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Mike Ratigan Extreme Accuracy Benchrest Book
by Mike Ratigan


"A Super Shoot winner and US World Benchrest Team Director, Mike Ratigan is a leading figure in the Benchrest game."



I just finished his book. There's a chapter in it on the weakest part of any benchrest system. The scope. It says exactly what I said. I do not make up stuff to participate in discussions I know nothing about. Check it out if you care to. Also, look into Frozen Leupold scopes and TSI and Brackney mounts.


Brackney mounts

Only those that don't know would think that you made this up. Those in the know allready know and have experienced this.

Rifle weight � 17.0 lbs with commercial scope, 18.5 lbs. with Unertl or US Optics USMC.

The rifle is capable of surgical precision shooting. In a Hostage Rescue Operation it would be the first rifle I would pick to hit a quarter-sized target at 300 yards. Handling the weapon you will notice its heavy at about 17lbs with scope and Harris bipod. That's a bunch and may prove to hurt extended operations. The original M40A1 is about 14lbs rigged the same way. As said before the more a weapon weighs the less ammo and water a sniper can carry. The weight is my only complaint about the rifle. Tests were done to see if the weight could be lowered and the accuracy kept the same.

First was to substitute a fully adjustable HS Precision stock for the McMillan A4. This saved about a pound but the groups opened up 1/4moa more than with the McMillan Bedded A4.

Next was changing the floor metal to an HS Precision detachable magazine steel floor plate. Lost about a forth of a pound, no loss in accuracy. Picked up the ability to have quick magazine changes and four or ten round capacity. This is a very nice feature.

Next was changing the McMillan A4 stock for a recently designed stock. The stock is made for Sub minute Solutions Company, by McMillan Fiberglass Stocks. It is basically a M40A1 stock with a wheel adjustable comb and stock spacers. In all fairness this stock was not available when the M40A3 was designed. With the Sub minute Solutions Stock, bedded, no loss of accuracy was seen. It cut the weight down by approximately a pound.

In all we were able to cut the weight down by only a pound and a third, down to about fifteen and one half pounds. The only way to lessen the weight more would be to cut the length of the barrel, flute the barrel or decrease the diameter of the barrel. If the USMC were to decrease the diameter to the same size as a Remington Police Sniper Rifle and flute it, the weight would be reduced by about two pounds more. In short the same basic rifle would weigh between thirteen and fifteen pounds depending on the stock, floor metal and barrel contour picked. My current favorite field rifle is a GA Precision built rifle they call "The Rock". It's similar to the M40A1 but with a fluted 22" barrel. It is capable, with Black hills brand 175-grain 308 Winchester ammunition, to hit man sized targets at 1000 yards. This rifle weighs twelve pounds with an US Optics SN3 scope. Compared to the M40A3, The Rock is far more user friendly to carry great distances.

In short the M40A3 is one of the most accurate rifles I have ever tested but the weight is several pounds more than a sniper should be expected to carry in the field.

Features: The M40A1 sniper rifle is based on the Remington model 700. It is a heavy barrel, bolt action, magazine fed 7.62mm rifle that is optimized for accuracy with Match Grade ammunition. The rifle is equipped with a special 10 power Unertl sniper scope. With scope, the rifle weighs approximately 14.5 pounds. It is equipped with a built-in five round magazine. This weapon is hand-made by specially trained and qualified armorers at Quantico, Virginia.
The unique characteristics of the M40A1 Sniper Rifle are: commercial competition-grade heavy barrel, McMillan fiberglass stock and butt pad, modified Winchester Model 70 floorplate and trigger guard, and modified and lightened trigger. In addition, each stock is epoxy bedded for accuracy and all weapons must shoot less than one minute of angle (MOA).

Background: The M40A1 was put into service in the 1970s to meet the need of a long range sniper rifle. Each rifle is hand built by specially trained and qualified personnel at the Marine Corps Marksmanship Training Unit (MTU) at Quantico, Virginia.

Differences
M40A1 ----------------------------M40A3
Weight 6.57 kg (14.45 lb) ---------7.5 kg (16.56 lb)
Overall Length 1.117 m (44.0 in)--- 1.124 m (44.25 in)
Barrel Hart Schneider Match Grade SS #7
Lands and Grooves 5 6
Stock McMillan HTG McMillan Tactical A4

But i must ask why you are trying to back peddle from your in the know; do not track statemnent concerning modern scopes?

Because that turkey won't strut my friend.....

Per a class of 20 we see 2 to 5 not work every single class... part of the reason they use the Leupold is the replacement requirement to have "X" number immediately available for replacement. The guys who have Leupold's on their service rifles usually have a deployment box full of replacements. It's wastes a whole morning figuring out which scopes don't work, and then replacing them.