The name “Twilight” of the SVLK-14S sniper rifle (“Lobaev’s large-caliber sniper rifle”), which was tested and put into service by the special forces of the RF Armed Forces in 2012, also includes the name of its inventor. – Vladislav Lobaev, founder and chairman of LOBAEV.
In the 1990s, Lobaev worked as a designer in the workshops of famous American gunsmiths Thomas “Speedy” Gonzales and Clay Spencer. He returned to Russia in 2003 and founded the company Tsar Cannon, later called LOBAEV. from the machine) and law enforcement.
The company’s rifles include the DVL 10-M URBANA with a range of 1300 meters, the DXL-2 “Scalpel” with a range of 1200 meters, the DXL-3 “Retribution” with a range of 1800 meters and the real SVLK-14S. “Twilight” with a declared range of over 2500 meters by the manufacturer.
In the mid-2000s, Lobaev went to the UAE, where his company received a contract from the TAWAZUN concern to develop large-caliber sniper rifles and increase the target range.
In 2011, the founder of the company and his team returned to Russia and in the city of Tarusa began the production of weapons, which turned out to be in demand for law enforcement agencies – the Ministry of Defense, the National Guard, the FSB. .
Of the seven variants of sniper rifles, the SVLK-14S became the most famous. The name “Twilight” also has its own peculiarity – in November 2019, using the night vision “Dedal-NV”, shooter Sergei Shmakov set a world record for shooting on a moonless night, when all five shells hit the target at two distances. kilometer.
In 2017, with the help of the SVLK-14S, another absolute record was set – the shooter hit the target at a distance of 4210 m.
“Sniper rifles of this level are a piece of cake,” a sniper instructor named Leonid, who previously served in one of the GRU units, told socialbites.ca. – They are produced for a specific person, with the adjustment of the bed, production materials, optics assembly and much more, where the millimeter is important. In an ordinary army unit, even in special forces, you will never see the Dusk, this rifle is designed for individual professionals, designed for one, maximum two accurate shots.
Leonid emphasized that the range of destruction involves the use of such a rifle in the line of sight of the enemy.
“Accordingly, the land, vegetation and some structures should not mix. Twilight is ideally used in desert or steppe terrains, watery areas or urban environments with the sniper positioned above a building with a wide field of view. Therefore, such sniper rifles are considered rare, and a pair of snipers are covered by other shooters equipped with weapons of smaller caliber and range, ”Added Leonid.
The Lobaev rifle also has such a nuance as the use of a special 10.3×77 mm sniper ammunition, known as the 408 Cheyenne Tactical, which allows firing at extra long distances. A similar cartridge was used in the development of rifles by the Lobaev company in the UAE, it was also taken as a basis for the Russian “Twilight”, and the Ministry of Defense agreed to accept the SVLK-14S with this caliber.
“Firstly, because we do not yet have such ammunition, which is distinguished by high accuracy and firing range. Secondly, a large number of these rather expensive cartridges were purchased, and the consumption is relatively small – unlike the same SVD (Dragunov sniper rifle), which is still in service in the Russian army, ”the FSB colonel told socialbites.ca retired , former employee of the Alpha department Ivan Banchenko.
The sniper rifle “Twilight” has become the longest range when using this cartridge. The American Chey Tac M200 rifle, which also uses 408 Cheyenne tactical ammunition, shows less efficiency in both accuracy and range – 2000 meters.
“Many types of small arms have been created specifically for a particular ammunition. That is, it is the first developed cartridge, and then a weapon is created for it. So, with Udav, Gyurza pistols, Val assault rifles chambered for 5.45 mm, Mikhail Kalashnikov created new AK assault rifles, which turned into numerous modifications.
The SVLK-14S sniper rifle is also designed for a specific ammunition, it is impossible to “stick” something similar in caliber to it. Now it makes little sense to create your own mass-produced cartridge in such an unusual caliber, especially for Dusk.
The need for them is small. But for a small batch of such cartridges it is easy to make a kind of fake, military expert Boris Dzherelievsky told socialbites.ca.