Haskins Rifle

The Haskins Rifle, also known as the RAI 300 (Research Armament Model 300) or Haskins M500 rifle was a bolt-action weapon designed by Jerry Haskins between 1981 and 1982 for snipers in the US Military. Unlike most military sniper rifles, the Haskins was purpose-built for the military, not reworked from an existing civilian firearm.
The Haskins was developed from a US Army requirement for an antimaterial capability.
Standard 7.62×51mm sniper rifles were unable to meet the penetration requirements.
Several experimental cartridges were produced, culminating in a convertible
lightweight bolt-action rifle able to use .50 caliber machine-gun cartridges,
or a lighter, faster, then-wildcat cartridge optimized for antipersonnel use, with some
antimaterial ability.
The US Army declined to purchase the lighter rifle, but purchased a small number of the .50 caliber rifles. They are now used by some United States Army Special Forces snipers. The Haskins m500 sniper rifle fires a .50 caliber round as far as 2 km and can still hit a target the size of a garbage bin.
Although not adopted in large numbers by the US, the weapon served as a testbed for new sniper ammunition. The cartridge originally...