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Raufoss Mk 211

Raufoss Mk 211

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The Raufoss Mk 211 is a .50 caliber
.50 BMG
The .50 Browning Machine Gun or 12.7×99mm NATO is a cartridge developed for the Browning .50 caliber machine gun in the late 1910s. Entering service officially in 1921, the round is based on a greatly scaled-up .30-06 cartridge...

 (12.7x99mm NATO) multipurpose anti-matériel
Anti-materiel rifle
An anti-materiel rifle is a rifle that is designed for use against military equipment rather than against other combatants ....


 produced by Nammo (Nordic Ammunition Group, a Norwegian/Finnish military industry manufacturer of ammunition), under the model name NM140 MP. It is commonly referred to as simply multipurpose or Raufoss. The "Mk 211" name comes from the nomenclature "Mk 211 Mod 0" used by the U.S. military
Military of the United States

 for this round.

The multipurpose name is based on the projectile having an armor-piercing (tungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...

 core), an explosive, and an incendiary
Incendiary ammunition
-World War I:One of the first uses of incendiary ammunition occurred in World War I. At the time, phosphorus—the primary ingredient in the incendiary charge—ignited upon firing, leaving a trail of blue smoke. They were also known as 'smoke tracer' for this reason. The effective range of...

 component, thus making it capable of penetrating lightly armored targets and causing damage to personnel inside the target after penetration. It is a suitable round for engaging helicopter

s, aircraft

 and lightly armored vehicles, as well as unarmored vehicles, and it is capable of igniting jet fuel
Jet fuel

. The Mk.211 has about the same destructive power as a standard 20 mm round against such targets.

The Mk 211 is a very popular .50 caliber sniper

 round, used in the Barrett
Barrett Firearms Company
Barrett Firearms Manufacturing is an American manufacturer of firearms and ammunition. It was founded in 1982 by Ronnie Barrett for the single purpose of building semi-automatic rifles chambered for the powerful 12.7×99mm NATO ammunition, originally developed for and used in M2 Browning machine...

 M82 rifle, as well as other .50 BMG rifles. It is also often used in heavy machine gun
Heavy machine gun
The heavy machine gun or HMG is a larger class of machine gun generally recognized to refer to two separate stages of machine gun development. The term was originally used to refer to the early generation of machine guns which came into widespread use in World War I...

s, for example the M2 Browning. Due to its popularity several U.S. arms manufacturers produce the round under license from NAMMO Raufoss AS. The MK300 is the tracer variant used through the Browning Heavy Machinegun.

Design details

The Multipurpose concept developed by Raufoss is unique in the way that, instead of using a mechanical fuse
Fuze Beverage, commercially referred to as just Fuze , is a manufacturer of teas and non-carbonated fruit drinks enriched with vitamins. Currently the brand consists of five vitamin-infused lines: Slenderize, Refresh, Tea, Defensify, and Vitalize...

, it uses a pyrotechnical detonation train to ensure proper detonation of the explosive and incendiary components.


This round is usually identified by a green over white paint tip mark. A rarer occurrence of a green–over red–over white paint mark scheme indicate the tracer
Tracer ammunition
Tracer ammunition are bullets that are built with a small pyrotechnic charge in their base. Ignited by the burning powder, the phosphorus tail burns very brightly, making the projectile visible to the naked eye...

 version of this round. These tracer versions are usually only seen on cartridge feed belts
Belt (firearm)
A belt or ammunition belt is a device used to retain and feed cartridges into a firearm. Belts and the associated feed systems are typically employed to feed machine guns or other automatic weapons...

 in naval applications.

The headstamp

 on the casing can also help to identify the round as Raufoss and some common headstamps include, but not limited to: HXP89, WCC94, and FN91; or HXP, WCC, LC, or FN with different two-digit numbers as production year suffixes.


There has been much debate over whether the Mk 211 projectile is legal to use against personnel, or if it is strictly anti-matériel

 ammunition. The International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...

 has sought to have the ammunition banned, due to concern over the incendiary and explosive components and their effect on personnel. Under the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868
St Petersburg Declaration of 1868
St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868 or in full Declaration Renouncing the Use, in Time of War, of Explosive Projectiles Under 400 Grammes Weight is an international treaty agreed in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, November 29 / December 11, 1868. It succeeded the First Geneva Convention of 1864...

 the "military or naval" use of explosive or incendiary projectiles with a mass of under 400 grams is forbidden. Very few nations were parties to the St. Petersburg Declaration, however, and, of course, that Declaration does not govern the conduct of non-signator parties. Further, the Hague treaties of 1899 and 1907 – which superseded the St. Petersburg Declaration, and were signed by a far wider circle of nations – do permit the use of such ammunition for auto-cannons and heavy machine guns. Machine guns firing .50 cal/12.7mm ammunition are heavy machine guns. At best, the ICRC's position can be applied to only a small group of nations that were parties to the St. Petersburg Declaration; at worst, the ICRC's position is made moot by more than 100 years of subsequent international treaties.

Trials conducted by Forsvarets Forskningsinstitutt (Norwegian Defence Research Establishment) has concluded that the ammunition most likely does not have an unlawful effect if unintentionally used against personnel, as the round will have penetrated the body and exited on the other side before the fuze of the weapon triggers the incendiary and explosive components of the round. Hitting a person the round will detonate about 50% of the time; if the target is wearing body armor
Bulletproof vest
A ballistic vest, bulletproof vest or bullet-resistant vest is an item of personal armor that helps absorb the impact from firearm-fired projectiles and shrapnel from explosions, and is worn on the torso...

 a higher detonation frequency is to be expected (as shown by the ICRC tests carried out in 1999). If detonated, the round will have a significant fragmentation
Fragmentation (weaponry)
Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...

 and incendiary effect in a 30 degree cone behind the struck target, and this might affect others standing in the vicinity. The distance the round will travel from ignition to detonation is 30–40 cm, so if the target is hit at very specific angles the round may still be inside the target at the time of detonation.

Most nations using the round train their soldiers not to deploy the projectile against personnel, but in the heat of battle such regulations are easily overlooked. Also, many parties currently fielding the ammunition have no such regulations.

The official stance of the Norwegian Government
Politics of Norway
Politics in Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the King's council, the cabinet, led by the Prime Minister of Norway. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Storting, elected...

 is that the 12.7 mm MP round should not be used against personnel, but an exception has been made for snipers using the round - due to the practical limitations of snipers having to change the type of ammunition used when switching between hardened and soft targets. It is being exported strictly in an anti-matériel capacity. The current U.S. policy is that the ammunition is suitable for use against all targets.

See also

  • Anti-matériel rifle
    Anti-materiel rifle

  • High Explosive Incendiary/Armor Piercing Ammunition
    High Explosive Incendiary/Armor Piercing Ammunition
    High Explosive Incendiary/Armor Piercing Ammunition is a form of shell which combines both an armor-piercing capability and a high-explosive effect. In this respect it is a modern version of armor piercing shell...

  • List of rifle cartridges

External links