Friday, July 31, 2015

Marines Leaders Finally Embrace the M4 Carbine. Also: "More Powerful, Special-Ops Sniper Rifle Unlikely for Marine Snipers."

"Change is slow. Marine Corps senior leaders have always had an extreme fondness for anything that can double as a club for beating the enemy to death."
Perhaps. However, there is also this comment which I believe to be on point: "I don't see any disadvantage -- the M-16A4 is a good weapon and in open combat in Afghanistan been proven better than the kiddy M-4 in open area combat." I suppose if you think we will ALWAYS be fighting in cities . . .
Also for the traditionalists: The U.S. Marine Corps is sticking with its Vietnam-era, M40 sniper rifle series, despite complaints from scout snipers who say they need the modern, longer-range weapons used by special-ops snipers. Marine scout snipers are considered to be among the best snipers in the world, but many are frustrated at the limitations of the current M40A5 sniper rifle. The A5 is based on the Remington M700 short-action design that's chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO, like the original M40 Marines used in Vietnam.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So it's just really a AR!5. ?

Anonymous said...

As for the sniper rifle story, I think that the .338 being too expensive is a bullshit excuse because the quality of the sniper means using only one bullet. And as for 7.62 being a good round since Vietnam, you're talking about two different terrains. Afghanistan being arid, wide open country where you can shoot as far as the eye can see is quite different than heavy jungle overgrowth where you can't see a target 25 yds. away in some cases. That happens to be the reason I never purchased anything more powerful than the 7.62. My area is woodland and houses. Sometimes in winter, when everything is dead, you can spot a potential target 800 yds. out, but even in those conditions you can never see beyond that. So what good does the .338 do me? If someone has a good reason for me to have the .338 I'd love to hear it. Maybe I'm missing something. But if I were in Afghanistan I'd love to have it

Capitalist Eric said...

Didn't Chris Kyle do most of his kills with a .300 Win-mag?

Still uses the .30 cal bullet but at faster speeds, so flatter trajectory, less windage (than 308W) and good terminal ballistics.

Using a .338 for target interdiction- killing trucks and helicopters- makes sense. But on a 180# man, it seems overkill. IMHO.