US SOCOM Selects Geissele Automatics for MRGG-S
During a video introducing some new products published on 31 August, Bill Geissele announced that Geissele’s submission to US SOCOM’s MRGG-S (Mid-Range Gas Gun) program had been selected. The new rifle appears to have beaten out rival designs from other down-selected companies, including FN and LMT.
Geissele @ TFB:
Geissele noted that while in-house the rifle had been known as Project Joy, SOCOM’s designation for it is the Mk1 Mod0. The MRGG program was launched more than three years ago with Sniper (MRGG-S) and Assault (MRGG-A) elements. It’s currently unclear if Geissele have also been selected for the MRGG-A requirement, it appears that MRGG-A testing is still ongoing with multi-day testing planned for March 2024.
SOCOM’s objective statement for the MRGG-S states a requirement for a “more accurate and increased range sniper support rifle, with a threshold accuracy requirement of 1.0 Minute of Angle (MOA) at 100 yards and an objective accuracy requirement of 0.5 MOA at 100 yards”. SOCOM wanted a semi-automatic rifle with a 20-inch barrel, weighing less than 10.5 lbs, firing 6.5 Creedmoor. The rifle had to be capable of 1 MOA accuracy after firing 5,000 rounds.
Introducing the rifle, Bill Geissele said “I believe this is history… we competed against the titans of the gun industry.” Geissele’s rifle surpassed SOCOM’s requirements with 25,000 rounds put through various test rifles, three guns underwent a barrel-life test where 6,400 rounds were fired from the rifles. Holding up a paper target Geissele explained that typical accuracy for the rifle averages 0.5 MOA and that during one stage of testing SOCOM fired 240 rounds at the rate of one round per second repeatedly.
The rifle has a cold hammer forged from CRMOV steel, chrome-line barrel and is paired with Geissele’s double wall ‘ Super Night Owl‘ suppressor made from Nanoweapon-coated titanium. The rifle has a free-float M-LOK handguard and upper and lower receivers machined from aircraft-grade aluminum. It is fully ambidextrous and features the Geissele Super Semi-Automatic Enhanced (SSA-E™) trigger.
Specifications for Geissele’s MRGG-S rifle:
| CALIBER: | 6.5 Creedmoor or 7.62 X 51mm NATO |
| COLOR: | Desert Dirt Color (DDC) |
| LOWER RECEIVER: | Billet Receiver with Fully Ambidextrous Controls |
| UPPER RECEIVER: | Strengthened, Billet Upper for Improved Stiffness and Riveted Hardened Steel Cam Race |
| BOLT CARRIER: | Nanoweapon Coated Reliability Enhanced Carrier |
| BOLT: | Nanoweapon Coated Reliability Enhanced Bolt |
| HANDGUARD: | Easy on-off Geissele MK16 x 17.5″ Rail |
| BARREL: | 20”, CRMOV Barrel (Chrome Lined 1:7.5 Twist) |
| GAS PORT: | Geissele Phased Array |
| CHARGING HANDLE: | Ambidextrous Charging Handle |
| MUZZLE DEVICE : | Geissele Flash Suppressor with Suppressor Mount |
| TRIGGER: | SSA-E Two-Stage Trigger |
| SAFETY: | Super Configurable Safety, Ambidextrous |
| BUFFER ASSEMBLY: | Super 42 Braided Wire Spring & Buffer System, H2 |
| STOCK: | Magpul PRS Lite Stock |
| GRIP: | Geissele A22 Grip |
| OVERALL LENGTH: | 41.0″ |
Managing Editor: TheFirearmBlog.com & Overt Defense.com. Matt is a British historian specialising in small arms development and military history. He has written several books and for a variety of publications in both the US and UK. Matt is also runs The Armourer's Bench, a video series on historically significant small arms. Here on TFB he covers product and current military small arms news. Reach Matt at: matt@thefirearmblog.com
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1MOA consistently is an impressive grouping.
I can’t figure out if this is good for us, as far as seeing SR-25 compatible Geissele handguards again), or bad. I’m leaning towards good.
But I swear to god…if Geissele didn’t go with DPMS threads for the VSASS/Mk1 barrel nut, and if their CS reps say that’s why they can’t provide SR-25 compatible versions of this handguard…while they already actively make 2 different versions of the Mk16 for themselves and industry…I’m probably going to have an aneurism.