Marine Corps M40A1 Marine Corps M40A1


Thanks to a former OIC of the USMC sniper school

Caliber. . . . . . . . 7.62x51mm NATO (.308 Win)
Length . . . . . . . . 43.97" (1117mm)
Weight . . . . . . . . 14.45 lbs (6.57 kg)
Barrel Length. . . . . 24 inches (610mm)
Lands and Grooves. . . 6
Twist, Right Hand. . . 1:12"
Trigger Weight . . . . 3 to 5 pounds
Magazine Capacity. . . 5 rounds
Sight. . . . . . . . . Unertl 10x with Mil-Dots and BDC. Specially designed for USMC
Stock. . . . . . . . . McMillan fiberglass
Max Effective Range. . 800 meters (874 yards)

I am extremely surprised I had not heard anything from my marine friends out there about not having any additional information about the M40A1. This page has been here for about the past 3 years, with nothing but a few stats, no comments or anything, until I visited it myself and realized how empty it was!

The M40A1 has to be the pioneer of the modern sniper rifle. The USMC has always had a leg up on the US Army when it comes to sniping (Remember, I am US Army, so it takes a lot to say this!) and the USMC realized that they needed a standard sniper rifle that could perform the job up to standard. After testing and reviews the USMC placed the initial order for 700 Remington 700/M40 sniper rifles in 1966. 550 of those had the redfield 3-9x accurange scope mounted. As time progressed, the weaknesses of the factory M700/40x rifles began to show. The all wood stocks were very prone to shifting in changes in the weather and other weaknesses were noted. So a process began to upgrade the M40 rifles. There is no "official" date (at least that I can tell) when the M40 was replaced by the M40A1, but the process happened in the early 70's. The wood stocks were replaced by McMillan fiberglass stocks, which are know for their ruggedness. The entire system is built by USMC armorers at Quantico, VA. The redfield 3-9x scopes were eventually replaced by a specially designed scope built by Unertl to USMC specifications. This happened in the early 80's. If my sources are correct, as the Unertl's break and get replaced, they are being replaced by Leupold Mk4 M3A's??? Maybe some of my USMC brethern out there can confirm or deny this.

The M40A1 is an outstanding system, very capable of extreme levels of accuracy, though the M118 ammo tends to hold the rifle back to about 1 MOA, but the new M118LR (designed by the USMC) should really unleash the potential of these rifles, I expect the accuracy with M118LR to drop to about .5 MOA. The Max Effective range of the M40A1 is listed at 800 meters by a lot of sources, but the USMC says 1000yards (915 meters) and I would have to go with the USMC on this one, as we routinely shoot past 900meters with our M24 SWS, and the M40A1 is everybit as accurate.

Texas Brigade Armory makes an excellent reproduction of the M40A1, built to mil-specs, for those of you who would like to purchase one for your own collection. But you cannot purchase an ORIGINAL M40A1.

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