Why does the US Army and Marine snipers like to use M24's and M25's rather than M82A1's?

Question

M24's and M25's need added scope and RIS rails put on for scopes, M82's have a built on RIS. plus M24's and M25's have far less range than the M82A1 and they are in smaller supply. I'm confused.

Answer 1

Simply put so you don't have to read 10 paragraphs...it is too damed heavy for light Infantry.

Answer 2

The Marines actually use the M40 family of rifles, which are custom built by the Marine Corps small arms lab in Quantico, VA. These rifles are based on the Remington 700 .308 hunting rifle, but have aheavy duty floating barrel, and fire a custom load .308, which would commercially be known as the .300 Magnum. I had the oppurtunity to fire this rifle once, and I hit three out of five at one thousand yards. They are standard with a 10x Unertl scope, which is made specifically for that rifle.

The Army and Marines are trained in the use of various rifles, and if the mission calls for it, they will deploy a .50 BMG such as the M82. The major drawback to a weapon such as that, however, is it's immense size and weight, nearly 20 pounds, it doesn't sound like a lot until you have to carry it.

The .30 caliber family of bullets (.308, 30-06, .300 Mag, etc) are an excellent bullet that gives you the best of both worlds, they are extemely powerful, yet relatively light weight for that power, so the standard rifle for US snipers will probably always be some form of the .30 caliber, although the British military snipers have enjoyed immense success from the .338 Lapua magnum.

Answer 3

The M24 wieghs 13 pounds, is 43 inches long and fires 7.62 mm rounds.
The M25 is very similar in size.

The M82a1 loaded weighs about 28 pounds, is almost 58 inches long and fires 50 caliber ammunition.

The M82a1 is not only too long for typical carriage it is also too heavy. It is also considered to be more deadly than it really is. Misconceptions include being able to shoot down airliners; while the M82 was designed to disable parked aircraft, it is extremely unlikely that even the most highly trained marksman would be able to bring down a flying airplane firing the entire 10-round magazine, let alone one shot. With the advent of the autocannon, the .50 BMG is no longer used for fighter plane combat since it was shown to be ineffective for that purpose since World War II.


This is not the kind of weapon you want to be carrying around when doing combat with insurgents carrying AK-47 assault rifles. Also not the kind of weapon you want to be using at any less than 500 yards since rifles like the M40, M21 and M25 could esily kill you first.

The M81 is better for ANTI ARMOR missions where you need to kill people hiding behind heavy cover. Definately more effective against vehicles.
Keep in mind that it also has a 10 bullet clip size which makes it far undermatched at taking on assault soldiers, unlike rifles like the SIG 550 sniper or the H&K PSG series.

A true sniper wants a light weapon that is accurate up to 600 yards. Not a long, heavy, cumbersome rifle that needs a tripod in order to be stabilized.


It is for this reason that the marines use the M-40a1 rifle which fires a remington 700 .300 round which offers excellent accuracy in a light package.
The Military was going to switch to a sniperized version of the OICW XM-8 but in October 2005, that program fell through due to cost overruns. You should take a look at the XM-8 online because I saw alot of potential in that rifle.
Basically, you could change its major components such as barrel, firing mechanism and buttstock from sniper, to assault rifle, to grenade launcher.

Answer 4

the barett m82a1 is a behemoth of a weapon. it is used mostly for anti-materiel sniping, and to a certain extent anti personnel too

its huge, its heavy, its bulky, you need a stable base to support the rifle to have higher chance of accurate shots, and its impossible for snipers to carry around constantly. not to mention, 50 calibre bullets when carried constantly with a certain number can be real heavy and saps the sniper of his energy

so something lighter, and more mobile is better for anti personnel sniping

but dont forget too that sniper rifles that fire magnum rounds are a good middle ground between lighter anti personnel rifles and heavier stuff to destroy materiel

case in point is the accuracy internationl L96a1 that fires in standard field infantry 7.62mm rounds and also lapua magnum rounds

Answer 5

They do use the M82A1, however that rifle fires a round capable of penetrating 2.8 inches of armor and is very heavy. It simply isn't needed most of the time.

Answer 6

Give me a Springfield Amory A R 21 any day. That is the sniper version of the good old reliable M 14. When they issued us M 16'S we refused them and kept our M 14s. I was a 101st. paratrooper.

Answer 7

the M82 is really an antivehicle sniper rifle. PLus it lends itself to unnecessary collateral damage.

What if the bullet kills the Qaida Colonel and some 5 year old kid behind him..

Answer 8

All I know is we used M16a2'a and M4 Carbines, and they were pretty ineffective against the enemy. It wasn't until we used M-14's that we started to inflict heavy damage.

Answer 9

m82 kicks like a mother weighs a ton and is loud.

Answer 10

They are vicious weapon in my opinion and I am sorry saying it.