Of course, the Marine Times is trying to say that the Corps wants a sniper rifle that’s more lethal more often at greater distances than their current weapon. ‘Cause you couldn’t really say that the M40, the M24 and MK13 are non-lethal weapons, could you. The fact that the Remington-based rifles are “only” good to about 800 meters is the point here. The Hoo-Rah guys reckon they need to be able to shoot people at infinity—and beyond! Not really. “SOCom officials also said the PSR [that’s Precision Sniper Rifle to you and me] should be effective out to 1,500 meters, no longer than 52 inches in full configuration and have no single component longer than 40 inches. It must weigh no more than 18 pounds when loaded with a five-round magazine and a standard rail system, fire factory-produced ammunition and be capable of breaking down into its major components for transportation within two minutes.” Great landing, wrong airport?
Leaders in the sniper community countered that Marine snipers meet training requirements set by the Corps, and that 7.62mm rounds are insufficient to engage targets past 800 meters.
Hence more talk about firing the .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge. Apparently, the .50 BMG (Big Machine Gun) round is not on the table. If it was, the table might collapse.
