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The well-known Steyr Mannlicher company started to market its SSG ("Scharfschützengewehr") line of bolt-action long-range rifles at the end of the 1960s.
Said product line grew up in numbers and popularity ever since, with over ten variants adopted by the military and Police forces of well over twenty Countries all around the globe. Similarly, the Steyr SSG rifles proved extremely popular between hunters and sports shooters alike worldwide, due to their guaranteed accuracy, utter reliability, and relatively low cost if compared with other competitors of the same range.
Now headquardered in the town of Kleinraming, Steyr Mannlicher still continues to manufacture the older variants of the SSG system, and to develop new ones.
As a matter of fact, the legendary "Scharfschützengewehr 69", with its unconventional rear locking system ("Lee-Enfield style", in contrast with the more common front locking lugs system) has been used as a basis for the development of all Steyr's sniping and long-range rifles, exception made for the heavy-calibre HS.50 model and its variants.
At the 2014 edition of the EUROSATORY defense expo − held at the nord-Villepinte exhibition and convention center, at the outskirts of Paris, in late June − Steyr Mannlicher showcased its new SSG variant to the visiting international governmental liaisons, military and law enforcement observers, industry members and experts, and specialized press.
That was not the first time the new rifle was showcased, though: it had been peeked at the 2014 SHOT Show in Las Vegas (NV, USA), early in January, but its launch didn't got the deserved publicity.
The new Steyr Mannlicher SSG Carbon bolt-action rifle has been conceived for civilian long-range shooting sports, military marksmanship and sniping, and Police tactical applications alike.
Its technical layout is mostly the same as the earlier SSG's, and it sports a single-stage, direct trigger and a short top MIL-STD-1913 "Picatinny" rail allowing the installation of commercial or military-grade optical sighting systems.
The stock is quite a different deal though: the Steyr Mannlicher SSG Carbon is built out of a chassis that's thermally-molded out of a carbon-based sheet molding compound (SMC) whose raw form reminds glass-reinforced plastic rolls.
When this material is thermally treated to manufacture the stock of the SSG Carbon rifle, the carbon particles distribute in an uniform manner all throughout its surface. This allows extreme tension and pressure strength in all three axes, while maintaining a low weight: the average weight for the Steyr Mannlicher SSG Carbon rifle is around 5 kilograms/11 pounds, with variations in the order of a few hundred grams depending from caliber and barrel lenght.
Steyr Mannlicher's SSG Carbon bolt-action rifle sports a cold hammer-forged, high-accuracy rifle available in three different lenghts: 508mm/20", 600mm/23.6", and 690mm/27.2"; overall lenght ranges between 118,6cm./16.7" and 128,7cm./50.7", accordingly.
The Steyr Mannlicher SSG Carbon rifle feeds through a detachable magazine, whose capacity varies depending from which one of the four available calibers is in use: both .243 Winchester and 7.62x51mm/.308 Winchester caliber magazines will hold ten rounds; .300 Winchester Magnum caliber magazines will hold eight rounds; and .338 Lapua Magnum caliber magazines will hold six rounds.
Other factory features of the Steyr Mannlicher SSG Carbon rifle include a front spike mount for an upfolding bipod, an ergonomically-shaped pistol grip, and a totally adjustable stock with integrated adjustable cheekriser. Additional MIL-STD-1913 "Picatinny" rails can be installed to the handguard through drilled and tapped attachment points to allow the installation of third-party tactical accessories.
