U.S. Marine Corps Squad Advanced Marksman Rifle
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A Squad Advanced Marksman of the 22nd MEU in Afghanistan |
The
Squad Advanced Marksman Rifle (
SAM-R) gives
U.S. Marines the capability to provide precision fire in support of the rifle squad, providing precision fire in support of an assault, and aid in observation and adjusting of supporting arms.
The Squad Advanced Marksman and his weapon, the Squad Advanced Marksman Rifle was the product of extensive experimentation by the
Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) of the addition of a
designated marksman to a Marine squad. The concept of a designated marksman was already in use by the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-Terrorism) and Marine Security Forces. In exercises, a Marine with a scoped rifle and additional training provided immense benefit to small units. An optic provides information-gathering abilities as well as aiding aiming of support weapons such as machine guns and mortars.
The armorers at the MCWL decided to use the
AR-15/
M16 pattern in order to maintain a certain level of commonality in both weapon and ammunition. There was some talk of adopting a weapon such along the same lines as the
Mk 11 Mod 0, but instead that transferred over to a possible replacement for USMC personnel now using the
Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR), a variant of the M14.
The SAM-Rs are assembled by the Precision Weapons Section of the Weapons Training Battalion at
Marine Corps Base Quantico. For the
War on Terrorism, the approximately 100 assembled SAM-Rs were sent to the 22nd, 24th, and 26th Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) of II Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), who are located on the East Coast. Squad Advanced Marksmen of I MEF, which is based on the West Coast, made do with M16A4s with KAC M5 RAS forearms and TA31F ACOGs. They were nicknamed "West Coast SAM-Rs" though they are simply M16A4s with optics and bipods, and not an 'accurized' platform like the SAM-R used by the Marines of II MEF.
The original test weapon was a modified M16A2 rifle with a free floated 1:7 in (178 mm) stainless steel match heavy barrel, a "M1913 modular rail system" (this most likely implies the use of the
Knight's Armament Company (KAC) M4 Match/Sniper Free-Floating RAS (Rail Adapter System)) and an M16A1 trigger assembly (semi and full-auto functioning). A number of day optics were used initially, which included Hensoldt Blitz, Leupold CQ/T, ACOG, Leupold TS-30A1 and ultimately the Leupold TS-30A2. The test night optic was the AN/PVS-17B, apparently now being fielded with USMC combat units though PVS-22 is preferred.
The currently used SAM-R is roughly a modified M16A4 pattern rifle:
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Upper & Lower Receivers: The lower receiver is a standard M16A4 with an M4 upper. The SAM-R has an M16A1 single-stage trigger installed, which allows limited use as an automatic rifle, ammunition permitting (See
Mk 262 Mod 1). The SAM-R also has M4-style extended feed ramps and a PRI M84 Gas Buster charging handle system and a Norgon ambi mag realease.
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Barrel: The barrel is a 20 in (508 mm) long 1:7.7 in (178 mm) service rifle match stainless steel Krieger SS barrel, manufacturered by Compass Lake. A standard A2 flash hider is used.
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Sights & Optics: For sights, the SAM-R uses the KAC 600-Meter flip-up rear sight. The first SAM-Rs used a custom Quantico-built gas block with bayonet lug and Picatinny rail on top. A KAC flip-up sight was mounted on the rail. Some intermediate models used separate gas blocks and barrel attachet bayonet lugs. Later rifles were built with a special KAC-made gas block (not commercially available) that has both a flip-up sight and a bayonet lug. The issued optic is the TS-30 A2 (military designation for Leupold's Mark 4 M3 3-9 x 36 mm MR/T Illuminated) mounted with ARMS #22 high rings, the same configuration used with the
Mk 12 Mod 0/1 SPR. It is likely that the AN/PVS-17B could be used as well for night-time operations. However, the folding front sight was designed for use with the UNS/PVS-22 Universal Night Sight.
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Handguard: The SAM-R uses the KAC M4 Sniper/Match Free-Floating RAS (KAC Part Number 99266). This handguard permits attachment of Harris swivel bipods attached via KAC bipod adaptors, Insight Technologies AN/PEQ-2 Infrared Pointer-Illuminator, AN/PAQ4 Infrared Pointer, AN/PVS-14 Monocular Night Vision Device, a wide range of Flashlights, or simply RAS panels and foregrips.
Image:Marines-with-sniper-rifle-2.jpg|Two Marines with SAM-Rs in an exercise in Albania.Image:Marines-with-sniper-rifle-3.jpg|CO of 22nd MEU showing a SAM-R to a young Marine.Image:Marines-with-sniper-rifle-4.jpg|Marine snipers of the 2nd Battalion, 2d Marines.Image:Marine-with-FN-M16A4-and-ACOG.jpg|A Marine with a M16A4 and ACOG, similar to the "West Coast SAM-R."Image:MEU SAMR.jpg|A Marine takes aim with his SAM-R somewhere in Afghanistan.Image:MEU SAMR 2.jpg|Two Marines in Afghanistan; the one in front carries a M16A4; the one in the rear is armed with a SAM-R.Image:Gwilson_SAM-R2.jpg|Marine Advanced Marksman of 3rd Battalion 8th Regiment takes aim outside Ramadi, Iraq.*
U.S. Marine Corps Designated Marksman Rifle*
SEAL Recon Rifle*
United States Army Squad Designated Marksman Rifle*
United States Navy Mark 11 Mod 0 Sniper Weapon System*
United States Navy Mark 12 Mod 0 Special Purpose Rifle*
Knight's Armament Company*
U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory*
MCWL, Project Metropolis Tactical Warrior Experiment: Phase Two, Guam USA*
MCWL Experimentation Campaign Plan (ECP)*
Military.com Article on LCpl (USMC) Galen Wilson and his SAM-R
