South African company Truvelo has released a new anti-materiel bolt action rifle chambered in 20x42mm caliber. The rifle itself is not new, because it is based on their large caliber CMS rifles, but the new caliber makes it a pretty interesting military firearm.

Truvelo CMS in this configuration is a very compact bolt action rifle with overall length of 38.6″ (980 mm). It features a folding stock and with the stock folded, the rifle becomes as short as 27.5″ (700 mm). The barrel is fluted, free floated and hosts a massive muzzle brake. Barrel length is 15″ (380 mm). There are Picatinny rails on top of the receiver and on front portion of the forearm. The bolt of the gun has four locking lugs. The rifle is fed from a five round detachable box magazine. The rifle weighs 25.35 lbs (11.5 kg) with the magazine attached.

This Truvelo rifle is designed for engaging light vehicles, missiles, sniper positions and other typical anti-materiel rifle targets.The effective range of fire is stated to be 1000 meters. The accuracy of this rifle depends on the type of used ammunition. According to the technical specifications from the manufacturer’s website, the rifle is capable of 2 MOA accuracy at 500 meters.

20×42 mm ammunition

The 20×42 mm cartridge is lighter and shoots with a much flatter trajectory than the 40mm NATO grenades. It was initially developed by another South African company called Denel PMP. It is a straight walled, belted, low recoil cartridge with a variety of projectiles: API, HE, SAPHET, PRAC and PRAC-T. The projectiles are launched at subsonic muzzle velocities of 1000 fps (310 m/s).

Relatively compact size of this rifle should make it especially desirable for special forces, paratrooper and reconnaissance units.