Development
Knight's Armament Company designed and produced a 7.62 mm version of the M16 rifle, thereby marking a reversion to the Stoner 7.62 mm AR-10 of the mid-1950s. The design employs over 60 per cent of existing M16 parts, and with its similarity to the M16, costly retraining of personnel can be avoided. This received the company's commercial designation SR-25 match rifle. Testing resulted in improvements to the sound suppressor, folding back-up sights, buffer system, extractor, ejector, rail fore-end and magazines. In March 2000, it was selected for US Navy SEALs as the Mk 11 Mod 0. Subsequent SR-25s also include these improvements. Purchases of Mk 11 Mod 0 for Special Operations Command totalled 325 through Fiscal Year 2003 (FY03), followed by none in FY04, 180 in FY05, 118 in FY06 (for USD826,000) and a final 280 in FY07. Each rifle system includes a MIL-STD-1913 sight rail, an M3 optical sight, a bipod and a case, plus 10 or 20-round magazines. There have been two known exports of the Mk 11 via government purchase. In May 2004, a contract on behalf of the Philippines purchased five SR-25 Mk 11 Mod 0 rifles, each with a QD sound suppressor, Harris bipod and rail adaptor, Vari-X III 3.5-10X40 M3 scope and accessories for USD7,588 each. In May 2007 the US Army purchased eight Mk 11 Mod 0 at USD10,888 for resale to the Royal Thai Marines, along with a spares package for Portugal. In June they awarded a contract for eight more
Description
On this family of rifles, the upper receiver and gas block have a flat-top MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail design, allowing the user to adopt a variety of options, including a carrying handle and iron sights. The handguard is attached only at the receiver end, providing a fully floating barrel and avoiding any change in zero when used with a bipod. Initial testing demonstrated the ability to achieve groups of less than 19 mm at 100 m range. The maximum effective range of the M110 is given as 800 m. It weighs 7.8 kg with iron sights, rifle scope and mounts, bipod, loaded 20-round magazine and sound suppressor. The muzzle velocity with the 20 in (508 mm) barrel and with M118LR ammunition is 784 m/s.Problems with the trigger assembly, firing two- to three-round-bursts instead of single shots, were reported early in the weapon's career and changes were made to the trigger units around 2001.
| The complete article appears in the following publication: | |
|---|---|
| Publication Title | Jane's Infantry Weapons |
| Publication date | Feb 28, 2012 |
| Section | Sights - Illuminating |
| Publication synopsis | Jane's Infantry Weapons provides you with a detailed country-by-country analysis of all small arms and crew-served weapons in service around the world, making this resource ideal for recognition, market intelligence and threat assessment. Each equipment entry includes full details of that weapon's development, technical description and specifications. Images accompany the text to ensure ease of identification, while procurement is made easy with the inclusion of full manufacturers' contact details. National infantry weapon inventories are also provided. |
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