U.S. Marine Corps Squad Advanced Marksman Rifle
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Background
The Squad Advanced Marksman and his weapon, the Squad Advanced Marksman Rifle was the product of extensive experimentation by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) of the addition of a designated marksman to a Marine squad. The concept of a designated marksman was already in use by the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-Terrorism) and Marine Security Forces. In exercises, a Marine with a scoped rifle and additional training provided immense benefit to small units. An optic provides information-gathering abilities as well as aiding aiming of support weapons such as machine guns and mortars.The armorers at the MCWL decided to use the AR-15/M16 pattern in order to maintain a certain level of commonality in both weapon and ammunition. There was some talk of adopting a weapon such along the same lines as the Mk 11 Mod 0, but instead that transferred over to a possible replacement for USMC personnel now using the Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR), a variant of the M14.
The SAM-Rs are assembled by the Precision Weapons Section of the Weapons Training Battalion at Marine Corps Base Quantico. For the War on Terrorism, the approximately 100 assembled SAM-Rs were sent to the 22nd, 24th, and 26th Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) of II Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), who are located on the East Coast. Squad Advanced Marksmen of I MEF, which is based on the West Coast, made do with M16A4s with KAC M5 RAS forearms and TA31F ACOGs. They were nicknamed "West Coast SAM-Rs" though they are simply M16A4s with optics and bipods, and not an 'accurized' platform like the SAM-R used by the Marines of II MEF.
Specifications
| AR-15-related firearm articles: |
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AR-10, AR-15 M16/A1/A2/A3/A4 M4/A1 Carbine Diemaco C7, C8 Colt Commando, XM177, CAR-15 M231 FPW SDM-R, SAM-R Mark 11 'SWS' Mark 12 'SPR' SEAL Recon Rifle Mark 18 'CQBR' Ares Shrike La France M16K KAC SR-25 |
The original test weapon was a modified M16A2 rifle with a free floated 1:7 in (178 mm) stainless steel match heavy barrel, a "M1913 modular rail system" (this most likely implies the use of the Knight's Armament Company (KAC) M4 Match/Sniper Free-Floating RAS (Rail Adapter System)) and an M16A1 trigger assembly (semi and full-auto functioning). A number of day optics were used initially, which included Hensoldt Blitz, Leupold CQ/T, ACOG, Leupold TS-30A1 and ultimately the Leupold TS-30A2. The test night optic was the AN/PVS-17B, apparently now being fielded with USMC combat units though PVS-22 is preferred.
The currently used SAM-R is roughly a modified M16A4 pattern rifle:
- Upper & Lower Receivers: The lower receiver is a standard M16A4 with an M4 upper. The SAM-R has an M16A1 single-stage trigger installed, which allows limited use as an automatic rifle, ammunition permitting. The SAM-R also has M4-style extended feed ramps and a PRI M84 Gas Buster charging handle system and a Norgon ambi mag realease.
- Barrel: The barrel is a 20 in (508 mm) long 1:7.7 in (178 mm) service rifle match stainless steel Krieger SS barrel, manufacturered by Compass Lake. A standard A2 flash hider is used.
- Sights & Optics: For sights, the SAM-R uses the KAC 600-Meter flip-up rear sight. The first SAM-Rs used a custom Quantico-built gas block with bayonet lug and Picatinny rail on top. A KAC flip-up sight was mounted on the rail. Some intermediate models used separate gas blocks and barrel attachet bayonet lugs. Later rifles were built with a special KAC-made gas block (not commercially available) that has both a flip-up sight and a bayonet lug. The issued optic is the TS-30 A2 (military designation for Leupold's Mark 4 M3 3-9 x 36 mm MR/T Illuminated) mounted with ARMS #22 high rings, the same configuration used with the Mk 12 Mod 0/1 SPR. It is likely that the AN/PVS-17B could be used as well for night-time operations. However, the folding front sight was designed for use with the UNS/PVS-22 Universal Night Sight.
- Handguard: The SAM-R uses the KAC M4 Sniper/Match Free-Floating RAS (KAC Part Number 99266). This handguard permits attachment of Harris swivel bipods attached via KAC bipod adaptors, Insight Technologies AN/PEQ-2 Infrared Pointer-Illuminator, AN/PVS-14 Monocular Night Vision Device, or simply RAS panels and foregrips.
Photos
See also
- U.S. Marine Corps Designated Marksman Rifle
- SEAL Recon Rifle
- United States Army Squad Designated Marksman Rifle
- United States Navy Mark 11 Mod 0 Sniper Weapon System
- United States Navy Mark 12 Mod 0 Special Purpose Rifle
- Knight's Armament Company
- U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory
External links
- [MCWL, Project Metropolis Tactical Warrior Experiment: Phase Two, Guam USA]
- [MCWL Experimentation Campaign Plan (ECP)]
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