“Bill is awesome. Try Alan as well… his low light/night shooting class is the most fun I’ve had with a handgun… both are my mentors.”  -  Dean White

“Defensive Pistol I” is an intensive 10 hour course designed to expose the student to the fundamentals of fighting with a handgun. It is not a beginner’s course and the student will be expected to be proficient in the basic operation of their weapon.

The course covers the following:

Proper grip and stance
Trigger control and the “flash” sight picture
The standard response
Multiple targets and tactical order of engagement
The four step presentation
Tactical and speed reloads
Level 1 and 2 malfunction clearance
Pivots and turns
Lateral movement
Forward and rearward movement
Situational awareness and conflict avoidance

Written by Scott Oldham

The AK47—firing the 7.62x39mm cartridge—is a potentially useful addition to law enforcement weaponry. For many years, the rifle was the mainstay of law enforcement across the country. However, with the rapid urbanization of America, the rifle fell into disfavor and was relegated to specialty teams and armories where they were locked away, inaccessible except by special permission.

What changed, however, was that the criminal element has upped the ante on the patrol officer. More and more criminals have access to and are wearing body armor and are themselves carrying rifles, which allow for them to engage officers well beyond the range at which pistols or shotguns are routinely considered effective.

Several of these very high-profile incidents have seen numerous rounds fired into suspects with little to no effect due to the use of ballistic armor and offenders keeping law enforcement at bay with their weapons’ superior range. The highest profile of these incidents was the infamous LAPD Bank of America shootout, which took place on February 28, 1998. As this incident has been exceedingly well-documented, there is no reason to cover the details of the case again, save for the fact that after the shoot-out, the LAPD began fielding U.S. Government surplus M16A1 rifles, allowing patrol officers to carry them while on routine duty in order to counter what was considered a growing threat.

Numerous agencies have procured similar rifles for their officers. But others not having the funds to purchase rifles en masse for all of their officers allowed the officers to purchase their own weapons pursuing a “privately owned, departmentally approved” policy. While the 5.56mm M16 / AR-15 series rifles are far and away the primary choice for this duty, some agencies have seen fit to allow their officers to vary from the mainstream and select other weapons for use as a patrol carbine.

Many weapons have seen use in a patrol capacity other than the AR-15 and its clones. Rifles such as Ruger’s Mini-14 and PC9 carbines, as well as older surplus M1 Carbines, semi-automatic HK MP5s and others, have been authorized and are in current use with a variety of agencies. But there is recent interest in, or permitted use of, the numerous AK47 or AK74 variants.

The AK47 in 7.62x39mm and the later AK74 in 5.45x39mm are some of the world’s most ubiquitous weapons. Yet they have received very little use by American law enforcement agencies. The reasons behind this are completely political and opinion based in nature. Frankly, the thought process has always been that only terrorists, criminals and other “bad-guys” use the AK series weapons, and as such, they have no place in the hands of an American law enforcement officer. While this thought process is still a significant problem, there is a movement (still in its infancy) that sees a growing number of these weapons in the hands of officers on routine patrol duty.

One of the biggest reasons for this trend is that the AK series can be fielded for a significantly reduced cost in comparison to other systems. A basic AR-based system may run in excess of $800 for the basic rifle, with accessories totaling several hundred dollars more. Thus, many officers find it necessary to have more than $1,500 invested in their patrol rifles, a sum many officers find they simply cannot afford. Completely useable AK series weapons from several manufacturers can often be fielded new for less than $500 for the basic weapon with a slew of accessories similar to those available for the AR-15 available at reasonable prices.

While the AK series is relatively inexpensive—it is not cheap. The weapon itself has been proven on every battlefield on the planet. Just as with AR series weapons, there are “tiers” of manufacturers. Some produce higher quality weapons than others. With the AK series, most are entirely serviceable, albeit some rougher than others, from the start. With some of the AR-15 clones, this is unfortunately not always the case.

As more departments and officers have found it necessary to deploy patrol rifles, there has been an increasing call to examine the AK series weapons for use in this capacity. Putting aside the political considerations for the moment, it was decided to carefully examine what the overall cost would be to assemble and field an AK-based weapon system similar to what is commonly deployed with an AR, and after assembled, whether that weapon could perform as well as the AR-15.

The most commonly encountered patrol rifle set-up is the rifle itself with multiple spare magazines, some type of red dot-style optic and a tactical light. Fielding the most inexpensive package possible, a used AK47 in 7.62x39mm was procured from a local pawnshop for $300. To meet Federal 922r requirements, it was necessary to change out several foreign made parts for their U.S. manufactured equivalents. This made the weapon compliable with ATF requirements and allowed it to be equipped with a short fixed stock (or folding stock), a pistol grip and vertical foregrip.

The AK47, which was manufactured by Norinco, was equipped with similar capabilities to other AR-platform rifles but with less expensive equipment. It was equipped with SureFire’s excellent M83 Picatinny rail system, which allows for the mounting of lights, lasers, vertical foregrips and any other accessories that can be mounted on a rail. On this rail was mounted one of SureFire’s 6-volt Classic Universal legacy system lights that was procured for $100 complete with mount on eBay.

Also from eBay was an older Aimpoint 5000 red dot optic, which came in at a very reasonable price of $125. Since we were already changing out various parts and attempting to make the AK as user friendly as possible, the Norinco was also the recipient of an ERGO brand pistol grip, which was added to allow for superior control of the rifle.

All together, the conversion of the used Norinco into a rugged patrol rifle was now hovering near the $550 dollar mark. In adding a single-point sling and four 30-round magazines, the price of the weapon, with its accessories, came in totaling right at $650. That is substantially less than even the most basic, entry-level AR-platform rifle, even if one were found “used.”

In fielding the AK series weapon, what was lost in comparison to AR platform?

While the cost difference in the two weapons systems are obviously quite substantial, what exactly were the performance differences, if any? Again, putting aside the political and media-driven issues, could the AK series platform perform as an adequate patrol rifle?

We tested the Norinco AK47 against one of the most popular makes of AR-15 for accuracy at 50 yards as most patrol level uses of a rifle will be well within that distance. Each weapon fired a five-round group from prone three times, and the results were averaged to give an approximation of what the rifles would be capable of in a best-case, real-world environment.

The AR-15 averaged a group size of 1.5 inches using Federal’s American Eagle 55gr FMJ loads. The Norinco AK47 averaged 2.0-inch groups using Winchester “white box” 123-grain FMJ ammunition. Both of these averages, both using inexpensive FMJ ammunition, are well within the scope of accuracy that would allow for their use as a patrol weapon.

Both weapons were then subjected to a “limited” endurance test by firing six magazines as fast as they could be loaded into the weapon; this was to mimic what would be the worst-case patrol usage. As expected, neither weapon exhibited any problems, feeding and firing every round without issue. It was, however, during this portion of the test that one of the AR system’s true advantages came into sharp focus—superior ergonomics.

The AR-15 is without a doubt one of the most ergonomic weapon designs to ever be fielded in large numbers. During the six magazine endurance test, which admittedly was not a true endurance test but rather a proof of ability test, all evaluators found that it was much easier to change magazines and get the weapon back into action quickly with the AR-15 design than with the AK47 design.

This enhanced performance was due to several factors, not the least of which is the ability to simply insert the magazine into the AR in a conventional manner rather than the “rock and lock” method required with the AK platform. Also noted here was ability of the AR users to leave their strong hand on the weapon and in control while performing magazine changes and charging the weapon. Users of the AK found that while some people are capable of doing so, this was a much more cumbersome operation with this platform than with the AR design.

Also in the realm of ergonomics is the placement of the manual safety. With the AR, this is a very well designed lever located on the left side of the weapon that is capable of being manipulated with the thumb of the strong hand while still retaining a grip on the weapon. With the AK—on most variants—the safety is a large lever on the right side of the weapon that is not at all easy to manipulate. With most people, the strong hand must come completely out of the firing grip to either apply or disengage the safety.

Both weapon designs have been thoroughly tested in every climate on the planet and have proven themselves in combat for the past three and a half decades—so further, “endurance” testing would be pointless. What this test did is allow for the weapons to get extremely hot and provided for the operators to judge the now-hot weapon based on how well they could use it without gloved hands. In each case, both weapons were judged to be very usable but the AR clearly got the nod as the most desirable weapon. This again was due to the ergonomic placement of controls, which keeps the hands away from any part of the weapon that is susceptible to heat transfer.

In terms of ballistics, both weapons offer true rifle-caliber wounding effects that simply dwarf any other handheld weapon in common law enforcement use, especially when utilizing properly constructed hollow or soft point rounds. The 7.62x39mm round is very similar to the older .30-30 Winchester round common to deer hunters across this country. But care should be used in selecting loads for either weapon as use of full-metal jacketed ammunition may not have the desired or anticipated effect. The 7.62x39mm basically gives 30-caliber ballistics at recoil levels much more controllable than the 30-caliber, 308 Winchester.

The AK series platform can mechanically and intrinsically serve well in the capacity of a patrol rifle, but two factors make it an up-hill battle against its selection: politics and the media. The media is acutely aware that the AK47 has a history of use by enemies of the United States and has portrayed this weapon as something that only terrorists or other enemies of the state would use. Likewise, the weapon has been used in several very high-profile criminal incidents, which has also led to the view shared by much of the American public that this weapon has “no legitimate purpose.”

For an American law enforcement officer to be armed with an AK47, no matter how appropriate, the public reaction and perception will figure strongly into whether or not administrators allow the use of such a weapon.

While the possibility of an agency approving the use of a true AK47 might seem remote, there are agencies that think they can successfully defeat this media-induced perception and thus allow the use of the weapons system. There are also departments that realize they must allow the use of this weapons system due to a lack of agency funding; without allowing this option, their officers might not be able to afford patrol rifles at all.

Overall, the AK series weapons are more than useable as patrol rifles and could potentially find a home in patrol cars across the nation if one is prepared to deal with the media-induced reaction that their use will bring about. For those who can manage the public opinion of their use, the AK47/74 series can become a workhorse weapon at an extremely attractive price.

Scott Oldham is a supervisory sergeant with the Bloomington, IN Police Department where he is assigned to the Operations Division as patrol supervisor, as well as being one of the team leaders for the department’s Tactical Unit. He and his partner, Sergeant Mick Williams, provide contract instruction on a wide range of subjects, including tactical and patrol-based skills. He can be reached at oldhams@bloomington.in.gov.

It is then up to the owner to add the scope of their choice and other embellishments like perhaps some sort of bipod system or maybe getting a trigger job if
needed and maybe add a sling. Some outfits come complete with everything the shooter might require like Remingtons
TWS, or Total Weapon System, which is built around the excellent Model 700 PSS
rifle.
Most tactical scopes range from 3x-
9x to 6x-18x, with the most common per-
haps being a 3.5x-10x or even a fixed lOx.
Though most shooters will never use
their “Sniper” rifle to shoot at anything
other than paper, they are mostly a joy to
shoot. With usually good triggers and
ample weight serving to reduce felt recoil,
and with the high quality barrels present
on most of these rifles, 1/2 MOA groups
are a realistic goal without too much
trouble. This is possible even with select
factory ammunition. One of the best and
the yardstick by which other factory ammo
is measured is Federals “Gold Medal
Match”. A personal Rem. PSS .308 with
its 26″ heavy barrel and topped with a 4x-
The U.S. Marine Corps M40 Rifle
Text & Photos by Scott Stoppelman
In recent years there has been a growing interest in precision and
tactical rifles. Sometimes referred to as “Sniper” rifles, several ma-
jor manufacturers offer their own version under various titles and
sporting one degree or another of accoutrements. Most are basically
a heavy barreled.223 Rem. or .308 with either an oversized wood or
synthetic stock as they come from the factory.
Right: Some groups shot at 100
yards all using IMR4895 and
175gr. Sierras.  Powder charges
range from 40.5 to 42.5 in ½ grain
increments.41 The Small Arms Review – Vol. 6 No. 1 – October, 2002
Visit us on line at: www.smallarmsreview.com
12x Leupold scope easily makes the half
inch mark with a number of handloads and
with the 168 grain “Gold Medal” load as
well.
Brief History
So called “Sniper” rifles have of
course been around for a long time, in fact
since rifles have been used in combat they
have been used for sniping when neces-
sary or when the opportunity presents it-
self.
Scope sighted rifles didn’t really come
to the fore until WWI though they had been
used as early as the Civil War. World War
II saw the use of 1903A1 and 1903A4
Springfield rifles as well as Ml Garands
as sniper rifles. These fine rifles served
well in the Korean conflict and even into
Vietnam but the Marines saw the need for
a standard issue Sniper rifle of new design
rather than just modifying existing service
rifles which while effective were becom-
ing obsolete.
During the early years of the Vietnam
War the Marines had been using scope
sighted Winchester Model 70 rifles that
had been in supply for hunting and com-
petition purposes for some time. However,
the Corps wanted a new rifle built to their
specs and chambered for the newer cali-
ber 7.62 NATO or .308 Win, which was
the standard service rifle cartridge of the
time, instead of the .30/06 of the M70.
Marines Choice
Therefore in 1966 after evaluating
entries by several rifle and scope makers
the Marines signed a contract with the
Remington Arms Co.
to supply 700 Model
700 rifles with the
Redfield 3x-9x
Rangefinder scope.
Designated the
M40 by the Marines,
the rifle was in sim-
plest terms a Model
700 with sporter
style non checkered
walnut stock and a
heavy barrel in .308
Win. Where it dif-
fered from the com-
mercial version of
the ADL model was
in the addition of a
magazine floorplate
like the BDL. The
stock style though
sans checkering was
pure sporter, includ-
ing the monte carlo
comb and cheek
piece popular at the
time.
The barrel was
24″ long and mea-
sured .830″ at the muzzle thus making a
fairly heavy barrel by sporter standards
though no heavier than a varmit barrel.
My first bolt action hunting rifle
bought in Alaska in 1968 was in fact a 700
ADL in .308 that served me well for many
years.
Only a limited number of these rifles
were ever made, less than a thousand total
for the contract, and a number of them were
damaged or destroyed in battle or modi-
fied to the newer M40A1. There are so few
still in existence outside of the military that
the chances of seeing one, say on the used
gun market, are essentially nonexistent.
While reading the excellent and com-
prehensive book, The One Round War by
Peter Senich, it occurred to me that one
could, with the proper components and a
bit of work, have one’s own M40.
Looking for a Few Good Parts
The first thing to do then would be to
collect all of the neces-
sary parts for this project.
A 1960’s vintage 700
rifle would have to be
found.
A Model 700 with a 5-
digit serial number was
found at a gun show for a
M40 sitting on the Hoppes Protecto case with a box  of
M118 ammo.
Left: Parts for the
M40, M700 with
original carbine bar-
rel and new heavy
barrel to be installed
in its place, along with
swivels, trigger
guard, scope mount
and web sling.42 The Small Arms Review – Vol. 6 No. 1 – October, 2002
Visit us on line at: www.smallarmsreview.com
reasonable price, and though the Marine
contract rifles were of the 6-digit serial
number range, the action is the proper style
with the short bolt shroud. The gun was
itself chambered in .308 Win. as well
though it didn’t have to be as long, it was
a short action with the proper size bolt face.
Also of note, the action has the clip charger
slot cut into the rear bridge, a feature that
was dropped in 1964 on commercial rifles
but was present on all Marine contract
rifles, though it is styled a little different.
But it was not my intent to build an exact
duplicate to pass off as an original later
on, rather to build a reasonable facsimile
of a fine shooting rifle. In other words, the
building of this rifle is meant to be more
of a tribute to the rifle itself and its users
than for any gain other than personal use
and satisfaction.
Stock Work
With an acceptable ac-
tion and stock in hand the
work begins. The 700 stock
of this era, early 60’s, had
what many consider some-
thing of an abomination, ma-
chine impressed checkering.
Here the diamonds are
pressed into the wood rather
than being against the hand
like cut checkering. While the
design is attractive enough, its
utility as a grip enhancement
is almost useless. For the M40
the “checkering” would have
to be removed. This may
seem a little daunting at first
but requires not much more
than a lot of patience and elbow grease.
After stripping the finish off with a chemi-
cal stripper I began by giving the stock a
thorough scrubbing with cleansers and
bleach to remove oils and stains. Lots of
hot water is used to rinse with and it actu-
ally helps to back out the diamonds from
the grip and forearm. Then after drying out
a bit, scrapers and chisels are used to scrape
away the “checkering” pattern. Care is
called for here so as not to put deep
scratches in the wood as they can create a
lot of unnecessary work. Eventually if all
goes well the alleged “checkering” is gone
with maybe only a trace of the old outline
showing if one looks really close. But if
you can see it you’re too close!
The stock is then sanded down in the
normal way and either stained and oiled
or maybe just oiled. I chose to stain this
stock for personal preference. This is fol-
lowed up with many coats of
boiled linseed oil to achieve
what the Marines refer to a
“dull oil finish”. The rifle as
acquired had the proper alu-
minum buttplate called for so
no problem there.
The M40 has a hinged
magazine floorplate for its
box magazine as on a BDL
but the ADL stock has no
mortise for one so one will
have to be let in. This is a fair
bit of work and would take
too much ink to describe in
detail here, so suffice to say
that much care must be taken
or the results may be less than
gratifying.
The BDL floorplate assembly was
purchased new from Brownells Inc., that
great supplier of gunsmithing equipment,
gun parts and accessories. It comes with a
paint-like matte black finish which is suit-
able for the purpose and is made of alumi-
num per spec. Also acquired from
Brownells were military style 1 1/4″ non-
detachable sling swivels to replace the
detachable studs the rifle came with.
The Barrel
The Marines called for a 24″ heavy
barrel with 1 in 10 twist to shoot the M118
Match ammunition, which used a 173-
grain full metal jacketed bullet. To build
this rifle a barrel was purchased again from
Brownells that was very close to spec. As
cut to 24″ it is right at the proper .830″
ADL stock must have mortise cut into belly of stock
for magazine floorplate.
Monte Carlo comb with beavertail cheekpiece and aluminum buttplate.43 The Small Arms Review – Vol. 6 No. 1 – October, 2002
Visit us on line at: www.smallarmsreview.com
muzzle diameter.
The chrome moly barrel, made by
Shilen was pre-threaded and short cham-
bered.
At this point the gun must be handed
over to the gunsmith to have its existing
20″ carbine barrel removed and the new
heavy barrel installed and headspaced and
then off to get the proper finish, in this case
parkerizing. The M40 action and barrel
had a greenish color common to many U.S.
service rifles seen, but the bolt assembly
was given a flat black finish.
The barreled action must now be bed-
ded to the stock. This is done in the nor-
mal way with Brownells Acraglass Gel.
The M40 rifles left the factory unbedded
by glass but instead were referred to as
“hand bedded” by Remington. Subse-
quently many if not most of the rifles were
glass bedded by armourers to help prevent
impact shift caused by the shrinking and
swelling of the stock in climate changes.
Also the barrel channel had to be kept open
by any means possible to keep the barrel
fully free floating.
The Scope
The scope chosen by the Marines to
meet their specs was
the Redfield 3x-9x Accu-Range that was
already in use by the public and had a good
reputation and seemed to best fit the needs
of the Corps.
This unique scope uses what Redfield
referred to as the “special fine crosshair”
reticle and the so called “tombstone” sys-
tem that employs on the right hand side of
the view circle a range finder marked in
50 yard increments out to 600 yards. As
the power ring is increased from 3 to 9
power the “tombstone” begins to slide out
of sight until only the top portion is seen.
It also utilizes a 2-wire grid near the top of
the view circle that represents 18″. The
method being that the viewer places the
two stadia wires on a man sized target and
increases the power until the two lines are
spaced about equal to a mans torso from
chin to belt, then reads the range on the
“tombstone” on the right. The viewer must
then make the necessary calculations for
hold, over or under, to make the shot for
that range. The M40 was usually sighted
in for a dead on hold at 600 yards.
Such a scope was found and pur-
chased from a used sight and scope dealer
for this project and then sent to ABO/USA
for cleaning and adjustment. ABO/USA is
the authorized repair facility for Redfield
products since Redfield is unfortunately no
longer in business. Cleaning and adjust-
ment was done for only a shipping and
handling fee. These scopes are a bit scarce
also and it was a real break to find one
rather easily. This specimen has the gloss
black finish of the commercial model
whereas the M40 scope was anodized
green to match the barreled action of the
gun. Some later M4Os were furnished with
a scope that was finished in matte black,
and were called 2nd Generation scopes.
The scope is mounted on a Redfield
Jr. one piece base in one-inch split rings,
all of matte finished blued steel just like
the original. The base and rings have
changed a little since the 60s but it’s basi-
cally the same rig.
Heavy Shilen barrel will finish at
.830” in diameter.
Left: The Redfield 3×9
AccuRange scope mounted on the
M40 with the turret caps off.44 The Small Arms Review – Vol. 6 No. 1 – October, 2002
Visit us on line at: www.smallarmsreview.com
Carrying Case
M40 rifles were issued to the Scout-
Sniper teams in a hard plastic carrying case
made by Protecto Plastics of Pennsylva-
nia. The case used had a center mounted
two pc. handle and three evenly spaced
lockable latches. The interior was lined
with foam on both halves and the case
measured 3.5″ deep by 9″ wide by 46″
long, just large enough for one rifle, clean-
ing kit and a few accessories.
What’s most interesting about this
case is that it is still available today under
the Hoppes brand name, still being made
by Protecto Plastics. The only difference
that’s at all evident is the color of the case
is now black where it was brown as issued,
and the interior foam is of a different con-
figuration.
Final Assembly
Now with all of the various compo-
nents together and properly finished it’s
time to assemble the rifle and scope and
see what it will do.
Putting the rifle together is no trick of
course but a problem was encountered
when trying to mount the scope. It was
found that there was a noticeable differ-
ence in the height of the front and rear
rings. So to rectify this I turned to a scope
lapping kit purchased from Midway/USA.
After running the lapping bar through the
lightly snugged rings a number of times
and checking the work often the proper
height was attained wherein there was no
difference in height between the two rings.
If this is not done it is possible to bend the
scope when the rings are tightened down
thereby damaging the scope.
Satisfied with that task the rest of the
package is put together in the usual way.
Shooting the Marine Rifle
Original Marine Corps specs called
for a minimum capability of 5 shots in 1
inch at 100 yards, or one minute of angle,
with the M118 Match load. This shouldn’t
be too hard to accomplish with today’s
ammo and components. The M118 load
was replaced in the 80s with the M852 load
that uses the 168-grain bullet instead of the
173 grain original.
Since the amount of available com-
ponents for .308 is almost endless the quest
will be to approximate the original round,
therefore it is hoped that the 175 grain Si-
erra Match bullet will work out well.
Before getting serious with the best
components and trying to shoot for groups
the barrel must be carefully broken in us-
ing the shoot and clean method. You know
the method, shoot a little and clean a lot.
For the first 5-10 rounds the barrel is
cleaned of powder fouling between each
shot and then followed up with a copper
solvent to remove all traces of jacket foul-
ing. This method is used for the first 60
rounds or so while never allowing the bar-
rel to get very hot as this will cause prob-
lems rather quickly. Plain old Hoppes #9
is as good as any for getting out the pow-
der residue, but to get the copper jacket
fouling I turn to Sweets 7.62 solvent. This
stuff removes copper as good or better than
anything. Instructions must be followed,
and it’s nasty smelling stuff,
but it do work!
The first range session
is always filled with a little
apprehension with a new rifle
and this was no different. I
began to relax a little when the
first two rounds landed on the
target just 1/2-inch apart at
100 yards, and almost in tar-
get center after only a visual
bore sighting. This initial
shoot-in was performed by the
way, with the Rem./UMC
150-grain ball load that I have
a lot of on hand. The last three
shots taken that first day were
with a proven handload that
seems to work well in almost
any rifle including bolt gun and M14 style
guns. That load is 42.0 grains of 1MR4895
in W/W cases lit by a Fed. 210 Match
primer. Those three shots went under an
inch. Not spectacular to be sure but bar-
rels seem to get better as they go if they
are treated right.
The rifle has been to the range a num-
ber of times now and does better every time
if the shooter does his part. I was happy to
see the Federal Match 175-grain load do
well. Two groups of five were shot on the
second trip to the range and both went
under one inch. While it’s true that factory
ammo is much better now than ever be-
fore it is still a thrill to see it shoot that
well. Six rounds from the handload men-
tioned before went into five-eights of an
inch, on the same day, not bad.
A single box of M118 Match was
found at a local gun show and was soon
run through the rifle. Results sad to say
were not that great as groups were hard to
achieve and the primers were all cratered
possibly indicating slightly elevated pres-
sures, but as it is hard to come by anyway
and the gun seems to shoot so many other
loads so well that it really wont matter if it
doesn’t like that particular lot of ammo or
not. In other words, who cares?
As is the case with my Rem. PSS.308,
Hodgdons Varget powder is showing great
potential. Loads with 43 and 45 grs. are
grouping under an inch for five rounds at
100 yards. 1MR4064 has worked well for
a couple of loads but is not as consistent
as either 1MR4895 or Varget. Every gun
is a law unto itself so it always pays to try
various powders.
All group testing was done from the
Early style short bolt shroud and clip loading
slot that was discontinued around 1964.45 The Small Arms Review – Vol. 6 No. 1 – October, 2002
Visit us on line at: www.smallarmsreview.com
bench at 100 yards. My local range has
targets up to 300 yards and I will shoot the
gun at that range but there is not much point
in putting it here as groups always open
up at that range. If the shooter is not up to
snuff that day it will definitely show on
the target while not being the fault of the
rifle.
The idea here was to more or less rep-
licate what would otherwise be an unob-
tainable rifle, and make it shoot to the specs
laid out by the Marines back in 1966. I
think I have accomplished this as it shoots
very well, and perhaps most fun of all is
when someone at the rifle range asks what
I’m shooting, I can tell them I’m shooting
the Marines M40 Sniper Rifle.
Remington Model 700
Introduced in 1962 the Model 700
was an updated and modernized version
of the 720 series of rifles that had been the
mainstay of the Remington line for many
years. It was designed to go head to head
with Winchesters Model 70 but be less ex-
pensive to build.
It succeeded very well and has gone
on to be one of the most successful bolt
action designs ever and is still being made
in many different versions and calibers to-
day.
It is a very strong action and Reming-
ton made much of its “three rings of steel”
claim. Its detractors claim that the small
extractor in the head of the bolt is too small
and unreliable but this writer’s opinion has
never been proven to be the case. Indeed
many tests were run to determine if it
would be strong enough to compare favor-
ably to other more accepted designs such
as the 98 Mauser and others. It held its own
with the best of them and failures are al-
most unheard of. Another claim that many
will back up is that of excellent out of the
box accuracy. If there is truth to this claim
I believe it has more to do with the quality
of the barrel than anything else. Every
model 700 I have ever owned showed the
potential to be a great shooter but not all
would do so without a good bedding job.
This is a common problem with just about
all mass produced rifles however.
The M4Os were built using
Remingtons own barrels and served well.
The later M40A1 is built with a barrel from
Atkinson. The Rem. 700 is of course also
the base rifle for most of this country’s
police department sniper teams.
Quite a legacy for a model of rifle in-
troduced almost 40 years ago, but then if
we look at the fact that the 98 Mauser ac-
tion that is over 100 now and still going
strong, I guess we shouldn’t be too sur-
prised. If it’s good, it stays on.
Cartridge History
The 7.62×51 NATO that the M40 was
chambered in was a development of the
Army Ordnance department known early
on as the T-65. It began as an attempt to
get the ballistics of the 30/06 in a shorter
case that would permit the use of lighter
shorter and more efficient gun mecha-
nisms.
The military did not officially adopt
the T-65 until 1954, but Winchester
brought out its own commercial version
in 1952 and called it the .308 Winchester.
The U.S. military didn’t have any
weapons for it until 1957 when it became
the official service rifle cartridge for which
the M14 rifle was chambered.
The .308 has been hugely successful
for a good many years now and is still the
one to beat in match competitions around
the country, though it is not the only accu-
rate round out there. It is still however the
standard round for military sniper rifles.
Besides being the M40s cartridge, the 7.62
continued on into the M40A1 and the new
current M40A3. Also the Army uses the
7.62 in its own M24 Sniper rifle also based
on the Remington 700.
It was recently announced that the
Dept. of Defense has adopted a brand new
loading for all long-range sniper shooting.
This loading will feature the l75gr. Boat-
Tail bullet propelled by Alliant Powders
Reloder 15. It will be designated the M118
Special Ball Long Range Sniper Round. It
will become the standard issue sniper
round to be used by all military service
branches.
This cartridge is hard to beat in many
ways and looks to be with us for some time
to come.
References
Inside the Crosshairs- A Snipers Vietnam
Michael Lee Manning
Dead Center – Ed Kugler
Sniper – Adrian Gilbert
The One Round War-Scout-Snipers in Viet-
nam -  Peter Senich
U.S. Marine Corps Scout-Snipers WWII
and Korea-Peter Senich
Marine Sniper – Charles Henderson
One Shot One Kill – Charles Sasser and
Craig Roberts
Bolt Action Rifles – Frank de Haas, Chap.
39, Ideal Snipers Rifle        Rev. Ed. 1984

This piece is a must read…enjoy.