Army snipers could soon have a weapon capable of killing enemy fighters out to 1,200 meters, which is 400 meters beyond the range of the current-issue sniper rifle.Program Executive Office Soldier is working on a plan to outfit units that need their snipers to shoot out to 1,200 meters with a modified M24 sniper rifle chambered for the .300 Winchester Magnum.
The Army began replacing the bolt-action M24 with the M110 Semiautomatic Sniper System in late 2007 to give snipers a rapid-fire weapon for engaging multiple targets in urban areas. Both rifles are chambered for 7.62mm NATO ammunition and have an effective range of about 800 meters. Many in the sniper community disliked the decision, arguing that the M24Â’s simple bolt-action design has fewer moving parts and is more accurate than a more complex semi-auto design.
The complaints prompted 25th Infantry Division officials in Hawaii to write an Operational Needs Statement last summer that involved sending their M24s to the gunÂ’s maker, Remington Arms Co. in Madison, N.C., to be retrofitted to .300 Win Mag instead of turning them in to the Army.
PEO Soldier Commander Brig. Gen Peter Fuller said he will support the request as a short-term solution for giving the Army a longer range sniper rifle. “We are supporting units that are asking for modified M24s in .300 Win Mag,” if they have an operational needs statement for such a capability, Fuller recently told Army Times.
Both the Army and Marine Corps are working a long-range sniper rifle designed to kill an enemy from as far out as 1,800 meters. Both services use versions of a .50-caliber sniper rifle that is effective out to 2,500 meters, but the 30-pound weapon is mainly intended to destroy large nonhuman targets such as light-skinned vehicles.
“We realize there is a gap in between those two, 800 to 2,500 meters,” Fuller said, cautioning that this is a short-term fix. “Do you want to have a program of record or do you want to keep pushing things into gaps? There are a lot of vendors out there,” he said. “How do you ensure you have a fair and open competition to make sure the best opportunity comes forward and not just one because we did an operational needs statement?”
The caliber upgrade for the M24 is not a new concept. Special operations units such as the 75th Ranger Regiment have been shooting M24s chambered in .300 Win Mag since the late 1990s.
The 25th IDÂ’s upgrade effort involves sending the existing M24s to Remington, where they will be fitted with a new barrel, a new bolt face, a special folding stock and a more powerful optic. Each upgrade would cost about $4,000, Remington officials have estimated. Standard M24s cost about $6,700.
It’s still unclear how the modifications will be handled, Fuller said. “When units have their own unique systems, how do you maintain that across the Army?” he asked. “We have to think through this; at some point, musical chairs are going to stop and you are not going to be able to do your own thing.”