As the Army Times recently reported, the Army’s newest sniper rifle, the XM2010, has done very well for itself in the Afghanistan theater of operations—so well, it appeared the Army was ready to make the XM2010 its chief sniper rifle.
When the original XM2010 contract went in to effect last September, Army officials “said the first 250 rifles would be ready by early December and sent directly to Afghanistan,” according to Army Times. “No matter how many are there, this is clear: The weapon’s performance has been strong enough to warrant full fielding.”
“The question is whether to ‘pure fleet,’ and that is the direction we’re going in,” said Brigadier General Peter Fuller, Program Executive Office Soldier.
“To ‘pure fleet’ means the Army would upgrade its 2,500 M24 sniper rifle chassis to XM2010s. The $28 million contract included the funds to allow manufacturer Remington to upgrade or produce 3,600 rifles over five years.”
Technically, the XM2010 is an upgraded version of the M24 sniper rifle. But those upgrades were so significant the rifle required a new official designator. “Notably, the XM2010 transitioned from the 7.62mm NATO caliber (.308 Winchester) to a .300 Winchester Magnum. This increased a sniper’s effective range from 800 to 1,200 meters.”
Another big change: “the rifle comes with the Advanced Armament Corp. Titan-QD Fast-Attach suppressor. The 10-inch suppressor eliminates 98 percent of muzzle flash and 60 percent of recoil and reduces sound by 32 decibels, according to AAC, which recently was acquired by Remington.”
Source: Army Times 4/25/11
Next Step: Get your FREE Printable Target Pack
Enhance your shooting precision with our 62 MOA Targets, perfect for rifles and handguns. Crafted in collaboration with Storm Tactical for accuracy and versatility.
Subscribe to the Gun Digest email newsletter and get your downloadable target pack sent straight to your inbox. Stay updated with the latest firearms info in the industry.
Don’t get pissed at Remington, they are only doing what the Army allows. (Snakes will be Snakes)
Once more reason the Military Procurement needs a DRASTIC OVERHALL.
Is this model available to the general public? If so, what is the source.
Based on this information, our government is paying nearly $8000 per rifle? That’s quite the profit margin for Remington, and quite the waste for the US ARMY.
Well lets see that works out to $7777.00 per rifle, thats not a very big profit margin for Remington is it???? Lets rip off the taxpayer again!!!! They already make the M4 and how much would it cost to put a heavy sniper barrel on a 700 and modify it to use a high capacity magazine. This is one of the reasons I wont buy a Remington, they charge extreme high prices for there guns. Then laugh all the way to the bank.
You responders are clueless. Do you not think there was a huge research and development cost to design and then tool for this new rife? Is that done for FREE? what about the limited production run. You can only spread those costs over a couple of thousand sniper rifles. How many Remington 700 rifles exist that covered the cost of R&D to build that gun? A million or more? probably. If you don’t understand government contracting, don’t post such absurd comments about Remmington ripping us off.