The USMC M40 Sniper Rifle: A Useful Life?

Next year, the Marine Corp will celebrate the 50th birthday of an old friend: the 7.62x51mm M40 sniper rifle. Like most 49-year-olds, this old war horse has been through a lot. Born in the early days of the Vietnam War, the first variant was a far cry from today’s M40A5. The early models were not well suited for combat in Southeast Asia. The wooden stocks were prone to warping, and the range-finding reticle in the Redfield 3–9 power Accurange scope could melt in the hot sun. By the 1970s, these two major issues had been solved by incorporating a McMillan HTG stock and the Unertl MST-100 fixed 10x scope. Read More>>