Accuracy International Arctic Warfare

The Accuracy International Arctic Warfare or AW is the name for a family of sniping rifles developed by the British company for military, police and civilian applications. PM or Precision Marksmanship was a purpose built sniper rifle which has subsequently been type classified into various armories and several variants of the rifle have been developed. The PM, which subsequently became the AW was originally developed for the British Army to replace its existing arsenal of L42 Enfield sniper rifles. A competition in the early 1980s to find such a replacement saw the PM winning against its chief competitor, the Parker-Hale M85. The PM eventually was inducted into the British Army under the designation L96. The PM became the AW when the Swedes also started looking for a sniping rifle in the mid 1980s. They were on the look out for a rifle that could withstand the sub zero arctic conditions in that country. The AW met these specifications and the Swedes inducted it into their armed forces as the PSG 90. The British army under the new designation L96A1 also adopted this upgraded version of the PM. The AW has been adopted by various law enforcement agencies and in 1998 was inducted into the German Army as the G22. It has now earned itself the reputation as being one of the finest sniper rifles in the world.

The five main versions of the rifle use different caliber ammunitions. Te PM, AW, AW Police and AW Folding are chambered for 7.62 x 51 mm NATO or .308 Win and the AW Magnum used by the German army uses .338 Lapua Mag (8.60 x 70 mm), .300 Win Mag or 7mm Rem. Mag. The AW is an extremely accurate sniping system and is considered to be .5 MOA. It can shoot less than 51 mm groups at 550 m using boat tail match ammunition. The maximum effective range with scope is 800 m for the standard versions but it increases to 1100 m for the magnum version. The standards scopes supplied by Accuracy International are the Schmidt & Bender 3-12 X and the Leupold Mark 4 fixed 10 X scope. The AW is also equipped with back up iron sights.

Since the AI AW is specifically designed rifle that does not rely on the designs of existing rifles, it has many new and specialized features. Firstly, it has a uniquely designed stock that is quite unlike traditional polymer or wood stocks. The AW stock is a hollow polymer stock in two parts. The two hollow parts are bolted to an aluminum-bedding block that extends the entire length of the stock. The hollow stock considerably reduces the weight of the rifle and yet leaves it strong and extremely sturdy. Secondly, having been designed for Nordic temperatures, it is equipped with special de-icing features. Also the pistol grip, stockhole and trigger guard are designed in such way that they can be used easily with thick warm gloves. The AW has an integrated bipod and a monopod in the butt. It also has a muzzle brake to suppress recoil.