The Gilboa Snake rifle was developed by Israeli company Silver Shadow and Gilboa® USA and initially conceived by Amos Golan, CEO of the company and designer of the famous Cornershot system. The rifle is available in various calibers ranging from .223 REM, 9mm, 7.62X39 mm, and 300 Blackout.
Design
Gilboa Snake rifle was designed along with the rather old concept of “salvo” fire. This concept, previously developed and tested in the USA under the SPIW program in the 1950s and 60s, called for a weapon that fires several bullets at the same time or in rapid bursts to increase hit probability and provide faster target incapacitation per single “observe – aim – pull the trigger” cycle.
Several experimental multi-barreled automatic rifles were developed and tested in the USA and elsewhere. Still, the Gilboa Snake seems to be the world’s first multi-barreled salvo-type assault rifle to achieve production status.
Military and law enforcement version
The basic select-fire Gilboa Snake assault rifle is intended for military and law enforcement Special Forces; however, Silver Shadow also designed a “civilian-legal” version of the Snake rifle, which has two triggers side-by-side, each controlling its barrel, and each capable only of semi-automatic fire.
The Gilboa Snake assault rifle has two barrels, mounted side by side in a single receiver, made of aluminum alloy. Both barrels are connected to a single gas block with the manual gas regulator in the select-fire version. A single short-stroke gas piston runs above and between the barrels to simultaneously and synchronously cycle two bolt carriers with M16-type rotating bolts. In the “civilian” version, each barrel is equipped with its independent gas block and piston.
Civilian version
In civilian mode, bolts are designed to eject spent cases to the side.
Each bolt is designed to eject spent cases to the side, so the rifle ejects to the right and the left through two symmetrically located ejection windows. The military version of the Gilboa Snake rifle has a single trigger and three-position safety/fire selector, which allows for single “double taps” (one shot from each barrel simultaneously per single trigger pull), and for fully automatic fire (also simultaneously from each barrel). Ammunition is fed from two M16-type magazines, independently inserted into twin magazine housing below the rifle.
The Gilboa Snake rifle is equipped with a proprietary return springs system located inside the upper receiver above the bolt carriers to be equipped with detachable and side-folding shoulder stocks of various designs. Sights of multiple types are installed using a centrally located Picatinny rail that runs above the receiver. Additional accessories such as tactical lights, lasers, and foregrips can be attached to the 3-rail handguard.
Gilboa Snake rifle variants
Although it is manufactured both in military/law enforcement and civilian version, there are also other variants of Gilboa snake, depending on the caliber it uses:
- DBR,
- Carbine,
- Commando,
- Shorty,
- M43 Carbine,
- DMR,
- 300 BLK,
- 9mm
The Gilboa Snake rifle could be a great addition to the world market with its innovative design and exciting concept. Gilboa is an improvement of the AR15 platform, which is the personal weapon of choice for many units worldwide and is one of the world’s most common assault rifles also produced in several countries. I’m looking forward to seeing it in action.
Technical specification
| Caliber: | 5.56×45 NATO / .223 Rem |
| Action: | Gas-operated |
| Length: | 495 / 800 mm |
| Barrel length: | 241 mm |
| Weight: | 4.27 kg |
| The rate of fire: | not specified |
| Magazine capacity: | 2 x 30 rounds |
Will it be available in the U.S. and when, plus price?
Beautiful !!!!
When they go on sale put me on that list.
Where to get a civilian style. And pricing.
WOULD LIKE TO KNOW PRICE OF CIVILIAN MODEL
I would love to purchase one of these if the price is right and not outrageous.
where can i get a civilian model and pricing???
This will be banned for civilian sector for sure but yeah looks pretty. i want one