Sniper Central Blog

The US Army is now getting industry response and bids on the updates to the M24. This will include rechambering the rifles to 300 Win Mag as well as new optics of up to 25x. It also includes a new stock with rails up front (no doubt for improved night vision sights) and an adjustable stock for length of pull as well as cheek height. One last interesting note was the inclusion of a 10 round magazine. The new systems are scheduled to begin being deployed in the fall of 2010.

With all of the changes that are involved I suspect the cost is going to rival that of getting a replacement system. They are changing everything except the action, which is relatively inexpensive. They are giving up all of the advantages of sticking with the M24 in terms of saving money and speeding up deployment of the updated system. It will be interesting to see if they can meet their budget as well as their time line.

MEL

The US Army announced that is will start fielding the popular “MultiCam” color pattern on ACU’s for soldiers serving in Afghanistan starting this summer. MultiCam has been a long time favorite of the Special Ops units as well as others and it appears to have won out in a small comparison between another pattern.

On February 27th at 2200 MST the Sniper Central server will be down for up to 4 hours for network maintenance to update some hardware.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Federal has joined the 338 Lapua game with a Gold Medal Match 250gr HPBT load. It launches the 250gr Sierra Match King bullet at 2950 fps. It is nice to see them get into the Lapua game, but I would like to see them offer the 300gr HPBT as well.

The SHOT show is going on this week in Las Vegas and we have posted one report about the Leupold scopes, here are some more sniper related items that we have noticed….

• Some more information on the new Leupold tactical scopes: The scopes have a 34mm tube, and a front focal plane reticle. They also has a locking elevation turret, with a button on the top of the turret to unlock it and make adjustments and there is a revolution counter as well as a fast focus eye piece. This is for the 6.5-20×50 and 8.5-25×50.
• Leupold is also offering a 1.1-8×24 with front focal plane reticle. The illumination dial has moved to the side of the scope to help when used in prone. It also has a “pinch and turn” auto locking windage and elevation knobs and fast focus eye piece. They also have a new 20-60×80 spotting scope that uses mirrors instead of lenses. It has a riflescope erector system for durability. It is advertised as “laser proof” in that if a laser is shined in the lens it wont burn the spotters eyes. They didn’t mention if any reticles would be available in the spotting scope. The illuminated reticles on the standard tactical scopes have changed with an “off” position between each level of illumination. As long as this is a solid click this should be good.
• DSA is now offering a Brugger and Thomat Sniper rifle in .308 win and .338 lapua that is based on the French PGM system and there is a 6.5×47 is in the works, but the price range is very high, with the 308 being $9500 and the 338 at $10500.
• Fn is offering a new SPR A5M that will be available this summer (2010) with a detachable box mag. It sports a McMillan A5 stock with 6 flush cups, saddle style cheek piece and the spacer system. It looks like they will be offering 5 and 10 round mags in 308, and it says it will be offered in 300 WSM, but does not get specific on the mag capacity of the 300 WSM.
• (image below) Smith and Wesson is planning to offer a M&P bolt action rifle in 338 lapua. It looks to have a manners stock and 27 in barrel, but the show was closing so we’ll try and get more info tomorrow.
• Sako is offering a TRG-22 with a 20 inch barrel, you figured that was coming with the popularity of short 308 barrels. They are also offering a chassis system for a Rem 700 action which I thought was interesting. The stock is much like the folding stock they are using on their TRG series.
• Vortex is offering a 5-20×50 Razor HD with 3.9 in eye relief, illuminated first focal plane reticle and 125 MOA/36 Mil of adjustment on both windage and elevation turrets. It also has s zero stop on the knobs. Also offered in the Razor line is a 1-4×24 with side mounted illumination controls, and a BDC knob for 5.56×45 XM 193 and M855 out to 700 yds.
• IOR Valdada is offering a few new scopes like the 3.5-18×50, and many upgrades to the current line such as digital illumination with push buttons instead of a rheostat (hum, interesting idea). But they did not have any brochures to hand out so info was limited.
• As I covered in our recent nightforce review and blog post they are introducing new adjustment knobs with 20 MOA per revolution in .25 MOA clicks, and 10 Mils per revolution in .1 mil clicks.
• (image below)Remington has unveiled its MSR modular sniper rifle with the ability to change barrels from 308 to 300 to 338 lapua and 338 norma. Remington also has a chassis system for the 700 that is very similar to the stock they are using on the MSR. It seems like the chassis system is becoming popular with AI, Sako and now Remington now offering them and Manners has even introduced a mini chassis system for use with their stocks.
• Desert Tactical Arms introduced their HTI (hard target interdiction) rifle chambered for 50 BMG, 408 cheytac, 375 cheytac, and 416 barret. The rifle is similar to their standard SRS bullpup, just bigger.

S&W M&P 338 Lapua

Remington MSR w/ new Leupold Mk4 34mm scope on top

That about covers it for this report. We’ll report more if anything else interesting comes up.

Thanks to our SC reporters for helping out here.

MEL

We have all seen the photos floating around the net and heard of the prototypes, but Leupold is actually showing their new 34mm Mk4 scopes at SHOT. They will be available in March and include a 6.5-20×50mm and 8.5-25×50mm Front Focal Plane Scope. The lens coatings user their extended twilight system and diamond coating 2. As mentioned it has the 34mm tube which should allow for plenty of adjustments as well as a full dust cover knob that is large. Overall the scope is falling into the ‘very large’ category but it is good to see Leupold moving into some of the new modern trends with tactical scopes. They will also have 34mm rings available, which we have a set of here now.

MEL

Nightforce just announced a few new options for their scopes available later in 2010

• New Hi-Speed Adjustments: Adjustments designed to double the speed of the current elevation and windage adjustment values in the NXS 15x, 22x, 32x, and 42x riflescope models. These adjustments will include both the MOA and Mil-Radian based value adjustments.
• New .125 MOA (1/8 MOA) Adjustments: For the NXS 8-32x and 12-42x riflescope models
• New V Series Reticles: Ballistic reticles designed for shooting out to 1000 yards - with 5 mph windage holds. There will be various V reticle designations for a host of cartridges. These will be available in the NXS 15x, 22x, 32x, and 42x riflescope models.

MEL

The makers of “The Ultimate Fighter” on The History Channel are putting together a new show and are looking for the best Marksmen in the USA. They need great marksmen as well as great personalities to tackle some interesting challenges. Oh, and did I mention there is $100,000 in prizes to be won? If you are interested, flick on the following link:

Top Shot Casting

Good luck!

MEL

Tactical Rifles will be using the 2010 SHOT show to introduce a new 6.5 Grendel semi-auto rifle called the SPG (Special Precision Grendel). It looks good and should perform well

www.tacticalrifles.net

MEL