Military's New M107 Sniper Rifle

[Lightning_Man]

I know only 2 people that have firsthand experience with it, but both have nothing but praise for it's effectiveness.

This the same rifle as an M82A1, just redesignated.

Now you know 3. Yeah it is just the M82A1, might have some small modifications.

I just have to say how irritating it is when I read about the "clip" and only loading 9 rounds. The fact that they called it a clip just tells me the writer doesn't know his ass froma  hole in the ground and I suspect that the only loading 9 rounds comment is an extension/pepetuation of the only putting 29 rounds in your magazine nonsense.

[Firehead]

They DO have M16A3 IIRC.  One of the guys that had an M16 at YPG said it was an A4.  It had a flattop upper and rull length rail, although I don't know if the latter has anything to do with the weapons designation.

M16A3s are Fullautomatic M16s, similar to the A1. The A4 has the 3 round burst. They have the same bodies, flattop rails ect, just the fire modes are different.

[RickEJ6]

I know only 2 people that have firsthand experience with it, but both have nothing but praise for it's effectiveness.

This the same rifle as an M82A1, just redesignated.

Now you know 3. Yeah it is just the M82A1, might have some small modifications.

I just have to say how irritating it is when I read about the "clip" and only loading 9 rounds. The fact that they called it a clip just tells me the writer doesn't know his ass froma  hole in the ground and I suspect that the only loading 9 rounds comment is an extension/pepetuation of the only putting 29 rounds in your magazine nonsense.

.

What do you mean nonsense?  I have ALWAYS downloaded my mags to 28 rounds.  Have you ever tried to do a tactical reload (stupid name, but its just reloading when you arent completely empty in order to have a fully loaded magazine) with a magazine loaded to 30 rounds?  The fully loaded magazine will not seat correctly.   It is also SOP with some units (at least 1 I know in Afghanistan and another in Iraq) that friendes of mine serve in to download at least one round.

Rick

[azsarge]

What he said.

Furthermore, I have heard of short-loading Barrett mags because it can feed incorrectly to the point of damaging the system.  The author may be an assneck, but he didn't make that up.

[Lightning_Man]

All I know is that I have always loaded max and never had a problem that resulted from having them fully loaded. My understanding is that the original spring and follower from when the 30round magazines started being issued were sub standard and thus the short loading was a stopgap solution. Since the late 80s there has been an improved spring and follower and more recently there has been a 3rd upgrade to the follower.

As far as SOPs go, that just tells us the guy writing it is older, or at least that is my guess. I have seen smoe units with some pretty fucked up idiot stuff in their SOPs, even units in hot AOs. Then of course I have also seen units that didn't have an SOP as far as anyone knew, LOL.

While I was in Bosnia I was with both American and Swedish engineering teams on occasions where they were using82A1s for destroying anti-tank mines and in both instances the teams were fully loading magazines, maybe they were just unaware of the flaw? I dunno.

[Firehead]

I always thought that with the new ones, you don't load max so the spring doesn't degrade(like an AEG) after long times of being loaded(in a combat zone), thus cuasing it to jam. Loading a few less helps the spring out a bit, or so i'd imagine. I'm pretty sure i'm wrong though.

[RickEJ6]

The magazine spring is designed to be loaded with the full 30 rounds.  There are no detrimental effects from that.  The only time the spring goes bad is after repeated loading and unloading of the magazine. Its the fact that with the bolt closed and a round in the chamber, the magazine is difficult if not impossible to seat.  That leads to a problem if you have a magazine with 3 rounds left in it and would like to put a full one in without having to play w/ the bolt.

Rick