The Firearm Blog

Guy Sagi, the Editor in Chief of Shooting Illustrated, has written about his experience hunting antelope with an AR-10.

It is great to see semi-automatic rifle hunting going mainstream.

During the Iraq War the Marines urgently ordered 180 of the Mk11 Mod 0 Sniper Weapon System's, but with the Army M110 Rifle Upper Receiver. This Mk11 / M110 hybrid was known as the Mk11 Mod 1. Later, the Marines began ordering the Mk11 Mod 2, a SOCOM / Navy developed variant of the SR-25 that is very similar to the M110.

Knight's Armament are now selling the last 50 of the Mk11 Mod 1 rifles that will ever be produced to civilians.

The suggested retail price ... $8508! Most of these 50 rifles are already spoken for with only a few left for sale. It is more than I would spend on a rifle of this class, but I suppose it is also a piece of military history.

Big thanks to Jesse for sending me the info.

LaRue OSR 7.62mm

The LaRue Tactical OSR has been a long time coming but LaRue are nearing shipping the rifles that are currently on order.

The OSR is an AR-10 type rifle styled after the Knight's Armament SR-25 and M110. It is built from high quality components and shoots sub-MOA groups at 100 yards. THe price reflects this, and it starts at $2,485.

From the above video. I love how the the SureFire suppressor heats up on night vision! I guess suppressors are not a good choice in night time combat operations.

Federal have produced two new loads, under the American Eagle brand, for the M1A (M14) and M1 Garand rifles. The cartridges have staked primers and the powders used were chosen with the rifle’s specific gas system design in mind.

The M1 (.30-06) load pushes a 150 grain FMJ bullet at 2740 fps fps and the M1A (7.62×51mm NATO) load a 168 grain Open Tip Match (OTM) bullet at 2650 fps.

Also from Federal is a Power-Shok hunting load optimized for AR-10 style rifles chambered in .338 Federal. The loads pushes a 200 grain soft point at 2700 fps.

CMMG are taking pre-orders for their new stripped lower reliever that is compatible with DPMS Panther Arms .308 AR-10 style upper receivers. The lower uses H&K G3 magazine which can be bought for under $5!

G3 lower (top)

Some minor modifications are needed to the upper to accommodate the larger magazine. The price is $449.95 and it can be ordered online.

Many thanks to Tom for the info.

The captain held in a lifeboat by pirates off the coast of Somalia has been rescued by the US Navy after snipers took out his captors. CNN reports:

U.S. Navy snipers fatally shot three pirates holding an American cargo-ship captain hostage after seeing that one of the pirates “had an AK-47 leveled at the captain’s back,” a military official said Sunday.

…

The three pirates, who were armed with AK-47 rifles, were killed by shooters who were aboard the Bainbridge, Gortney said.

The on-scene commander gave the shooters approval to open fire after seeing that “one of the pirates had an AK-47 leveled at the captain’s back,” Gortney said.

That is some incredible shooting!

Earlier this year a team of Marine Scout Snipers were deployed to the region for counter piracy work. They are armed with the SR-25 (Mk 11) 7.62×51mm semi-automatic, an AR-10 style rifle. They may well have been the men that were deployed to take out the pirates.

A scout sniper fires an MK-11 rifle from a HH-60H Sea Hawk helicopter

Hat Tip: Snow Flakes in Hell

We have seen some cool iPhone applications come out for shooting sports. But nothing comes close to the sheer awesomeness of the Knights Armaments M110 iPod Touch mount and accompanying ballistics software.

The M110 is the 7.62×51mm semi-automatic sniper system which won the Army’s competition to replace the aging M24 bolt action sniper system. While it will not replace the M24 in the near future, the system is seeing action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The rifle is based on the SR-25, which in turn is based on the Stoners’ AR-10 design.

Knights Armaments have developed a mounting system for the iPod Touch that attaches to a side mounted picatinny rail. The mount attaches to an Otterbox protective case.

Click to expand. Photo ⓒ Chen “SMGLee” Lee. Used with permission.


Click to expand. Photo ⓒ Chen “SMGLee” Lee. Used with permission.

KAC contracted Runaway technologies to build an external ballistics calculator for the iPod Touch / iPhone named Bullet Flight. It is your standard ballistics application. You can set firearm / ammunition profiles, then call up the saved profile and enter your environment information, for example, distance, wind direction, elevation and temperature.

The application is available from the iTunes store for $11.99. It is a lot more expensive than the $4.99 iSnipe application.

We may yet see an iPhone on the battlefield

LMT (Lewis Machine & Tool) have developed an AR-10 version of their AR-15 CQB MRP rifle called the MTP MRP 308.

Click to expand. Photo Copyright Ken Lunde. Used with permission.

It uses the LMT Monolithic Rail Platform which is a one piece upper receiver and free floating handguard that is machined from sold aluminum.

The AR-15 MRP upper. Click to expand.

The name suggests it can handle the higher pressure .308 Winchester round as well as 7.62×51mm NATO (no, they are not the same).

I don’t have anymore info on the rifle and do not know if it uses the LMT gas piston system.

ArmaLite has their new AR-10T chambering 7mm-08, a very popular hunting round. Interestingly they are also offering it in the the relatively obscure .260 Remington. The .260 is now 11 years olds and gaining popularity as a flat shooting and low recoil 6.5mm cartridge.

AR-10T. Click to expand. Photo Copyright Ken Lunde. Used with permission.

Later this year Remington will be selling the Model R-25, an AR-10 type rifle chambered in .243, 7mm-08 and .308.

Click to expand all images.

With the hunter in mind, the new R-25 modular repeating rifle boasts the most advanced design aspects of AR 308 Win. style rifles available today. For peak accuracy, the R-25 features a precision-crafted 20 inch barrel with recessed hunting crown that’s free-floated within a machined-aluminum fore-end tube for the ultimate in shot-to-shot consistency. Six longitudinal flutes forward of the gas block provide increased rigidity and weight reduction while promoting rapid barrel cooling.

Koelbl Single-Rail Gas Block

Specs:

- Free-floated button-rifled 0.680″ Muzzle OD ChroMoly barrels with recessed hunting crown

- Fluted barrel design (fluted ahead of gas block)

- Koelbl Single-Rail Gas Block

- Single-stage hunting trigger set to 4.5-5lbs

- Receiver-length Picatinny rail

- Ergonomic pistol grip

- Front and rear sling swivel studs

- Full Mossy Oak® Treestand™ coverage

- Includes 4-round magazine

- Compatible with aftermarket AR 308 Win. type magazines (AR-10 I assume)

- Comes with a lockable hard case

All three models have a 20″ barrel, 10″ rate of twist and weight 8.75 lbs and carry a MSRP of $1532.

According to John Snow @ Gun Shots Remington have already sold out this years quota!

More at Remington.com and Gun Shots

The POF-USA P-308 is a interesting rifle. It is a gas piston operated rifle, based on the AR-10/AR-15 design and requires no lubrication.

14.5″ version

They achieve this by plating the upper receiver with silicon nickel and chroming and heat treating the bolt and carrier.

Upper receiver

Here is a video of it in action

In spite of its name, it is chambered in 7.62X51mm, not .308 (yes, there is a difference).

More info at POF-USA and Defense Review.