This is really the end of an era. I just really have to wonder when an up sized M110 will eventually supplant the XM2010...semi automatic sniper rifles appear to be the wave of the future.
via Military.com.
Read the whole thing but the US Army appears to be setting course toward a two rifle system...the XM2010 for long range shots and the M110 for the shorter/urban stuff.The Army is moving closer to arming all of its sharpshooters with the XM2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle, a powerful new sniper rifle that can reach more than 50 percent farther than the weapon currently in use.The XM2010 first hit Army ranges late last year, and the service's top gear buyer says it is already targeting bad guys in Afghanistan.The new rifle takes some of the parts of the current Remington-built M24 bolt-action sniper rifle -- which has been in the Army's inventory since the late 1980s -- and marries them with an updated stock, magazine and rail system.But in a major shift brought on by experience in Afghanistan, the XM2010 is being built to fire the .300 Winchester Magnum round, which can hit targets up to 1,200 meters away. The current M24 -- much the same as the civilian Remington Model 700 -- fires a 7.62mm round that can reach targets about 800 meters away.
What remains unsaid is whether the .50 caliber rifles are going away.
I'd almost bet money that they are. The 300 Win Mag can almost reach as far and as far as I know shoot flatter.
This might interest you. (Primer on sniper calibers.)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/Long%20Range%20Sniping.htm
I doubt the .50 cal will go away. The round is large enough that it can fire HE rounds, which I doubt the 300 mag is large enough to do. That makes it effective against equipment as well as people. The 300 mag may supplant some .50 cals, but it doesn't have the same destructive power as the .50 so I doubt they'll completely go away.
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