M4 configurations in "American Sniper"

[nate89]

The movie was really equal parts corny and awesome for me.


3. The Mk 12s in the film were definitely the same Mk 12s used in Lone Survivor. My guess is we'll see them pop up in military movies from here on out. High Caliber Sales built the guns for Lone Survivor but the actual SEALs that were helping with the movie painted them. These were the same guns but repainted again for American Sniper. Again, another thing that bugged me here - the Mk 12s showed up in the scene where he was supposedly learning how to shoot long distance. But of course they were on a 100yd range and he was hitting some 5 feet to the left off in the berm. But then of course he nails some random snake with pinpoint accuracy 2 seconds later. Just so cheesy - but I get it, it's probably hard to depict actual precision shooting in a movie in which the general public would just get it and still seem dramatic. But 5ft misses at 100yd? Grrr…

For most of the movie, I was enjoying the experience of watching, but I did have a big issue with the precision shooting segment as well. It seemed like the location was not ideal for shooting that sort of scene. It's hard to describe, but it felt too restricted of a place for what they were trying to depict. I agree 100% the groups and wayward shots were very distracting, even as someone who doesn't really do a lot of longer distance shooting. I understand they are trying to market this movie to a general audience, but it's hard to reconcile the minute details they paid attention to (like his rifle set-ups that you mentioned), with such a sloppy interpretation of other aspects. Overall though after seeing it I would still highly recommend it to everyone. It's interesting the attention being paid to the fake baby scene as well.

[Mysteryman]

Good movie, not a great movie, and definitely not Oscar material.

Aside from the errors mentioned above, and the repeated corny scenes there were other technical errors as well as storyline errors.

They show him adjust the power ring on his 300 and you hear audible clicks like he was dialing windage.

He never shot the kid.

The reticle view through his mk12 was the same as his 300 which was a Nightforce reticle when the optic on his mk12 was clearly not a Nightforce.

His SIG was hammer back when he was discussing the "hunt" mission.

The sound bite for suppressed rifles was cheesy and wrong.

Kyle never got into a "sniper battle" which is classic cheesy sniper movie BS and his 2100 metre shot was not against a sniper.

For a movie with the same title as his biography they nailed some minor details very well and dropped the ball on some of the simpler and more prominent details. Good movie, not a great movie.

MM

[Slater]

Early in the movie I saw what appeared to be a Remington 870 MCS carried by one soldier. Anyone else see that or am I just mistaken?

[TinyCrumb]

The sound bite for suppressed rifles was cheesy and wrong.

Yeah, this always bugs the shit out of me. Why do they always feel they have to add the laser sound to it? So annoying. Even Mythbusters did an episode awhile ago I was watching with my kid on whether suppressors sound like they do in the movies, and I was so hopeful they were going to talk about that … but they didn't! They spent the whole time proving how the noise level (dB) was about accurate, but didn't cover that stupid laser tone they always add and the sound engineer was sitting right there.

Lone survivor got this a little better. If I recall correctly the best I've see was Zero Dark Thirty. I remember the suppressed shots in the raid scene in that movie sounding pretty accurate.

Kyle never got into a "sniper battle" which is classic cheesy sniper movie BS and his 2100 metre shot was not against a sniper.

Yeah, totally. This was so dumb. I guess it was just added for mass public appeal. But this along with shooting the kid left me feeling so "why?" … like his story is amazing enough without needing to dramatize it even further.

Good movie, not a great movie.

100% agree

Another thing:

Someone posted a "behind the scenes" little extra on YouTube awhile back and it showed a lot of the filming of shooting scenes. Many of the scenes were actors "faking" the shot, so they'd pull the trigger and the actual shot sound, blast, etc… was added in post. This meant that the actors had to "fake" the recoil and most of them (predictably) did an awful job at it. The Mk 12 scenes were a great example. These guys are shooting a rifle-length, rifle-buffered, 5.56 and they acted like the recoil was from a .338 or something. I don't understand why they didn't just have them fire blanks - even if they wouldn't be powerful enough to cycle the weapon, they should have at least mimicked real recoil a little better. Just another thing that IMO made it look "cheesy".

One final ETA: It's nice finding out that I'm not the only movie/gun nerd out there who gets completely annoyed at movies when they depict firearms so inaccurately.

[TinyCrumb]

Oh another thing that made me chuckle (I could keep going all day haha). When they get up to the roof top and he starts ranging, he looks to one side of the roof at the town, and his rangefinder shows something like 250yds or so. Then he turns around and looks at the other side of the town (supposedly where his Sniper nemesis is) and all the sudden it's like 2100yds. LOL. I don't know what was funnier, that it looked exactly the same as 250yds, or that he was ranging 2100 yds with a small handheld rangefinder with no support, and standing.

[Eurodriver]

I'm in a normal unit and we can put vertical grips and our own slings, and our own stock as long as we don't lose the original , here's mine as it sits now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What on your rifle isn't issue?? Looks pretty OEM to me, except maybe the light.

P.S. Take the safety screw out of your PEQ

[Mysteryman]

Early in the movie I saw what appeared to be a Remington 870 MCS carried by one soldier. Anyone else see that or am I just mistaken?

You are not mistaken, there was indeed an 870 in the movie.

Yeah, this always bugs the shit out of me. Why do they always feel they have to add the laser sound to it? So annoying. Even Mythbusters did an episode awhile ago I was watching with my kid on whether suppressors sound like they do in the movies, and I was so hopeful they were going to talk about that … but they didn't! They spent the whole time proving how the noise level (dB) was about accurate, but didn't cover that stupid laser tone they always add and the sound engineer was sitting right there.

Lone survivor got this a little better. If I recall correctly the best I've see was Zero Dark Thirty. I remember the suppressed shots in the raid scene in that movie sounding pretty accurate.


Yeah, totally. This was so dumb. I guess it was just added for mass public appeal. But this along with shooting the kid left me feeling so "why?" … like his story is amazing enough without needing to dramatize it even further.



100% agree

Another thing:

Someone posted a "behind the scenes" little extra on YouTube awhile back and it showed a lot of the filming of shooting scenes. Many of the scenes were actors "faking" the shot, so they'd pull the trigger and the actual shot sound, blast, etc… was added in post. This meant that the actors had to "fake" the recoil and most of them (predictably) did an awful job at it. The Mk 12 scenes were a great example. These guys are shooting a rifle-length, rifle-buffered, 5.56 and they acted like the recoil was from a .338 or something. I don't understand why they didn't just have them fire blanks - even if they wouldn't be powerful enough to cycle the weapon, they should have at least mimicked real recoil a little better. Just another thing that IMO made it look "cheesy".

One final ETA: It's nice finding out that I'm not the only movie/gun nerd out there who gets completely annoyed at movies when they depict firearms so inaccurately.

You know its tolerable if its your classic action movie, but when you're trying to tell a serious story and are concerned with accuracy of the story, then spend the time and effort and get it right. The exaggerated recoil was hilarious, and to add to the shotgun scene, the very bunched up formations of Marines moving down the street was also rather lame. Oh, and the CGI Cobra helicopter was pathetic.

MM

[Shiz]

I think I audibly gasped when he held the revolver on his wife near the end.

Also, are Marines still issued the m16 or are most issued the M4 now?

[Eurodriver]

M16s all day bro!!

[USMC_Anglico]

I think I audibly gasped when he held the revolver on his wife near the end.

Also, are Marines still issued the m16 or are most issued the M4 now?

M16A4 for most, although M4's are in issue

As others have stated, mods are anything that is not permanent (I've got stock, sling, grip, light, rail panels), CoC dependent. Painting is a different story, although big Army came out with guidance allowing it, getting CO's to sign off on paint is a tough one for most.