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| Snipers in Afghanistan receive new weapon (XM110) |
| 2007-04-25 |
| The sound of gunshots echoed at the small arms range at Forward Operating Salerno April 19, and to the normal observer it would have seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. But a closer look at the weapons being fired, the slightly elongated barrels, nondescript camouflage tan paint and oversized scope, would serve as an immediate testament that this was not your ordinary weapons qualification range. Soldiers from Task Force Fury fielded a new sniper rifle, the XM110 semi-automatic sniper system, the first unit to receive the new weapon system in a combat zone. The new rifle has several new features, but the most prominent is the improved rate of fire it offers. “It’s semi-automatic, so it allows for rapid re-engagement of targets,” said Army Staff Sgt. Jason R. Terry, a sniper instructor with the U.S. Army Sniper School. Older style rifles, such as the commonly used M24 Sniper Weapon System, are bolt-action weapons that require the sniper to manually feed another round into the chamber after each shot. The automatic firing capabilities of the SASS will cut down on the lag time in between shots, Terry said. Image here. Niice. |
| Posted by:Brett |
| #19 Not a very informative article. I had to go on-line to even find out what the caliber was (7.62x51). |
| Posted by: Cromorong Lumumba7309 2007-04-25 19:21 |
| #18 Is that black rectangle thingy below the big end of the scope a camera? Whiskey Mike is on it. My own guess would be an IR laser diode pack with same-wavelength detector optics in the scope. Just watch out for targets wearing night vision systems. Is there a deep IR wavelength that wouldn't be picked up by vision enhancement systems? Another approach might be to use laser PWM (Pulse Width Mudulation) or a high strobe frequency LC (Liquid Crystal) beam output chopper (i.e., +100Hz) that wouldn't even produce a flicker in night vision systems. Phase lock the scope's detector optics with the beam chopper and diddle the scope display's persistence and you'd have a nice bright dot to shot at. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-25 16:07 |
| #17 damn http://theospark.blogspot.com/2007/04/oh-yeah.html |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2007-04-25 13:35 |
| #16 New training regime too |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2007-04-25 13:34 |
| #15 And ed wins the prize...you may pick anything from the middle row. No, sorry, that big kewpie doll on the top row requires three correct answers in a row. The Marines have been moving in the direction of having a designated marksman in every squad for a couple of years. They have been using an accurized M-14 known as the DMR. It has a fiberglass stock and other goodies. These are made by the armorers at Quantico. The SR-25 is a great rifle. The guys at Knight's Armaments who make the weapon also make lots of appendages from which you can hang your choice of firing aids. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2007-04-25 12:54 |
| #14 Gorb, The rectangular object looks like a DBAL from Laser Devices. There's another similar device from someone else but can't remember. There is an ITAL also. The various versions of the DBAL are mainly target designation systems, visible and IR. Nice device. I've never seen one with a camera. Recoil absorbing stocks are becoming common for AR's. It is mainly a Designated Marksman type of rifle. That can may be a suppressor, but I don't see threads or cams on the barrel. Suppressors are a good thing, both for sound and accuracy. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2007-04-25 12:05 |
| #13 The XM110 is an SR25 with new furniture. Not a true sniper rifle, more of a designated marksman rifle, replacing the M21 at 60% the weight and adding gizmos. It's classed as a 1.0 MOA rifle, but that's a limit of the military ammo. With match grade ammo, .75 MOA or better. For comparison, Remington 7400 semi auto rifles seem to shoot 1-1.5 MOA though not at the extreme ranges, and one can buy accurized versions at .5 MOA. Suited for tactics as gorb described. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-04-25 09:11 |
| #12 One benefit of the bolt-action sniper rifle is that the spent cartridge is not instantly and energetically ejected, possibly catching the light and/or somebody's attention. I've seen pix of snipers managing the dexterous trick of operating the bolt slowly while picking the brass up in a couple of fingers. Same hand, too. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2007-04-25 08:25 |
| #11 The XM21, the big mac daddy of M14's, has been around since the 70's. It can shoot pretty fair for a semi-auto. I don't know why it has never caught on, not "technological" enough I guess. If they wanted to field a semi sniper why didn't they just issue the ones they already have? The only thing I can think of is the XM21 weighs in at 12 lbs or so with a scope and goodies. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-04-25 07:27 |
| #10 Guns with this weapon's feature set have been winning at Camp Perry for some time now. Things just get worse for the bad guys with this in the field. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2007-04-25 07:24 |
| #9 The image link looks like a gussied-up M16, while the photo at the end of the article looks more like a traditional sniper rifle. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-04-25 06:34 |
| #8 There is a book out by a marine sniper who was in on our last invasion of Iraq. It's called "Shooter". He says tactics are quickly heading away from the hide-shoot-scoot idea to guys who are part of the group now. They hop in a humvee, get into the middle of the action, and start laying waste to as many bad guys as they can find. It seems to be pretty successful, and they end up with way more kills, which is the whole point anyway. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-04-25 06:24 |
| #7 Yeah, I think that a bolt-action rifle is still the best for snipers. The highly accurate long-range rifle is a technology that has long since been mastered. It hasn't changed much in 100 years. And since when is rate-of-fire even an issue? Snipers fire once and then move. |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-04-25 04:42 |
| #6 I naively thought that even a loader was taboo for a sniper's weapon because it reduces recision (weight of the weapon is not constant) Isn't semi-automatic still worse fpr a sniper? |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-04-25 04:11 |
| #5 And is that tube laying on the table near the muzzle a silencer? Bwahahaha! |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-04-25 02:27 |
| #4 Is that a spring-loaded stock? Is that black rectangle thingy below the big end of the scope a camera? If so, are those video ouputs or something on the right side? The semi-automatic feature will be cool. Is the recoil on that thing reduced? |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-04-25 02:26 |
| #3 Should shoot the hair off a woodpecker's ass |
| Posted by: Captain America 2007-04-25 00:55 |
| #2 And no naked Commie Commando Cuban babes doing her hair in the river either!? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-04-25 00:23 |
| #1 Looks like it can cook food. fire lasers or missles, watch TV and solve math probs at the same time. D ***NG IT, TOM BERENGER STILL HASN'T RETURNED MY ISLAND WEAR SHIRT ala SNIPER. HOW CAN A MAN IN RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION SHOOT NICHOLAS CAGE BACK IN THE 1960's OF THE 1980's of 2007 WID OUT HIS LUCKY SHIRT??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-04-25 00:22 |