#M40A6

We are in Japan in this Photo Of The Day. Above you see a U.S. Marine Corps scout sniper, from the Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, as he fires an M40 A6 sniper system during a bilateral sniper live-fire exercise with soldiers from 1st Regimental Landing Team, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.

Our  Photo of The Day shows a Marine Raider with an M40A6 bolt-action sniper rifle and Nightforce scope. I’m not sure if the photographer played with the levels or some other filters as the images look a bit artificial, but who are we to complain? The M40A6 was used by these Marines as they attended the MARSOF Advanced Sniper Course at Camp Lejeune, N.C. earlier this year.

Today we take a look at U. S. Marines with the Special Reaction Team, Security and Emergency Services Battalion, Provost Marshal’s Office, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton as they sight in on targets using their M40A6 sniper rifles.

The theme of Today’s Photo Of The Day is the M40A6 Sniper Rifle.

The US Marine Corps have shared an interesting short video that gives us a look inside the Corps’ Precision Weapon Section, responsible for assembling, refitting and maintaining the Marines’ precision weapons such as sniper rifles and competition firearms.

The United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is considering a caliber change for their future semiautomatic sniper weapons systems. Although traditionally these medium range precision weapons have been chambered for the 7.62x51mm caliber common to NATO, it seems SOCOM is looking to get a little more out of them by changing over to a new 6.5mm/0.264″ caliber round. The Command is investigating two off-the-shelf options: The 6.5mm Creedmoor (6.5x49mm) and the .260 Remington (6.5x52mm). Both rounds are extremely similar, each being based on the .308 Winchester case (the Creedmoor by way of the all-but-forgotten .30 T/C) necked down. From Military Times:

Note- This article is the second portion of an earlier article that contiues the discussion of the dynamics of being a member of a Marine Scout Sniper platoon. To read that article, please click here.

Earlier I covered the topic of the failure rates at the Marine Corps Scout Sniper Basic Course and what the Marines wanted to do to mitigate the failures. I disagreed with the solution to the problem for a number of reasons. In this article I would like to provide some in-depth discussion surrounding the Scout Sniper platoons in the active duty operational component of the Marine Corps, the Fleet. Throughout the years there has been much information dispensed surrounding the platoons and the Scout Snipers within them, some of it true, some of it false, and a number of it just plain rumor. I hope this can clear things up a bit.

Note-This post is a continuation of the earlier post that began, talking about some of the issues that are inherent with chopping the current Scout Sniper Basic Course in two. To read part one, please click here.

We reported on the M40A6 back in November last year. Remington won the competition for the M40A6, which is the Marine Corps’s standard issue sniper rifle within the Fleet Marine Force and Reserve Forces Scout Sniper Platoons.The new rifle is essentially the same Remington 700 action but in the upgraded stock. In fact, there probably isn’t much “new” about these rifles other than the stock, as is usually the case Marine Corps Systems Command has the Fleet platoons send their M40A5s back to the Precision Weapons Shop in Quantico. Here, the older McMillion stocks are taken off, and the new modular stocks are put back on. It also looks like the rifles are coming with 10 round Accuracy International magazines instead of the older 10 round magazines. Optics are staying the same with the Schmidt & Bender M8541, and the Surefire Suppressor system.