M110

[wild_wild_wes]

How is the M110 doing now that is in widespread service? There was a lot of talk about dissatisfaction with it in its initial service; what is the opinion now?

[deadlyfire]

It has been performing well from what I understand. Last complaint I heard from our sniper section leader was directed at the KAC suppressor.

[a0cake]

I have extensive experience with the M110. No complaints here. Great platform. We had two of them issued.

We could not get them to group quite as well as the M24's, but accuracy was still outstanding (1-1.5 MOA). The ability to have a suppressed, precision, semi-automatic sniper system far outweighs the marginal accuracy disadvantage.

Many of the complaints stemmed from people who were pulling boresnakes with CLP on them through the bores, and expecting that to be good enough. CLP does nothing to remove copper buildup and is insufficient in this application. 3,000 rounds down the barrel with nothing but an occasional boresnake and CLP is going to lead to poor accuracy.

For whatever reason, the Army would not allow a proper solvent to be issued with the 110's. But, people are getting smarter. We went ahead and acquired our own supply of Shooters Choice solvent (the one that KAC recommends). Cleaned properly with a good one piece rod and bore guide, the barrel performs.

Also, KAC's recommendations as far as replacement intervals on the bolt etc. were not being followed. People were just shooting them to death, ignoring the recommendations, then complaining.

But, again, the Army as a whole is learning from it and these issues are becoming less and less prevalent.

[Iraqgunz]

One thing I have never understood about the military. Why on earth can some people not get it through their brains that CLP is a marginal lubrication at best and it doesn't nothing for copper build up. Hell, I don't even know how effective it really is against carbon to be honest.

In any event if you are shooting an accurized weapon like the M110 personnel should have the ability to use a good carbon remover and copper solvent. I hate to see troops have to buy it from their own pockets, but so be it.

I have extensive experience with the M110. No complaints here. Great platform. We had two of them issued.

We could not get them to group quite as well as the M24's, but accuracy was still outstanding (1-1.5 MOA). The ability to have a suppressed, precision, semi-automatic sniper system far outweighs the marginal accuracy disadvantage.

Many of the complaints stemmed from people who were pulling boresnakes with CLP on them through the bores, and expecting that to be good enough. CLP does nothing to remove copper buildup and is insufficient in this application. 3,000 rounds down the barrel with nothing but an occasional boresnake and CLP is going to lead to poor accuracy.

For whatever reason, the Army would not allow a proper solvent to be issued with the 110's. But, people are getting smarter. We went ahead and acquired our own supply of Shooters Choice solvent (the one that KAC recommends). Cleaned properly with a good one piece rod and bore guide, the barrel performs.

Also, KAC's recommendations as far as replacement intervals on the bolt etc. were not being followed. People were just shooting them to death, ignoring the recommendations, then complaining.

But, again, the Army as a whole is learning from it and these issues are becoming less and less prevalent.

[J8127]

I've witnessed it be accurate to minute-of-forehead on a target moving at the speed of motorcycle.

It was ****ing awesome

[SOWT]

I have extensive experience with the M110. No complaints here. Great platform. We had two of them issued.

We could not get them to group quite as well as the M24's, but accuracy was still outstanding (1-1.5 MOA). The ability to have a suppressed, precision, semi-automatic sniper system far outweighs the marginal accuracy disadvantage.

Many of the complaints stemmed from people who were pulling boresnakes with CLP on them through the bores, and expecting that to be good enough. CLP does nothing to remove copper buildup and is insufficient in this application. 3,000 rounds down the barrel with nothing but an occasional boresnake and CLP is going to lead to poor accuracy.

For whatever reason, the Army would not allow a proper solvent to be issued with the 110's. But, people are getting smarter. We went ahead and acquired our own supply of Shooters Choice solvent (the one that KAC recommends). Cleaned properly with a good one piece rod and bore guide, the barrel performs.

Also, KAC's recommendations as far as replacement intervals on the bolt etc. were not being followed. People were just shooting them to death, ignoring the recommendations, then complaining.

But, again, the Army as a whole is learning from it and these issues are becoming less and less prevalent.

Amazing how the Army will spend big bucks on weapons, then refuse to follow the recommended maintenance schedule.

[a0cake]

Amazing how the Army will spend big bucks on weapons, then refuse to follow the recommended maintenance schedule.

Yeah. Surprisingly, the Air Force seems to be much better at this. I'm guessing that's what your background is. The same can be said of commo equipment. Can't tell you how many antennas etc. I've had to borrow from you guys.

[Sensei]

Disclaimer - I'm not an end user but I was on the BN staff in an IBCT (RC-E / CJTF-82nd) when we got the M110. There were mixed reviews from my BN's snipers during the initial fielding 2 years ago (I believe that we had 3 of them). They had trouble keeping them on line with no downrange support. Accuracy was not a complaint, but some reported a mixture of trigger and reliability problems.

The Smith Enterprise M14's and other "accurized" M14 variants were the fallback which seemed to be slightly better received but it also suffered the same issue of downrange support. The M14 also suffered from poor train up since it was more of a stop-gap.

To be fair, the M110 seems to be doing much better on this deployment. Having said that, the new generation of SR25's (including the SR25-EMC) does everything that the M110 does, but does it better. IMHO, the M110 was obsolete the day it was fielded due to the improvements in the SR25 lineup and the emergence of the OBR.

[parishioner]

I've witnessed it be accurate to minute-of-forehead on a target moving at the speed of motorcycle.

This warms the cockles of my heart.

[jsummers]

Amazing how the Army will spend big bucks on weapons, then refuse to follow the recommended maintenance schedule.

Also sounds like a huge lack of training or a lack of oversite from NCOs. NCOs should be making sure thet their troops are properly taking care of their equipment. If that's the kind of maintenance they are allowing, then shit isn't going to work.