Multi-Environment Ammunition (MEA) like this also comes in armor-piercing and tactical sniper varieties, though an even better “liquid bullet” is supposedly in the works. Russian frogmen reportedly carried a backup piece for when they hit the beach. The rifle barrels are smooth-bored, not rifled like normal guns, so they’re actually less accurate out of the water than in it.
Underwater guns use supercavitating ammunition - in the APS’s case, a steel 5.56 mm bolt in 26-round clips - that creates a gas bubble around the bullet itself to maintain velocity. Firing a normal bullet into water pretty much shatters it. A low-velocity round might make it 8-10 feet before coming to a complete stop. The problem happens when that bullet hits the water, which is a much thicker medium to traverse than air. A bullet needs oxygen, gunpowder, and an ignition source (the gun itself) to fire, and so long as the gunpowder stays dry inside a shell casing, it contains its own oxidizing agent. The real secret to underwater guns, however, lies in their specialized ammunition.įiring a gun while submerged is no big deal.
Quite a few successors followed the APS - Wired published a history of the underwater arms race back in 2007 - though most are still classified even decades later. It’s accurate and deadly to a range of about 100 feet, which isn’t far off the upper range of visibility in the open ocean. Three top investment pros open up about what it takes to get your video game funded.ĭeveloped by the Soviet Union back in the early ’70s, the Avtomat Podvodny Spetsialny (APS), or “Special Underwater Assault Rifle,” went into service as the primary weapon for frogmen guarding Mother Russia’s maritime assets.
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