Marines Select Scope for Their New Sniper Rifle

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One more step in the weapon upgrading of the US Marines. The corps has selected the scope for its newest sniper rifle ― The Advanced Tactical Riflescope, manufactured by Nightforce.

Marine snipers could have them in their inventory as soon as June, a company official said.

The rifle and optic are major upgrades to the platform they replace ― the M40 ― which has been in service since the Vietnam War.

The new rifle, the Mk 13 Mod 7, extends sniper range and lethality through a combination of factors. It fires a .300 Winchester Magnum round as opposed to the 7.62 mm of the M40. The .300 Win Mag pushes ranges beyond 1,000 yards, which was the limit on the old round.

Marines chose the Tremor3 reticle for sighting in targets, which gives shooters a quicker windage option than standard scope reticles, said Tod Litt, business development manager for Nightforce. The reticle has wind dots that allow shooters to immediately adjust fire or targeting based on direct miles per hour readings from devices rather than calculating sometimes complicated relational formulas, which can save time acquiring and engaging a target.

The scopes are put through torture tests including sand, salt spray, fog and mud among others, according to marinecorpstimes.com.

The company’s commercially available scopes have nearly all the same features, except for the ability to withstand dramatic positive and negative pressure changes such as altitude.

The scopes have been a part of the Mk 13 rifle military accessories in use by special operations forces since the Mod 3 version, Litt said.