#DesignatedMarksman

A couple of cops I know said, “hey let’s take this DMR class together”.  Bros, guns, and a mini-vacation sounded pretty great to me.  To turn down the opportunity would have been foolish.  I actually had no idea what a designated marksman was or what role they play in the military.  I had a broad idea based on my law enforcement background, but I have never been in the military, and this course was being taught by a Navy SEAL.  What follows is my after action report and a few tidbits I learned along the way while at  Designated Marksman Rifle – The Site training facility.

While doing a research for another article I came across a set of photos taken during live firing exercises of Russian Ground Forces’ snipers in Alabino proving grounds. Reportedly, the images are taken in December 2017. Let’s take a look at them and discuss the most interesting aspects.

The US Army’s embattled CSASS program has moved forward slightly with a sources sought notice posted to the Fed Biz Opps website, seeking manufacturers who can make many of the accessories that equip the M110A1 rifle. The notice isn’t itself for a contract, but will help determine which manufacturers are able to provide a second source production capability for CSASS accessories.

A warning against romanticism in military planning.

Earlier this month, the Serbian Army debuted a new 6.5 Grendel weapon system, developed by Zastava. The rifle, called M17, is a heavily modified variant of the M70 AK family that has been developed by the company for decades. It incorporates a number of significant new features and improvements detailed below. The new rifle comes as part of an infantry upgrade for the Serbian Army which includes new 7.62x54R rifles, optics, helmets, and load-bearing equipment. This development marks the first adoption of the 6.5 Grendel round as standard by a national military force. The new rifle is advertised to be half a kilogram lighter than the previous rifle, although it’s not clear whether that is supposed to be the 7.62x39mm M70 or the 5.56x45mm M21. Reportedly, the rifles and the new caliber have not yet been adopted, but are still in testing.

In the coming decades, it is likely that one of the biggest challenges facing small arms ammunition designers will be solving the problem of how to deal with advanced body armors. The problem is already percolating to the surface, as Level IV body armor – which is immune to virtually all general issue rounds below .50 caliber – becomes more available and less expensive. Already, an individual can equip themselves with a full set of Level IV plates and a carrier for less than $1,000. As armor improves, it will only get lighter, cheaper, and more resistant to fire.

At the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, Oberndorf gunmaker Heckler & Koch had on display the latest configuration of their CSASS winning rifle, the G28E-based M110A1. The rifle is similar to the M110A1 displayed at the 2017 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, but sports a RAL8000 bronze finish (similar to the CSASS prototypes), and folding Troy back up iron sights. The CSASS has also benefited from the latest round of upgrades made to the HK416A5/A7, including a right-side bolt catch and ambidextrous magazine release. Interestingly, compared to the previous CSASS displayed at SHOT, this newest model lacks a forward assist.

In examining the future of infantry capability, we must not only be aware of potential technological solutions, but of the need to re-think and re-work what it means to train and prepare troops for future battlefields. At the core of this is the simple matter of man and rifle, of marksmanship.

Gun accessory manufacturer Geissele has revealed its first ever production suppressor. The new can, called the “Super Night Owl”, was revealed at the Modern Day Marine 2017 industry demonstration. Soldier Systems Daily broke the story with a teaser post, and a single image:

Geissele has taken the step from manufacturing accessories, to making the guns themselves: The company released its new VSASS semiautomatic sniper rifle system at the Modern Day Marine 2017 industry demonstration. News of the new rifle was first broken by Soldier Systems Daily, via an article available at this link. The VSASS (which stands for Very-long-range Semi-Automatic Sniper System) is a Stoner-type direct gas impingement system built from the ground up by Geissele, utilizing very few off-the-shelf components. It sports a number of refinements, including an extended length barrel extension, hardened steel cam pin raceway, cobalt alloy cam pin, and other improvements to the operating group. Many internal surfaces are coated in the durable solid lubricant by Nano Composite Coatings, which appears to be owned by Bill Geissele. The VSASS uses SR-25 magazines, as well as Geissele’s SSA-E trigger. It weighs 12.3 pounds unloaded and without optic, according to the Soldier Systems article, with variants chambered for .260 Remington, 6.5 Creedmoor, and 7.62x51mm NATO.

Polish arms maker Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów (ZMT) has released a new large-caliber semiautomatic sniper rifle system. The 100 year old company, formerly known for their bolt-action sniper rifles and autocannons, introduced the new advanced rifles at the 2017 International Defence Industry Exhibition (Międzynarodowy Salon Przemysłu Obronnego, MSPO) earlier this month. The new rifle system will come in two sizes, one designed for magnum-length rounds like .338 Lapua Magnum, and the other designed for short-action cartridges like .308 Winchester. Called SKW308 and SKW338 after the calibers in which they will be chambered, the rifles stem from a program begun in 2010.

Kalashnikov Concern recently released a new English language video regarding their PL-15K compact pistol, MP-444 pistol, AM-17 and AMB-17 compact assault rifles, and SVCh semiautomatic sniper rifle. By way of a walkthrough from Kalashnikov Concern technical consultant Vladimir Onokoy, the video offers English speakers an important look at the technical features of the new weapons, which were until now something of a mystery to those on this side of the language barrier. The video is embedded below, followed by a written summary:

The Firearm Blog would like to extend its thanks to reader and contributor Giorgio, who lent his journalistic services to us at this years IDEX conference in Abu Dhabi in February. Thanks, Giorgio!

At the 2017 SHOT Show, Heckler & Koch was proudly displaying their victorious CSASS entrant, now designated the M110A1 by the US Army. The Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System competition was created to find a lighter weight, more compact sniper weapon system to replace the Knight’s Armament M110 SASS. The H&K rifle that reportedly won the contract was slightly different than the rifle on display at the show, the latter sporting the new Geissele M-LOK handguard which replaced HK’s proprietary “backwards Keymod” negative attachment handguard.

In the first two parts of this article on a new long range infantry rifle paradigm, we painted a picture of what sort of weapons would be needed to maximize the infantry’s long-range capability, in theory allowing them to achieve “overmatch” versus enemy infantry armed with existing .22 and .30 caliber weapons. We created estimates for both the cost and weight of the infantry rifle, and we also examined the problem of training soldiers to maximize their capabilities with the new longer-ranged weapons.