Artic Warfare Magnum

History of the AWM

In 1978 a group of British Army and Royal Marine snipers came together with the goal of developing a more accurate and reliable long-range rifle. They formed company by the name of Accuracy International and created their first rifle the Precision Marksman or PM that was chambered in 308 Winchester. The rifle was adopted for use by the Special Boat Services which is part of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy.

In the early 1980s the UK was looking for a new rifle to replace the Lee-Enfield L42A1. The designers at Accuracy International made a few design changes to meet the requirements the British Army was looking for by adding a folding bipod, and adjustable cheek pad, and a monopod stabilizer. Their design beat out Parker Hale, Sig Sauer, Remington, and Heckler & Koch getting adopted into service under the name L96A1.

Not long after that when the Swedish were looking to adopt a new rifle AI stepped up to the challenge and further tweaking their design to fit the cold weather requirements. The stock of the rifle which was originally made of resin was reworked to be polymer due to the fragility of the resin in extreme cold. The bolt was altered to prevent icing, the safety was changed to a three-position design, the trigger guard was enlarged to allow for operation with thick gloves, and the magazine was given tabs to make it easier to change out with gloves on. This rifle was given the name AW or Artic Warfare when it was released in 1982.

In 1985 the AW was scaled up for use with the more powerful .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge. The new model dubbed the Artic Warfare Magnum or AWM was originally designed for the international market, but it wasn't long before the British Special Forces procured some under the name L115A1. In 2009, British Army Sniper CoH Craig Harrison set the record for longest recorded sniper kill at 2,707 yards (2,475m), while using an L115A3, another variant of the AWM, he held that record until 2017.

On September 9th, 2012, Accuracy International announce that the AWM was phased out and replaced by the AXMC.