Austrian Sniper Rifles From Iran Found In Baghdad Home

US soldiers during a house search for insurgents, in eastern Baghdad found more than a hundred Austrian-made sniper rifles, which were sold to Iran, in a Baghdad raid on insurgents. The .50 calibre weapons, which are capable of penetrating body armour, were part of a shipment of 800 rifles exported by Austrian arms manufacturer Steyr-Mannlicher to Iran last year.

Iraqi insurgents using Austrian rifles from Iran
Telegraph
Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in the hands of Iraqi terrorists. More than 100 of the.50 calibre weapons, capable of penetrating body armour, have been discovered by American troops during raids.
The guns were part of a shipment of 800 rifles that the Austrian company, Steyr-Mannlicher, exported legally to Iran last year.
The sale was condemned in Washington and London because officials were worried that the weapons would be used by insurgents against British and American troops.
Within 45 days of the first HS50 Steyr Mannlicher rifles arriving in Iran, an American officer in an armoured vehicle was shot dead by an Iraqi insurgent using the weapon.
Over the last six months American forces have found small caches of the £10,000 rifles but in the last 24 hours a raid in Baghdad brought the total to more than 100, US defence sources reported.
The find is the latest in a series of discoveries that indicate that Teheran is providing support to Iraq’s Shia insurgents.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, yesterday denied that Iran had supplied weapons to Iraqi insurgents. But on Sunday US officials in Baghdad displayed a range of weapons they claimed had originated in Iran.
They said 170 American and British soldiers had been killed by such weapons.
The Foreign Office expressed “serious concerns” over the sale of the rifles last year and Britain protested to the Austrian government.
A Foreign Office spokesman said last night: “Although we did make our worries known the sale unfortunately went ahead and now the potential that these weapons could fall into the wrong hands appears to have happened.”
The rifle can pierce all body armour from up to a mile and penetrate armoured Humvee troop carriers. It is highly accurate and fires a round called an armour piercing incendiary, a bullet that the Iranians manufacture.
The National Iranian Police Organisation bought the rifles allegedly to use them against drug smugglers in an £8 million order placed with Steyr in 2005.
The company was given permission to export them by the Austrian government, which is not a Nato member.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Well this just ticks me the heck off.
We asked them not to, England asked them not to. So why can’t we demand countries not do such things, yes I know, but these terrorists are the enemy of the entire world, so how stupid or greedy does a person (country) have to be to sell to Iran when the intelligence collectors inform said leaders of these countries like Austria telling them of the desire for these death cult freakazoids wanting them dead as much as us, as much as our troops??!!
Aren’t they privy to the same information we are, heck we learn a ton of things just online. Go figure how much more the leaders of countries find out about then we are able to see.
Something more about this sniper rifle:
Steyr .50HS heavy sniper rifle, with folded bipod
Caliber: .50BMG (12.7x99mm) or .460Steyr
Operation: manually operated rotating bolt action
Barrel: 833 mm (33″)
Weight: 12.4 kg
Length: 1370 mm (54″)
Feed Mechanism: single shot, no magazine
The Steyr .50 HS is the most recent development of the famous Austrian arms manufacturer, the Steyr Mannlicher Gmbh & Co KG. First displayed at the ShotShow-2004 (February 2004, Las-Vegas, USA), this single shot rifle is primary intended for anti-material applications and counter-sniping. The Steyr .50HS is available in two calibers, the old and venerable .50BMG and the apparently new .460Steyr (on which so far no data were obtained).
The Steyr .50 HS is a single shot rifle, with manually operated, rotating bolt with two large locking lugs at the front. The two-stage trigger is factory set to 4lbs (1.8kg). The buttstock is adjustable for length of pull, the cheekpiece is also adjustable. Heavy barrel is partially fluted and fitted with effective muzzle brake. Steyr .50 HS has no iron sights; the MilStd Picatinny rail is standard. Rifle is not intended to be fired off-hand; it is fitted with integral folding adjustable bipods.