In late November 2021, Lobaev Arms corporation unveiled the DXL-5 ‘Havoc’ sniper rifle - the most powerful sniper rifle in Russia, according to the enterprise’s creator Vladislav Lobaev.
The weapon is chambered with 50 BMG caliber rifle ammunition, which is popular among NATO armies and is used by snipers to eliminate light armored vehicles up to two kilometers away.
“The weapon can disable, for example, a Humvee from such a distance, if a sniper hits it in the engine with an armor-piercing round,” said Yuri Sinichkin, the leading engineer at the Lobaev Arms corporation.
He suggested that the DXL-5 is better suited for bulky targets, rather than hitting enemies on the battlefield, as its 50 BMG caliber is more powerful compared to other sniper rifles’ calibers, but not as accurate as the .375 or .408 ‘Chey Tac’.
“We just conducted our first tests at a shooting range. The weapon showed accuracy of less than 1 MOA (Minutes of Angular, meaning that the dispersion between three bullets from 100-meter distance was less than 3 cm),” said the engineer.
At the moment, several DXL-5 sniper rifles are being manufactured for a Middle East client. The company also has a blueprint of a new rifle based on the DXL-5, which will be capable of hitting targets up to seven kilometers away. This new weapon will be manufactured and sent for tests in Spring 2021.
“We will modify the rifle and use new hypersonic rounds we specially created for it. The tests will be conducted next spring once we finish the current contract and deliver all the remaining rifles to our client,” the leading engineer revealed.
The company also integrated a special damper into its stock to drastically reduce the weapon’s recoil and suggests that the DXL-5 is potentially the softest 50 BMG rifle on the market today.
“This feature will increase the user’s accuracy. It will especially be felt while shooting targets two kilometers away,” said Sinichkin.
Lobaev Arms considers foreign armies as the main customers for this rifle. The cost of a DXL-5 is set at $25,000 without optics. The company also stated that they plan to use DXL-5’s technologies and new hypersonic rounds that will be tested next spring to drastically advance snipers’ capabilities.
To put it in numbers, this new ammo will allow a user who usually shoots targets at distances from 1 km to 2 km to immediately hit targets situated up to 3 km away. A user who works at distances of up to 2.5 km will be able to stably hit targets 4 km away.
What snipers say about DXL-5
Special Forces instructor Andrey Piskunov believes that DXL-5 is a step forward for Russian arms manufacturers, but he doesn’t believe that a new rifle from a small firearms company could have surpassed foreign weapons in quality.
“It’s as if Russia created its own analogue of the iPhone 11 in 2021 - a technological leap for the country, but there are already more advanced phones on the market,” Piskunov admitted.
He states that their units actively use the 50 BMG caliber Barrett’s sniper rifle and won’t be switching to Russian-made weapons for a couple of reasons.
First of all, the DXL-5 is raw - the weapon has to pass real-life tests on battlefields, receive user reviews and manufacturers have to fix all the issues that may occur.
Secondly, the price. The officer was surprised when he heard that a DXL-5 costs $25,000. According to him, that’s expensive, as he can buy American rifles cheaper and bring them to Russia.
“Until we see in practice that the DXL-5 is worth the money and is three times better than American rifles, we will not give up on the Barret,” the officer concluded.