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Founded in 2005 when the Magen (small arms) division of IMI - Israel Military Industries was detached from the company and sold to the privately-owned SK Group by the Israeli government, the IWI - Israel Weapon Industries Ltd. company, headquarted in the town of Ramat HaSharon, is Israel's premier manufacturer of small arms and ammunition, equipping the Israel Defence Forces, the Israeli Police, and many others. Names like "Jericho", "Tavor", "Negev", "Galil" and UZI are now part of history, and these platforms have now found their ways to the hands of countless civilian shooters and private security guards, military operators and law enforcement professionals, in a plethora of variants, and all throughout the globe.
Now, the list grows up of yet another name, as the Israel Weapon Industries introduced a new bolt-action long-range rifle, dubbed the DAN, at the 2014 edition of the EUROSATORY expo in Paris. The DAN is IWI's first bolt-action sniper rifle, and has been conceived in close collaboration with skilled marksmen and snipers of the IDF and other Israeli military and police forces.
At the end of a long evaluation and development phase, which saw IWI gather the impressions, the opinions and the suggestions of said expert military and law enforcement professionals, everything is now finally ready for the launch of what the company addresses to as a state-of-the-art sniping platform.
Based upon a corrosion-resistant, blued stainless steel upper receiver, IWI's DAN bolt-action long-range rifle is chambered for the powerful .338 Lapua Magnum caliber, and feeds through a detachable 10-rounds magazine. The magazine release catch is located right under the trigger guard, so that the shooter may remove it to reload the gun without having to take his or her eyes off the sights. The stock of the IWI DAN rifle is manufactured out of metal with some synthetic parts, it's foldable and adjustable in lenght and elevation; the ergonomic pistol grip is provided by CAA Tactical. The cold-hammer forged, free-floating, fluted 31-inches barrel is provided with a specially-conceived flash hider/muzzle brake that will accept a quick-attach/detach sound suppressor, and is encased in a railed handguard.
Said handguard, as well as the lower receiver of the DAN rifle, is machined out of hard-anodized aluminium alloy, although not the standard alloy used by the arms industry − rather a different alloy about which the Company maintains a veil of secrecy. Not only does the handguard provide multiple Picatinny attachment points for tactical accessories, but also enshrouds and protects the barrel from shocks or hits, preserving its integrity and alignment, so that the shooter won't have to re-zero the sights after any similar event. Last, but not least, the trigger of the DAN rifle may be adjusted in a weight range from 1 to 2 Kg.; IWI claims sub-MOA accuracy for the DAN rifle, as well as "outstanding" performance over 1.2 kilometres in range. The trigger can be blocked with a manual ambidextrous safety, to be found right over the pistol grip.
