The 12.7×55mm cartridge is used in some Russian firearms such as the VKS

bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...

sniper rifle, the ShAK-12 bullpup

battle rifle A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge. The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to differentiate automatic rifles chambered for fully powered cartridges from automatic rifles cha ...

and the

RSh-12 The RSh-12 () is a Russian-made revolver chamber (firearms), chambered in 12.7×55mm STs-130. It fires from the bottom chamber of the cylinder (like the Chiappa Rhino and Mateba Autorevolver) rather than the more common top chamber, and is chambere ...

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

. The cartridge can carry a projectile weighing between 108

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and le ...

and 1173 grains and is predominantly used to fire heavy subsonic loads. The high penetration VKS round can penetrate up to of steel at or body armor up to GOST 5A or NIJ III at . The accuracy of this cartridge when loaded with precision VKS bullets is claimed to be one

MOA Moa are extinct giant flightless birds native to New Zealand. Moa or MOA may also refer to: Arts and media * Metal Open Air, a Brazilian heavy metal festival * MOA Museum of Art in Japan * The Moas, New Zealand film awards People * Moa ...

at up to the effective range limit of . Despite being chambered in the same cartridge, the ShAK-12 (and RSh-12) would not be able to feed or chamber rounds designed for the VKS due to significant length differences in the bullet component of the cartridge and thus requires its own, shorter, loads. The ShAK-12 rounds have less range compared to the VKS with the maximum effective range of the loads reaching in between .

Cartridge variants for use in the VKS

* STs-130 (СЦ-130) - standard * STs-130PU (СЦ-130ПУ) - for training * STs-130PT (СЦ-130ПТ) - increased accuracy (59 gram bullet) * STs-130PT2 (СЦ-130ПТ2) - increased accuracy (solid bronze bullet) * STs-130VPS (СЦ-130ВПС) - increased penetration (76 gram bullet) The carbine, a manually operated version of the VKS, is also designed for this full-length variant.

Cartridge variants for use in the ShAK-12 assault rifle

* PS-12 �С-12Tyazhelaya Pulya (TP) or "Heavy Bullet" - Heavy subsonic lead bullet weighing 33 grams (509 grains). * PS-12A �С-12АLegkaya Pulya (LP) or "Light Bullet" - Light supersonic lead bullet with an aluminum core weighing 7 grams (108 grains). * PS-12B �С-12БBroneboynaya Pulya (BP) or "Armor-Piercing Bullet" - Lead bullet with an armor-piercing component weighing nearly 18 grams (277 grains). * PD-12 �Д-12Dvukhpul'niy (DP) or "Double-Bulleted" - Two bullets loaded inline weighing 17 grams (262 grains) each. * STs-174 �Ц-174 civilian hunting load. Case headtsmped 12.7x55 МЦ. For revolver carbine , a civilian hunting version of the RSh-12.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:12.7x55mm STs-130 Pistol and rifle cartridges Subsonic rifle cartridges

Cartridge variants for use in the VKS

Cartridge variants for use in the ShAK-12 assault rifle

See also

References