Matthew Cox over at Military.com has a great article identifying the companies that have been down selected for the US Army Individual Carbine program. He says Colt Defense LLC, Heckler & Koch, Remington Arms Company and Adcor Defense Inc have made the cut to compete in Phase II.
Recently Remington was awarded a contract to upgrade up to 3,600 M24 Sniper Weapon Systems to .300 Win Mag in addition to a few other upgrades such as an improved chassis. Originally, this new variant was referred to as the M24E1, but the Army’s PEO-Soldier is now referring to it as the XM2010. An “X” designation before an M model number denotes experimental. 250 of the Enhanced Sniper Rifles will be fielded to deployed Snipers beginning in December.
PEO-Soldier also released some photos of the new XM2010 complete with Leopold optics and AAC supressor. Unfortunately, the weapon is completely Black. Hopefully the fielded systems will be in Flat Dark Earth or another color more appropriate for use in combat.
For more information visit PEO-Soldier.
You first read that something was afoot right here at SSD last year when our friend Sal Palma mentioned that operations in Afghanistan were breathing new life into the Army’s reliance on the M24 Sniper Weapons System. The only shortcoming was caliber. Taking the lead from the Marine Corps’ success with the .300 winmag cartridge, the Army set about to retrofit a small fleet of rifles. Now known as the M24E1, a contract for up to $28.2 Million was awarded on September 20th to Remington to rebuild 3600 M24s currently in service to the new standard.
According to information provided by Remington, the weapons will receive:
New stock (Remington Arms Chassis System)
Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20x50mm Extended Range/Tactical (ER/T) M5 Locking Adjustment rifle scope
Quick detach AAC muzzlebrake and suppressor (Remington acquired AAC last year)
Five round detachable magazine
Corrosion resistant finish
Of special note is the stock which is called the Remington Arms Chassis System (RACS). Essentially a variant of the chassis system developed in 2008 for the Modular Sniper Rifle by a contracted industrial design house, the goals were to lower weight through modular 1913 rail segments, increase accuracy though a free floated barrel design, and maximize adjustability through length of pull and comb. The skeletonized fore end is finding its way on to everything from the Modular Sniper Rifle to the militarized variant of the Adaptive Combat Rifle, to developmental M4-style carbines with monolithic uppers and is becoming almost a trademark of the recent resurgence of Remington’s Military Products Division.
AAC’s Blog recently featured a couple of photos of the new Remington Semi-Auto Sniper System. Interesting features include a collapsible side charging handle on the upper receiver as well as the new style of forearm finding its way on to all of Remington’s tactical firearms. Additionally, the weapon is fed by Magpul’s 7.62 version of the PMAG.
This video was leaked at the same time as the ACR video. It features Remington Military Product’s new Modular Sniper Rifle.
In related Remington news, Freedom Group has purchased Barnes Bullets.
