Accuracy International Arctic Warfare 50,United kingdom

The Accuracy International AW50 resides in the same league of heavy battlefield guns that include the well-known American Barrett M82/M107 rifle. These weapon systems are charged with directly engaging armored vehicles, structures or even personnel at distance and delivering a lethal dose of heavy caliber firepower from over a mile away (more in some cases). Despite their large caliber and inherently massive recoil, gunsmiths engineer several key factors into such weapon systems as the AW50 to make them more manageable battlefield instruments.

Steyr AUG Assault rifle, Austria

Like other European nations during the Cold War, the Austrian Army made use of the excellent Belgian FN FAL Battle Rifle firing the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. These weapons were produced locally under license as the "StG 58" (Sturmgewehr 58). The original FN FAL was introduced in 1954 and was ultimately produced in over 2,000,000 examples, seeing action in countless conflicts thereafter with widespread circulation still apparent today. Its design was rather robust and her full-power rifle cartridge was a proven man-stopper.

Heckler & Koch G36 Assault rifle, Germany

The Heckler & Koch HK G36 series assault rifle was designed and developed to an exacting German Army requirement of the 1990s intended to replace the outgoing 7.62x51mm HK G3 series battle rifles - the standard German Army service rifle of the time. The 7.62mm cartridge held tremendous man-stopping capabilities and inherently good range but conformance to a NATO standard weapon firing the 5.56x45mm cartridge was in order. Heckler & Koch had given up the 4.7x33mm HK G11 "caseless" system after the collapse of the Soviet Union (funding and interest appropriately dried up).