 7.62×54mmR and 7.62×51mm) are not able to reliably stop. Despite having been designed to be used against equipment, anti-materiel rifles have also been used for killing soldiers from distances that are beyond the effective range of regular rifle-caliber cartridges. Anti-materiel rifles can also penetrate most obstacles and building materials, making them viable for engaging targets behind cover that

105-436: A great variety of accessories and attachments are now available and the rails are no longer confined to the rear upper surface ( receiver ) of long arms but are either fitted to or machine milled into the upper, side or lower surfaces of all manner of weapons from crossbows to pistols and long arms up to and including anti-materiel rifles . Because of their many uses, 1913 rails and accessories have replaced iron sights in

140-602: A likelihood of supplying an enemy if overrun. A complete list of standards was maintained as Department of Defense Index of Specifications and Standards, up until 1993. Anti-materiel rifle An anti-materiel rifle ( AMR ) is a rifle designed for use against military equipment, structures, and other hardware ( materiel ) targets. Anti-materiel rifles are chambered in significantly larger calibers than conventional rifles and are employed to eliminate equipment such as engines and unarmored or lightly armored targets. Although not originally designed for use against human targets,

175-706: A product", while military standards "detail the processes and materials to be used to make the product." Military handbooks, on the other hand, are primarily sources of compiled information and/or guidance. The GAO acknowledges, however, that the terms are often used interchangeably. Official definitions are provided by DoD 4120.24, Defense Standardization Program (DSP) Procedures, November 2014, USD (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics): For purposes of this article, "military standards" will include standards, specifications and handbooks. There are also standard names with different letters behind ′MIL-′ like MIL-C-5040H , MIL-E-7016F or MIL-S-901 . The DOD has standards about

210-459: A small hull leak threatens the whole vessel). If an enemy discovers a drawback in a standardized system, the system's uniformity leaves it vulnerable to complete incapacitation via what might otherwise have been a limited compromise. Also, if standardization promotes use by allies, it may also ease an enemy's task of using materiel that is lost as a prize of war . However, this threat is somewhat academic, as even poorly standardized materiel presents

245-562: Is standardized, what is at their discretion, and the details of the standards). In the late 18th century and throughout the 19th, the American and French militaries were early adopters and longtime developmental sponsors and advocates of interchangeability and standardization. By World War II (1939–1945), virtually all national militaries and trans-national alliances of the same ( Allied Forces , Axis powers ) were busy standardizing and cataloguing. The U.S. AN- cataloguing system (Army-Navy) and

280-639: Is used to help achieve standardization objectives by the U.S. Department of Defense . Standardization is beneficial in achieving interoperability , ensuring products meet certain requirements, commonality, reliability , total cost of ownership , compatibility with logistics systems, and similar defense-related objectives. Defense standards are also used by other non-defense government organizations, technical organizations, and industry. This article discusses definitions, history, and usage of defense standards. Related documents, such as defense handbooks and defense specifications , are also addressed. Although

315-641: Is usually hard enough to stop rifle-caliber cartridges. In general, anti-materiel rifles are chambered for 12.7×99 mm NATO (.50 BMG) , 12.7×108 mm Russian , 14.5×114 mm Russian , and 20 mm cartridges. According to the US Army , the range of a standard sniper rifle firing a 7.62×51mm NATO round is a distance of about 2,600 feet (800 m) while the Barrett's effective range is 3,300 feet (1,000 m) against personnel targets, and 6,600 feet (2,000 m) against materiel targets. The offensive use of anti-materiel rifles

350-559: The Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey . Picatinny Arsenal works as a contracting office for small arms design (they contracted engineers to work on the M4). Picatinny Arsenal requested Swan's help in developing the rail, but did not draft blueprints or request paperwork for a patent. That credit goes to ARMS Inc's Richard Swanson, who conducted Research and Development and achieved a patent for

385-695: The Weaver rail designs date back to the early 1980s from work by the A.R.M.S. company and Richard Swanson. Specifications for the M16A2E4 rifle and the M4E1 carbine received type classification generic in December 1994. These were the M16A2 and the M4 modified with new upper receivers where rails replaced hand guards. The MIL-STD-1913 rail is at times called the 'Picatinny Rail', in reference to

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420-725: The Wz. 35 anti-tank rifle , around 800 of which were captured by Germans and put into service as Panzerbüchse 35(p). The PTRD-41 and PTRS-41 anti-tank rifles were used by the Soviets on the Eastern Front . Germany used the Panzerbüchse 39 , while Japan used the Type 97 automatic cannon , though the latter became obsolete by 1942. Notably, the United States did not develop or field any anti-tank rifles during

455-714: The British Defence Standards (DEF-STAN) provide examples. For example, due to differences in dimensional tolerances, in World War II American screws , bolts , and nuts did not fit British equipment properly and were not fully interchangeable. Defense standards provide many benefits, such as minimizing the number of types of ammunition, ensuring compatibility of tools, and ensuring quality during production of military equipment. This results, for example, in ammunition and food cases that can be opened without tools; vehicle subsystems that can be quickly swapped into

490-581: The DOD issued a new memorandum, which eliminated the requirement to obtain a waiver in order to use military specifications or standards. The 2005 memo did not reinstate any canceled military specifications or standards. According to a 2003 issue of Gateway , published by the Human Systems Information Analysis Center, the number of defense standards and specifications have been reduced from 45,500 to 28,300. However, other sources noted that

525-464: The MIL-STD-1913 rail and the similar Weaver rail are the size and shapes of the slots. Whereas the earlier Weaver rail is modified from a low, wide dovetail rail and has rounded slots, the 1913 rail has a more pronounced angular section and square-bottomed slots. This means that an accessory designed for a Weaver rail will fit onto a MIL-STD-1913 rail whereas the opposite might not be possible (unless

560-431: The U.S. during the 1980s and early 1990s, it was argued that the large number of standards, nearly 30,000 by 1990, imposed unnecessary restrictions, increased cost to contractors (and hence the DOD, since the costs in the end pass along to the customer), and impeded the incorporation of the latest technology. Responding to increasing criticism, Secretary of Defense William J. Perry issued a memorandum in 1994 that prohibited

595-514: The U.S. to Swedish forces. The M82 rifle first saw action in the early 1990s, during the Gulf War . The U.S. Marine Corps initially purchased around 125 M82 rifles; orders from the Army and Air Force followed. These weapons were used with rounds such as armor piercing incendiary rounds (API) which were effective against such targets as buildings, trucks, and parked aircraft. The purpose of this round

630-508: The armor, while others believed that the higher caliber rounds would cause greater damage. The weapon was quite heavy at 109 lb (49 kg) and had an 88-inch (220 cm) barrel, and it carried the nickname "the elephant gun". During the Cold War , the Barrett M82 rifle was produced by the United States, and was chambered to fire a .50 BMG (12.7×99mm NATO) round. This weapon was sold by

665-459: The bullet weight and velocity of anti-materiel rifles gives them exceptional long-range capability even when compared with designated sniper rifles. Anti-materiel rifles are made in both bolt-action as well as semi-automatic designs. The anti-materiel rifle originated in the anti-tank rifles , which itself originated during World War I . While modern tanks and most other armored vehicles are too well protected to be affected by anti-materiel rifles,

700-476: The design of many firearms and are available as aftermarket add-on parts for most actions that do not have them integrated, and they are also on the undersides of semi-automatic pistol frames and grips. Their usefulness has led to them being used in paintball , gel blasters and airsoft . United States Military Standard A United States defense standard , often called a military standard , " MIL-STD ", " MIL-SPEC ", or (informally) " MilSpecs ",

735-457: The end of the rail and then locked in place. It is similar in concept to the earlier commercial Weaver rail mount used to mount telescopic sights , but is taller and has wider slots at regular intervals along the entire length. The MIL-STD-1913 locking slot width is 0.206 in (5.23 mm). The spacing of slot centres is 0.394 in (10.01 mm) and the slot depth is 0.118 in (3.00 mm). The only significant difference between

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770-478: The first anti-materiel rifle. The rifle was designed to penetrate the thick armor of the British tanks. The rifle weighed 41 lb (19 kg) when loaded, fired a 13.2 mm round weighing 55.5 g (1.96 oz), and had an effective range of about 1,600 ft (500 m). This weapon had a two-man crew: one to load and the other to fire the weapon, although they often switched roles. The recoil of this weapon

805-423: The format of standards: Defense standards evolved from the need to ensure proper performance, maintainability and reparability (ease of MRO ), and logistical usefulness of military equipment. The latter two goals (MRO and logistics) favor certain general concepts, such as interchangeability , standardization (of equipment and processes, in general), cataloging , communications, and training (to teach people what

840-504: The guns are still effective for attacking unarmored or lightly armored vehicles. They can also be used against stationary enemy aircraft, missile launchers, radar equipment, unexploded ordnance , small watercraft, communications equipment, crew-served weapons and similar targets. Their value lies in their ability to precisely target and disable enemy assets from long range at relatively low cost. The history of anti-materiel rifles dates back to World War I . The need for anti-tank rifles

875-501: The number of standards just before the Perry Memorandum was issued was less than 30,000, and that thousands have been canceled since then. This may be due to differences in what is counted as a "military standard". Another potential drawback of thorough standardization is a threat analogous to monoculture (where lack of biodiversity creates higher risk of pandemic disease) or a ship without bulkhead compartmentalization (where even

910-485: The official definitions differentiate between several types of documents, all of these documents go by the general rubric of "military standard", including defense specifications, handbooks, and standards. Strictly speaking, these documents serve different purposes. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), military specifications "describe the physical and/or operational characteristics of

945-424: The place of damaged ones; and small arms and artillery that are less likely to find themselves with an excess of ammunition that does not fit and a lack of ammo that does. However, the proliferation of standards also has some drawbacks. The main one is that they impose what is functionally equivalent to a regulatory burden upon the defense supply chain, both within the military and across its civilian suppliers. In

980-454: The rail in 1995. Swan has visited civil court against Colt and Troy industries regarding patent infringement. The courts found that Troy had developed rifles with rail mounting systems nearly identical to the MIL-STD-1913 rail. A metric -upgraded version of the 1913 rail, the STANAG 4694 NATO Accessory Rail , was designed in conjunction with weapon manufacturers like Aimpoint , Beretta , Colt , FN Herstal and Heckler & Koch , and

1015-456: The slots in the Weaver rail are modified to have square bottoms). While some accessories are designed to fit on both Weaver and 1913 rails, most 1913 compatible devices will not fit on Weaver rails. From May 2012, most mounting rails are cut to MIL-STD-1913 standards. Many accessories can be secured to a rail with a single spring-loaded retaining pin. Designed to mount heavy sights of various kinds,

1050-496: The use of most military specifications and standards without a waiver. This has become known as the "Perry Memorandum". Many military specifications and standards were canceled. In their place, the DOD directed the use of performance specifications and non-government standards. "Performance specifications" describe the desired performance of the weapon, rather than describing how those goals would be reached (that is, directing which technology or which materials would be used). In 2005

1085-519: The war, choosing instead to use explosive anti-tank weaponry such as the M1 Bazooka . One anti-tank rifle used was the Lahti L-39 , a Finnish anti-materiel rifle. One version was designed to fire a 13.2 mm cartridge and another a 20 mm cartridge. There was debate over which was more effective at piercing armor. Some argued that the smaller cartridge travelled faster and could penetrate deeper into

Picatinny rail - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-571: Was approved by the NATO Army Armaments Group (NAAG), Land Capability Group 1 Dismounted Soldier (LCG1-DS) on May 8, 2009. Many firearm manufacturers include a MIL-STD-1913 rail system from factory, such as the Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle . The rail consists of a strip undercut to form a "flattened T" with a hexagonal top cross-section , with cross slots interspersed with flats that allow accessories to be slid into place from

1155-586: Was first encountered by the Germans when faced with the British Mark 1 tank. The Mark I could cross ditches up to nine-foot (2.7 m) wide, which made it a major threat to infantry in trench defenses. As a counter, the Germans first used "direct fire mortars", which were mortars aimed at low angles pointing towards enemy tanks. Later, the Germans developed the T-Gewehr anti-tank rifle, which can be credited with being

1190-501: Was so high that it was known to break collar bones and dislocate shoulders. The rifle fired a steel core armor-piercing round specifically designed to be used with this rifle. During World War II , anti-materiel guns were widely used. The British Boys anti-tank rifle was used to great effect against lightly armored tanks, but was soon replaced by the PIAT due to its ineffectiveness against more armored tanks. In September 1939 Polish army used

1225-919: Was to penetrate non-armored vehicles and burst into flames on impact. Saboted light armor penetrator ammunition was also used in anti-materiel rifles during the conflict. In the modern era, the armor of tanks and other vehicles increased, making it difficult for .50 BMG bullets to penetrate. As such, modern day anti-materiel rifles are no longer used in an anti-tank capacity, and generally used to penetrate light armor vehicles or for its barrier-blind capabilities against targets behind concrete barricades and buildings; as well as being used to destroy unexploded ordnance. Additionally, modern anti-materiel rifles are frequently used as sniper rifles against personnel targets, due to their long range, relatively low cost of construction for craft-produced models, and robust penetrating capabilities. They have seen frequent use in Syria and Iraq as

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