Special Ops Snipers In Line for New Ammo.

• Author: Gourley, Scott R.

While many anxiously await the Army's decision on which of the two Next Generation Squad Weapon 6.8mm ammunition designs will be used by the Close Combat Force, industry efforts are being directed toward a spectrum of other special ammunition enhancements.

Examples stretch from .300 Win Mag to .50 caliber polymer case designs.

One recent representative example involves the .300 Win Mag.

For many years, military snipers utilized weapons like the MK 13 series or M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle, firing "A191" Department of Defense Identification Code ammunition, to achieve a "government-published" effective range engagements of 1,200 yards.

An ammunition performance challenge emerged in the 2000 to 2010 timeframe reflecting a new user requirement that called for an effective range of 1,500 yards with a decrease in the effect of wind drift on the projectile.

Ballistic experimentation with several different projectile options led to a product improved design that--among other things--replaced the 190-grain projectile in the A191 design with a heavier 220-grain Sierra MatchKing bullet, with overall results that met the new requirements. The two bullets also led to sub-designations of MK 248 MOD 1 and MK 248 MOD 0, with the MOD 1 compared to the A191 with some improvements and the MOD 0 reflecting the heavier bullet enhancements.

The MOD 1 has historically been viewed as an Army load, while the MOD 0 has historically been viewed as a Navy load.

In January 2020, SIG Sauer Inc. announced that it had been selected to manufacture both of the .300 Win Mag rounds at the company's ammunition manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, Arkansas, for use in U.S. military sniper platforms.

"We've always felt that one of our core competencies is the manufacture of high quality, high precision, exceptionally accurate ammunition," offered Jason St. John, director of government products at SIG Sauer. "So the MK 248 program really fell into our wheelhouse, providing part of our foundation as a precision ammunition manufacturer. We were very aggressive and very competitive in our strategy, because we believed this win, and the performance of this ammunition, would help to put our ammunition line on the map."

St. John asserted that many of the user performance requirements have been pushing the pressure envelope for the .300 Win Mag cartridge, noting some user reports of things like "sticky bolts" on some of the earlier ammunition manufactured by other companies.

"We...