Due to the fact that most of the military operations of the US military in the late 1980s. now had to be carried out in the Middle East, there was a need for a new sniper weapon that provides high-precision shooting in open desert spaces from a distance of at least 1 thousand meters. In addition, it was noticed that the previously used M21 sniper rifles began to fail. Finding spare parts for this weapon was problematic. As a result, US weapons designers began work on the creation of a new rifle unit, which today is known as the M24 sniper rifle. Read more about this weapon later in the article.
Introduction
The M24 sniper rifle is an American weapon design by Remington Arms. The rifle unit was designed in 1987. It has been in service with the United States Army since 1988 to this day. The rifle is designed in two versions: M24A2 and M24A3 calibers 7.62 and 12.1 mm.
About the history of creation
The previously used M21 sniper rifle, based on the semi-automatic M14, began to deteriorate. American experts considered that it would be cheaper for the state to create a new rifle unit than to deal with spare parts for the M21. The military command of the United States Marine Corps formulated a requirement for a new rifle model, namely, the weapon must be equipped with a longitudinally sliding bolt and a polymer stock. In addition, stainless steel must be used to make the barrel. Sniper weapons were designed on a competitive basis. Two rifles reached the final: Steyr SSG69 and Remington 700BDL. The expert commission gave preference to the latest model. As a result, the M24 sniper rifle was adopted by the United States Army in 1987.
Description
The M24 sniper rifle is equipped with a 60.9 cm stainless steel barrel. A variant of a large-caliber sniper rifle (12.1 mm) was also created for firing Lapua Magnum 338 ammunition. The barrel is provided with a 5R drill developed by Remington with five grooves. In order to minimize friction, the edges of the rifling were rounded. A fighter can adjust the weapon for himself by pushing the butt plate back and forth by 6.9 cm.
You can hit a target with an M24 (a photo of a sniper rifle is presented in the article)using a Leupold Stewens M3 Ultra scope with a fixed magnification of 10x and 12x, a scale by which the distance to the target is determined, and a compensator. The task of the latter is to take into account the decrease in the trajectory of the fired projectile. Both variants of sniper weapons use magazine-type ammunition. For the M24A1, fixed magazines are provided, which are designed for 5 ammunition. The M24A2 uses detachable clips of 10 rounds. The operational resource of the barrel with a rifling pitch of 1 turn by 28.6 cm reaches 5 thousand shots.
About specifications
The M24 Sniper Rifle has the following stats:
- With an empty magazine and without optics, the weapon weighs 5.4 kg, with full ammunition - 7.62 kg.
- The total length of the rifle is 116.8 cm, the barrel is 61 cm.
- Shooting is carried out with NATO-style cartridges 7, 62 x 51 mm, Magnum Winchester 300, Nitro Express 470 and Lapua Magnum 338.
- The weapon works by manually reloading with a sliding bolt.
- The fired bullet develops a speed of 830 m/s.
- Aimed fire from a 7.62mm rifle is possible at a distance of up to 800 m. With the Lapua Magnum 338, this figure increases to 1500 m, and with the Nitro Express 470 - up to 2300 m.
About application
The sniper weapons presented by American soldiers were widely used in the Persian Gulf, in the Iraq war, and since 2001 in Afghanistan. In addition to the United States, the M24 is used by military personnel inArgentina, Croatia, Georgia, El Salvador, Hungary, Israel, Iraq, Japan, China, Lebanon, Mexico and UK.
