Two articles from
Tactical Weapons, May 2009
- Knight’s Armament M110 .308: First look! U.S. Army enlists a new, deadly silent, semi-auto sureshot!
- Confirmed 700-Meter Kill with M110 SASS in Afghanistan!
One article from
Tactical Weapons, May 2008- USMC’s New Sniping Sureshot MK-11 MOD 1 SRS: A 7.62 hit makes insurgents stay down for the count!
Also:
https://peosoldier.army.mil/FactShee...SW_IW_M110.pdf
Knight’s Armament M110 .308
First look! U.S. Army enlists a new, deadly silent, semi-auto sureshot!
Tactical Weapons, May 2009
“One shot, one kill.” This phrase is one that typically conjures images of America’s sniper elite. The next likely image that comes to mind is a scoped bolt-action rifle. The U.S. Army may be changing the familiar paradigm by fielding their new Knight’s Armament M110 semi-automatic, suppressed sniper rifle.
For a century, snipers have been regarded as “man hunters,” stalking high-valued military targets and obtaining intel from a concealed position in enemy territory. The sniper’s mission has been shifting since the end of the Vietnam War. Modern warfare and tactics have complicated the sniper’s traditional role, challenging their craft with multiple engagements from less than ideal locations on a dynamic battleground. The U.S. Army’s PEO (Program Executive Office) Soldier recognized this and has embarked on a search for a rifle that could best adapt to the War on Terror. After extensive testing, PEO teamed up with KAC (Knight’s Armament Company) to rapidly develop what many are calling the M24’s replacement.
“The Army came out with a requirement for a rifle that they wanted that would be a semi-automatic [firing] as accurate as possible,” says C. Reed Knight, owner of KAC. Knight was given a list of requirements that the SASS (Semi-Automatic Sniper System) had to meet, specifically:
* Weigh less than 15 pounds
* Feature an integral silencer
* Include an adjustable stock
* Contain ambidextrous controls
* Include a bipod
On September 28, 2005, the U.S. Army awarded KAC the honor of producing the XM110 SASS and by April of 2007 soldiers in Afghanistan assigned to Task Force Fury became the first in a combat zone to receive the M110.
Gun Details
Formerly known as the XM110, the “X” was dropped when the Army obtained field positive reports and considered the experiment complete. The M110 is based on KAC’s combat proven SR-25 (and similar to the USMC’s Mk 11 Mod 0) which, in turn, is loosely based on Eugene Stoner’s AR-10. The M110 features many refinements over its kin aimed at maximizing parts commonality with the standard-issue M16 and M4 service rifles, improved reliability and increased accuracy.
The differences between the Army’s M110 and the Marine’s Mk 11 are in the details. The forend rail system on the Mk 11 is the KAC free-floated RAS while the M110 uses a URX modular rails system with folding front back-up iron sights (BUIS). Like the Mk 11, the buttstock is fixed but an adjustable buttplate gives the user the ability to set the length of pull. The adjustment can be made without tools by rotating a hand-tightened knob on the right side of the stock. On both sides of the stock are integral quick-detachable sling swivel sockets positioned near the lower receiver. The changes made to the stock, the addition of a two-sided (ambi) bolt catch, and a locking button on the folding front sight were the only improvements made to the XM110 in its transition to become the M110.
On top of the upper is the familiar M1913 Picatinny rail system. Issued with the rifle is a Leupold scope, set in a one-piece mount featuring integral 30mm rings. The complete system includes the Leupold 3.5 to 10 variable-power scope, a Harris bipod, an AN/PVS-14 night vision sight, and a Leupold tactical spotting scope. On the lower receiver are ambidextrous controls including the magazine release, safety selector and bolt catch for more universal operation.
The system was optimized for the M118LR cartridge but it has been tested effectively with dual-purpose anti-personnel/armor piercing ammunition with sub-MOA accuracy. Military.com’s Christian Lowe participated in a rare opportunity to test fire the M110 at U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Proving Grounds. “Plinking targets at 250 yards with the suppressed M110 was a breeze—especially with the Leupold Mark 4 3.5-10x scope,” Lowe says. “The action was smooth, the report sounded like a BB gun and the system is totally stable and easy to use,” Lowe adds.
Advantages of the SASS
The bolt action M24 is known for its reliability and incredible accuracy. Its drawback lies in the area of rapid reloads, a feature becoming more important in the heavy insurgent environment. The M110 provides the sniper with as many as five well-aimed shots in five seconds, half the time it takes the same individual to operate the bolt action M24.
“It’s a very target-rich environment for them over there,” says Maj. Marc Meeker, assistant product manager for PEO. The most obvious advantage in the M110 deals with the magazine capacity, a drawback of the M24 identified by the subsequent M24A2, which features a 10-round detachable magazine. The M110, however, comes with 20-round magazines that can be quickly reloaded. This aspect of the M110 serves the demands of the PEO program that wants “something faster but just as lethal.”
In an ambush, the magazine fed M110 is superior to the bolt action where a spotter has to fight off attackers with his M4 as the sniper reloads loose rounds into the M24. “Operational testing showed that the SASS provides a 50 percent improvement in a sniper’s rate of engagement versus the M24 at distances up to and including the 800-meter mark,” reports Joshua Semick, lead engineer for the M110.
Besides saving the spotter’s hearing, the requirement for a suppressor was a tactical choice. The SASS concept flies in the face of an important aspect of the sniper’s craft… concealment. Having access to 20 shots suggest that a sniper might use them and, after firing more than two or three, a sniper’s hide has likely been compromised. The KAC suppressor reduces the audible sound signature and visible flash, thereby offering the team added protection.
A 7.62 NATO bullet leaves the muzzle faster than the speed of sound, creating a small sonic boom that dissipates over distance as the bullet slows to a sub-sonic speed. It’s estimated that beyond 600 meters, a sniper can shoot and appear silent to the target. In urban areas where sound bounces off walls, the KAC suppressor assists with a sniper’s concealment by confusing the source of the shots. If a sniper takes his shot at 800 meters or beyond, he could make multiple anti-personnel shots without the enemy even being aware.
“I know from experience that snipers in Iraq love the M110, especially with its increased capacity and resemblance to the M16 which keeps you from silhouetting yourself as a ‘one-shot-one-killer,’” says Military.com’s Christian Lowe. “Now, I’ve heard rumors from the Marines that they were unimpressed with the weapon’s reliability in Iraq. But the soldier I talked to at Aberdeen said he’s been testing the heck out of the rifle and only saw minimal bolt cracking after nearly 15,000 rounds. The M24 is said to have a bolt lifespan of 5,000 rounds before a major reworking. While he recognized bolt-action purists would be horrified by the sacrilege of moving to a semi-auto system, he said with the number of targets typically being engaged by snipers in the war zone, he’d rather have 20 rounds per magazine than six any day of the week. ‘With this I get 20 rounds and a split second between shots,’ he said. ‘I can kill more targets every time with this.’”
Joining the Ranks
Being that the KAC SR-25, the M110’s close relative, has served special ops units like the U.S. Navy SEALs exceptionally well, the Army has chosen to move past debate and quickly enlist the most comprehensive solution snipers have seen in decades. Thus far, the M110 has proven itself effective against enemy personnel and light materiel targets out to 1,000 meters. Achieving success in the War on Terror requires getting essential capabilities to where they’re needed as quickly as possible. The M110 resulted from the PEO program that identifies and adapts existing technologies in three years or less. The M110 serves as an example of an improvement over the normal seven-to-10 year acquisition timeline.
The first soldiers to receive the M110 were snipers from the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division who obtained their rifles in time to train before deploying with them. “Our focus is to try to get this weapon to units prior to their deployment,” says Maj. Meeker. “We don’t want to field it to them in theater. We would rather train them here on the ground in a peacetime environment, and then have them outfitted with the best and newest equipment as they go forward on the battlefield,” he adds.
“It’s everything a sniper wants,” says Sgt. Jed Christianson after training with the M110. “We’re all very excited about this new weapon system because it’s custom-tailored to the kind of fight we’re in, in Iraq.”
The U.S. Army plans to field nearly 3,000 M110s with many rifles already serving overseas but the adoption of the M110 hasn’t come without great debate. Much praise has been said for the Army’s move to keep the 7.62 NATO chambering. Some argue against Stoner’s AR design entirely. For those partial to the bolt action, know that the U.S. Army still plans on acquiring M24s through February 2010.
BulletFlight: Ballistic Data For The iPOD
Knight’s Armament now offers portable ballistics software for the iPhone and iPod Touch and is developing a water-proof rail mount. A bullet’s impact becomes more predictable with accurate calculations that factor in environmental details (i.e., distance, wind direction, temperature, elevation). The software can even automatically get weather data from your current location. The display gives you the information you need for the current shot rather than showing a complex table. BulletFlight, available for purchase by anyone directly from the ‘App Store’ comes pre-loaded with several rifle profiles, but you can easily add more—not just for the M110, but any rifle.
Confirmed 700-Meter Kill with M110 SASS!
Tactical Weapons, May 2009
Soon after arriving to Afghanistan with their new M110 SASS (Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle System), soldiers began sighting in the rifle alongside the venerable M24 SWS. Many snipers expressed reluctance to field such a departure from the bolt-action design but quite a few in the 82nd Airborne were anxious for the opportunity to test its mettle.
At an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan last year, a sniper team armed with the new M110 deployed well ahead of a convoy in a known insurgent environment. Running along the supply route were steep and jagged mountains that provided the enemy with concealment and elevation. A specific point along the convoy’s path to an FOB (forward operation base) was often targeted by insurgent RPG and mortar teams who would shell the convoy before escaping through the mountains. Pursuit of this group was prevented by a river that ran along the road.
After an arduous hike onto a mountain opposite of the one used by the insurgents, the sniper team set up and observed. A long range rifle like the M110 would be necessary to cross the open valley that ranged more than 700 meters. As the convoy approached, the sniper team noticed movement through their Leupold optics as three insurgents scrambled to set up their position.
The first two shots were missed as environmental factors played an unexpected role on each bullet’s flight path. If the M110 hadn’t been suppressed, soldiers report that the enemy might have heard the audible crack and fled. On the third shot, contact was made and the bullet reportedly devastated the body. Before the enemy could flee, the semi-automatic design proved its value to the snipers by dropping a rapid follow-up shot on target. It was at this time, a young lieutenant opened fire with his M249 SAW and killed the third.
USMC’s New Sniping Sureshot MK-11 MOD 1 SRS
A 7.62 hit makes insurgents stay down for the count!
Tactical Weapons, May 2008
When Sgt. Gerald Hooee, chief scout sniper in 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, deployed to Ramadi with Sgt. Clay Anderson in 2005, Hooee knew SSP (Scout Sniper Platoon) needed a semi-automatic sniper rifle to deal with insurgents who were running around the city in small bands of three or four. “I gotta get a Stoner,” said Hooee. He can fire five rounds of 7.62 match ammo and hit 4-inch steel discs between 100 and 500 yards in 8.3 seconds with an M40A3, but believed he could increase his rate of accurate fire if he could make use of an SR-25 semi-automatic sniper rifle in Ramadi. “There are gonna be times when guys take off running, but you can stay on them with the SR-25 until they drop,” said Hooee, who had left Fallujah with four confirmed kills and four probables with his M40.
At a distance, the new sniper rifle is difficult to distinguish from M16 service rifles carried by Marines and soldiers. It has a similar profile, especially when its sound suppressor is removed. Close-up, the Marine Corps MK-11 Mod 1 SRS (Sniper Rifle System) and the U.S. Army M110 SASS (Semi-Automatic Sniper System), look like an M16 on steroids. But that’s where the similarities end. The new rifle can spit out 20 rounds of 7.62mm match-grade ammunition as fast as an operator can sight and pull the trigger. A 1 lb. 14 oz. sound suppressor that fits over the barrel of the rifle significantly reduces the weapon’s blast signature by 28 to 30 dB, and prevents the tell-tale cloud of dust when fired in dry climates like Iraq or Afghanistan. The quick-detach suppressor for the MK-11 is just over 12 inches long. The suppressor for the M110 is just over 14 inches long. The rifle’s exclusive Leupold long-range tactical 3.5-10X variable power scope allows snipers to fire at targets on the move with deadly accuracy.
“Anyone with a scoped rifle is a target on the battlefield, but the MK-11 is hard to spot at a distance,” notes Sgt. Clay Anderson, a veteran of three combat deployments to Iraq. Marine snipers who carry the MK-11 tend to blend in with their comrades, making them “less conspicuous on the battlefield.” Anderson served in the SSP in Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar Province with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, the unit this reporter was embedded with during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Anderson saw first-hand what the MK-11 was capable of in the infamous “Triangle of Death.”
Ammo, Scopes & Weapons
KAC (Knight’s Armament Company) was able to ship about two dozen of the new sniper rifles to Iraq in the spring of 2005, months before a USMC order for 180 sniper rifles was filled. Sgt. Hooee was able to get his hands on one of the SR-25s in Ramadi. Anderson said, “It was his weapon of choice but we only had one of the weapons in ‘Seminole Bravo,’” the team Hooee commanded. Anderson was with Hooee the day he killed an insurgent with an AK-47 at about 300 meters; one of two who fell to the new sniper rifle. Anderson says Hooee was also very effective at detonating IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) at a safe distance with his SR-25. “The scope on the SR-25 has ¼ MOA (Minutes of Angle) instead of ½ MOA on the M40A3 and that makes for greater refinement and accuracy.” Even so, Anderson doubts Marine snipers will willingly give up their M40s in favor of the SR-25, like the Army snipers might do with the M24 sniper rifle. The Marines recently replaced Unertl 10x fixed scopes on upgraded M40A3’s with Schmidt & Bender 3-12X variable-power DS Scout Sniper Day Scopes. Marine snipers still believe, based on experience, that a bolt-action rifle is more accurate than a semi-automatic rifle when it comes to taking down a target at 1,000 meters. Besides, they feel comfortable behind the familiar butt plate of their M40s. But the more refined sights on the MK-11 and M110 allow shots about 200 to 300 yards farther than the M40A3 and about 600 yards farther than the Army’s M24 SWS respectively.
The MK-11 and M110 sniper rifles fire the same 7.62mm M118LR (Long Range) cartridge as the sniper rifles they will eventually replace. The 7.62mm special ball (M118) bullet consists of a gilding-metal jacket and a lead-antimony slug, a boat-tailed bullet weighing 173 grains. Regular 7.62mm ball ammunition should be used only in an emergency. The new sniper rifle can also fire M993 AP (Armor Piercing) ammunition in special situations.
Urgent Need
When Fallujah, a hotbed of insurgent activity down the road from Ramadi, finally fell to U.S. forces in the winter of 2004, snipers in Iraq told their commanders they needed a 7.62mm precision auto-loading weapon they could use in conjunction with their M40A3 sniper rifles. The commanders in theater put out an Urgent Universal Needs Statement, or “Unz” as it’s commonly called, for such a weapon that could engage light-skinned vehicles as well as personnel in close-quarter urban fights. “Because it was an urgent statement of need, we sought a commercial off-the-shelf product; more specifically anything that was in use by other U.S. military forces and we found that there was a contract with KAC by the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, IN,” said Major Bamidele J. Abogunrin, team leader for individual weapons at the Marine Corps Systems Command, or SysCom, at Quantico Marine Base, VA.
KAC began supplying Navy SEALs with its MK-11 Mod 0 Sniper Rifle System in May 2000. Designers at KAC cut 4 inches off the commercial version of its 24-inch barrel to accommodate a 6-inch sound suppressor. They also offered a 16-inch barrel. Without the shorter barrels, the rifle would have been entirely too long to meet the SEAL’s requirement for a compact weapon. The shorter-barrel versions were less accurate than the longer barrels, until technicians at KAC re-engineered the way moving parts of the rifle were manufactured. The biggest change was the barrel, and twist changes to 1:11. They also changed the firing pin, ejector, extractor and buffer. The result was a match-quality sniper rifle that met the requirements of a U.S. Navy contract for a new weapon that is the approximate shape and size as M16A2 and M16A4 service rifles.
“Give Us the Tools…”
In November 2005, the USMC announced it was buying 180 MK-11 Mod 1 SRS in response to the emergency request from II MEF commanders. The bolt-action M40A3 sniper rifle was proving not to be optimally suited for urban combat environments like the Marines faced in Fallujah and later in Ramadi, where survivors from Fallujah fled after the bloodiest street fighting since Hue City, Vietnam.
Christopher Sharon served as a scout sniper with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and in Afghanistan in 2004, before becoming a scout sniper instructor at Quantico. He says the MK-11 fills a gap in a sniper’s battlefield capability. “Typically, a gas-operated rifle is inherently less accurate than a bolt gun at its maximum effective range, but the MK-11 gives a sniper the ability to rapidly follow up a shot, and for the application it was acquired, the MK-11 answers the mail.” Marine snipers like the capability of loading a 20-round mag into a weapon and making rapid, repeated precision shots. “As fast as you can pull the trigger, you can put rounds down range,” Sharon said as he and Maj. Abogunrin showed this reporter one of the new sniper rifles on a bench at the Marine SysCom Ordnance Testing Facility at Quantico. Abogunrin says the Marines have no current plans to purchase more MK-11s or any other semi-automatic sniper rifles, because there is no “requirement” now, but that could change after a capabilities assessment is completed.
The U.S. Army is acquiring large numbers of the M110 SASS with an eye to retiring some of its bolt-action M24 sniper weapons. The Army plans to field 4,400 of the new semi-automatic sniper rifles through FY2009 at a cost of about $10K per weapon.
MK-11 and M110 Positive Results
First word of the new sniper rifle surfaced on USMC.mil with a story by LCpl. Aaron J. Rock of the 26th MEU entitled, “Scout Snipers Break in New Rifles for the 26th MEU.” The test-firing took place at Fort A.P. Hill in VA. Sgt. Gerald V. Gavin, SSP Commander from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 26th MEU says the new scope is a “great piece of glass.”
Word that the U.S. Army was fielding a new sniper rifle came out in an April ’07 article written by Spc. Matthew Leary at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan. Operators from Task Force Fury were the first in the combat zone to receive the new weapon. SSgt. Jason R. Terry, a sniper instructor with the U.S. Army Sniper School liked the suppressor.
“This advancement will make locating snipers in the field, even after they have fired a shot, difficult for enemy forces.”
A soldier serving with Army SpecOps in Iraq wrote KAC to say, “The SR-25 Series is everything and more than we have hoped for.” KAC has received similar testimonials from troops in Afghanistan.
One noticeable change in the new sniper rifle is its color. The rifle, scope, bipod and Hardigg carrying case are finished in the Army’s new FDE (flat dark earth) paint in order to help defeat enemy thermal imaging devices.
Men Behind the Gun
In the late 1980s, C. Reed Knight Jr., president of KAC, entered into a partnership of sorts with his close friend, Eugene Stoner. Stoner designed the 7.62×51mm AR-10 assault rifle while working for the ArmaLite Division of the Fairchild Co. in CA. Although the AR-10 was never adopted by the U.S. military, Stoner didn’t give up on his original design. In 1991, he designed a variation that incorporated parts in common with the 5.56×45mm M16. The result of combining the AR-10 and M16 was the Stoner SR-25, but Stoner died before he saw his beloved rifle adopted by some of America’s elite.
Knight spends a lot of time on the manufacturing line at his plant in FL, where every part is made except the Obermeyer barrels. He talked to this reporter about the rebirth of this Stoner design: “In the late 1980s, Gene Stoner and I were told that the future of small arms in the military had been fulfilled and there was no requirement for new products, but Gus Taylor, a young Army officer at SOCOM (Special Operations Command) told me there was a need for a .308 semi-automatic sniper rifle, and such a weapon could gain some traction in the military.” Taylor, who is now at Naval Warfare Center-Crane, was then in charge of requirements at SOCOM. Knight believes one element of the success of the SR-25 is the commonality of training, maintenance and of parts with the M16—parts such as pins, springs, butt stock and pistol grip.
Ironically, the SR-25 began as a military project but was kept alive by civilian sales until the Navy came aboard in 2000 and bought 300 of the MK-11 Mod O Sniper Rifle Systems for SEAL teams. Since then the Marine Corps and Army have seen the need for such a weapon.
Today’s urban combat environment is a maze of artificial barriers such as masonry walls and vehicles packed with explosives, and Knight notes those artificial barriers are best penetrated with a heavier bullet than a 5.56. After the invasion of Iraq, a liaison team from Marine Corps System Command traveled to the battle space a week after 1/5 seized the last military objective in Baghdad. The three officers conducted an exhaustive study of what worked and what didn’t and they found the 5.56mm slug weak.
With Knight’s new sniper rifle, soldiers and Marines are finding that insurgents hit with a 7.62mm slug stay down.
Knight’s Armament M110
Linear Mode
