South Africa's Truvelo markets 20mm Hispano anti-materiel rifle (PHOTOS)

The Truvelo 20mm “only” weighs 55-pounds, and that is without the bipod. (Photo: Truvelo)

The specialist rifle maker recently announced they are making 25 of the hefty bolt-action rifles for an unnamed military customer.

As reported by DefenseWeb, a South African military website, Truvelo Armoury has obtained some success in marketing their CMS series rifle chambered in 20x110mm Hispano.

The gun, billed as an “Anti-Material Sniper Rifle” is a single-shot bolt-action rifle that utilizes the same M3 tripod mount used by the legendary M2 Browning .50 cal heavy machine gun. With a 43.47-inch barrel, the beast goes 6.5-feet long overall and tips the scales at a downright chunky 55-pounds with optics and bipod. Add the tripod and you pick up another 44-pounds.

What’s the payoff for that scale? A 2,000-grain bullet with a range in excess of 2,000m and is available in API, HE, HEI, and Saphei (semi-armor piercing high explosive incendiary) loads. The cartridge was originally developed for the Hispano-Suiza HS.404 in WWII as an anti-aircraft round and used by the U.S. Army Air Force in AN/M3 cannons and by the Navy in the Mk16 deck gun.

“Electronic guidance and communications equipment and GPS and radar systems, which are found on modern tanks and medium to heavy skinned vehicles, can be eliminated with this specialized rifle,” notes Truvelo on their website.

Spring-loaded recoil dampers, a paperback novel-sized muzzle brake, and a piston-based recoil reducer in the stock help keep the CMS from wearing out its user.

Modern ostensibly portable rifles in the 20mm caliber are rare and fairly exotic, a club that includes the Indian Vidhwansak, Mechem NTW-20, Finnish Helenius APH-20, Croatian RT-20 and Mark Serbu’s Typhon experiment.

Besides the recent contract, DefenseWeb notes that Truvelo has also sold 300 CMS rifles in the past year and is marketing a more compact model that uses subsonic 20×42 mm ammunition.

The 20x42mm variant only weighs 25-pounds