The Parker Hale M85 is a British

bolt-action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-action ...

.308 The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...

sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long-range rifle. Requirements include accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment and optics for anti-personnel, anti-materiel and surveillance uses of the military sniper. The modern sniper rifle is a por ...

, with an effective range around 900 metres. It fires from a 10-round detachable

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

, and weighs 12 pounds,

telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate po ...

included. The rifle was created after the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

by Parker Hale Ltd in response to shortcomings in the contemporary Lee–Enfield

L42A1 The L42A1 is a bolt-action sniper rifle chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge.Pegler & Bujero (2001), pp. 48-49.Pegler (2010), pp. 61-62. Used in the past by the British Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force RAF Regiment, the L42A1 en ...

. Although the Parker Hale M85 manufacturing licence was sold to Gibbs Rifle Co., it has not yet resumed production.

History

The M85 took part in a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

trial to see if it could be used as a potential sniper rifle, along with the

Accuracy International PM The Accuracy International Arctic Warfare rifle is a bolt-action sniper rifle designed and manufactured by the British company Accuracy International. It has proved popular as a civilian, police, and military rifle since its introduction in the ...

Heckler & Koch PSG1 The Heckler & Koch PSG1 (''Präzisionsschützengewehr'', German for "precision shooting rifle") is a semi-automatic sniper rifle designed and produced by the German company Heckler & Koch. Development This rifle is said to have been developed ...

SIG Sauer SSG 2000 The SIG Sauer SSG 2000 (''Scharfschützengewehr 2000'', literally ''Sharpshooter Rifle 2000'') is a bolt-action, magazine-fed rifle. Service use The SSG 2000 sniper rifle is a joint effort by Swiss company SIG Arms (now SIG Sauer AG) and Germ ...

, and

Remington 700 The Remington Model 700 is a series of bolt-action centerfire rifles manufactured by Remington Arms since 1962. It is a development of the Remington 721 and 722 series of rifles, which were introduced in 1948. The M24 and M40 military sniper ...

. The rifle lost by a slight margin to the Accuracy International (adopted by the British Army as the

L96 The Accuracy International Arctic Warfare rifle is a bolt-action sniper rifle designed and manufactured by the British company Accuracy International. It has proved popular as a civilian, police, and military rifle since its introduction in th ...

Design

The M85's range is about 600 metres and has an 85% first round hit capabilities from 600 – 900 metres. The weapon also has a silent safety catch, a threaded muzzle for a flash suppressor, and an integral

dovetail rail A dovetail rail or dovetail mount can refer to several types of sliding rail system found on firearms primarily for mounting telescopic sights. Colloquially, the term ''dovetail rail'' usually refer to any straight mounting bracket with an inver ...

that accepts a variety of

sight Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the ...

s. The standard telescopic sight is a 6×42mm

Schmidt & Bender Schmidt & Bender (often abbreviated as S&B) is a German company specialized in producing high end telescopic sights for hunting, sports, law enforcement and military arms. The company was founded in 1957 by instrument maker Helmut Schmidt and mast ...

with a BDC from 200 – 900 meters. Emergency

iron sight Iron sights are a system of physical alignment markers (usually made of metallic material) used as a sighting device to assist the accurate aiming of ranged weapons (such as a firearm, airgun, crossbow or even compound bow), or less commonly as ...

s are also fitted. The rifle is outfitted with a

bipod A bipod is a V-shaped portable attachment that helps support and steady a device, usually a weapon such as a long gun or a mortar. The term comes from the Latin prefix ''bi-'' and Greek root ''pod'', meaning "two" and "foot" respectively. Bipod ...

as standard. The

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

stock is made by McMillan.

Variants

There is a police variant of the M85, which has a cheek pad option on the rifle's timber stock. This was marketed as the M87 model.

Users

* :

Brazilian Navy ) , colors= Blue and white , colors_label= Colors , march= "Cisne Branco" ( en, "White Swan") (same name as training ship ''Cisne Branco'' , mascot= , equipment= 1 multipurpose aircraft carrier7 submarines6 frigates2 corvettes4 amphibious warf ...

(

GRUMEC The Combat Divers Groupment ( pt, Grupamento de Mergulhadores de Combate), abbreviated to GRUMEC, is a special operations and Counterterrorism unit of the Brazilian Navy. The GRUMEC was created in 1974 and is subordinate to the Submarine Force, ...

) * :

Royal Malaysian Navy The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN, ms, Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia; TLDM; Jawi: ) is the naval arm of the Malaysian Armed Forces. RMN is the main agency responsible for the country's maritime surveillance and defense operations. RMN's area of o ...

(

PASKAL The Pasukan Khas Laut (''Naval Special Warfare Forces,'' Jawi: ), commonly abbreviated to PASKAL, is the principal special operations force of the Royal Malaysian Navy. PASKAL's task is to conduct small-unit maritime military operations that ...

)

References

External links

* {{cite web , url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9TmL9Cdbyo , author= Forgotten Weapons , title=Parker Hale M85: Traditional Sniper in a Modern World , date=27 February 2019 , website=YouTube Bolt-action rifles of the United Kingdom Sniper rifles of the United Kingdom 7.62×51mm NATO rifles