A Century Of USMC Sniper Rifles

FEATURE
USMC SNIPER RIFLES
A Century Of USMC Sniper Rifles
Hands On History
Retired USMC Major and NRA Secretary “Jim” Land is
considered the founder of the modern Marine Corps sniping program
and has spent 40 years assembling what is likely the best collection
of Marine sniping arms in private hands. When he made that collection
available to modern day instructors and students at Quantico’s Marine
Scout Sniper school, history was made all over again.
W
44 A
UGUST
2007 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN
R708_F_MARINESCOUTweb.indd 44-45
U.S. Marine Corps Photo
The Marine in the
famous Korean War
photograph is 1st Lt.
Fred Fees, who had
been a forward air
controller, but became
a sniper after picking
up his rifle in the field.
According to Jim Land,
that rifle—a USMC
M1941 National Match
M1903 Springfield with
an 8X “USMC Sniper”
Unertl scope—had been
captured by the North
Koreans, then recaptured by the Marines
before it was liberated
by Lt. Fees. When he
returned stateside, Fees
had the rifle sporterized
in .257 Roberts. Land
and Fees’ son Fred are
restoring the rifle to its
original USMC livery.
By James O.E. Norell
henever Maj. Edward J. “Jim” Land (USMC-Ret.) lectures at his
former command, the Marine Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico, Va., the young Marines—Scout Sniper instructors and students
alike—regard him with deference and respect. After all, Maj. Land,
who today serves as Secretary of NRA, is widely recognized as the
father of modern Marine Corps sniping, having created and commanded the
Corps’ highly successful tactical field program in Vietnam and helped shape its
formal progress over the ensuing years.
At times, during his lectures to scout-sniper classes, “The Major” brings his
collection of pristine sniper rifles and optics used by Marines over the course of
the last century. Always, the rifles are examined carefully, smartly shouldered by
the students, then gently placed back on a blanketed table.
But just once, on a muggy, hot summer day in June 2005, a Scout Sniper class
of some 30 Marines, and their instructors—mostly combat veterans, some freshly
returned from Iraq and Afghanistan—assembled at Quantico’s Range 19 for a
once-in-a-lifetime, never-to-be-repeated, hands-on experience of live firing at
steel plates at 450, 500 and 550 yds. with each rifle in Land’s museum-quality collection. In pairs of shooters and spotters, over the course of the afternoon, each
Marine fired each of the rifles.
Before the extraordinary live-fire exercise, the rifles were laid out on matted firing
points, marking from left to right the timeline of the history of sniper rifles and optics
fielded by Marines in all of America’s 20th
century conflicts.
At the command, “commence firing,” a
snapshot of the range would tell the story.
At the first firing point, a frustrated young
Marine tries to reposition the clumsy World
War I Warner & Swasey prismatic optic,
which has shifted under the recoil of the first
Land instructs a student at the USMC’s
Quantico Scout Sniper school on the use of a
World War I ’03 with Warner & Swasey sight.
AUGUST 2007 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN
45
3/10/11 9:24 AM
usmc sniper rifles
shot fired from the exquisite, early
blue-finished 1903 Springfield.
At the second shot, his spotter
shakes his head. Not even close. It’s
the same frustrating experience
recounted by those who used the
scope in World War I combat.
At the next position, a Marine
captain is in the classic sitting position, sling in place, holding tight with
the Model 1941 Marine sniper rifle,
a unique combination of National
Match grade ’03 and a long graceful
eight-power Unertl “USMC Sniper”
scope—the standard for Marine
snipers in World War II and Korea.
The Unertl scopes were designed to
absorb shock by sliding forward in
the mounts under recoil. After each
round is fired, the Captain pulls the
scope back into place. But for the
snappy new Marine digital fatigues,
this could be a World War II or
Korean War scene.
Farther up the line, shooters,
paired with spotters, fire M1C and
M1D Garand sniper rifles. Another
Marine works the bolt on a mint
Remington-manufactured 1903A4
with an M73B1 Weaver scope. Yet
other Marines fire a pair of Vietnam-era Winchester Model 70s,
also topped with the long Unertl
scopes.
The ammunition used in these
30-’06 Sprg. rifles is 1967 Lake City
National Match originally from the
Civilian Marksmanship Program.
At the far end of the shoot-
U.S. Model Of 1903, Warner & Swasey M1913 “Telescopic Musket Sight”
Remington U.S. M1903A4, 2.5X Weaver M73B1
In World War I, Marines were issued ’03s with Warner
& Swasey sights, which proved quite problematic.
Marine snipers often used the Army’s World War II
sniper rifle, the M1903A4, in the Pacific.
ing points, Marines fire rifles in
7.62x51 mm NATO—an early
M40, the Corps’ custom Remington Model 700 liveried in walnut,
topped with a special Redfield
3-9X: and the McMillan-stocked
Remington Model 700-based
M40A1—this particular rifle scoped
with a Weaver T-10 optic, a postVietnam combination created for
the 2nd Force Reconnaissance Unit.
The Marines know that they are
shooting museum pieces and that
they are living a bit of history they
will never experience again.
Almost from the first round, the
crack of rifle fire was quickly marked
by the smack of bullets hitting steel
targets, as the Marines got the feel of
the rifles and optics. They shot from
prone, sitting, kneeling and offhand
positions. These young men could
shoot, and it hardly mattered which
rifle from what era they were using.
There was a major exception—the
’03 with the Warner & Swasey “Telescopic Musket Sight.”While the rifle
is a rare thoroughbred, the scope,
even with acceptable but dark optics,
is an impossible dog, with a mount
guaranteed to shoot loose. Its lousy
reputation among World War I riflemen held true that day.
The exception to that exception
was made by the perseverance of
one of the instructors. With Land
as his spotter, he kept at it until he
mastered the scope, jamming it
back into the same position after
each shot. Finally, he was regularly
hitting steel at 550 yds.
When the final “cease fire” was
called, and the Marines gathered their equipment, all of them
expressed their sense of what the
day meant.
Perhaps the Gunnery Sgt.,
NCOIC of the Scout Sniper School,
said it best: “From a historical
perspective, this was a chance of a
lifetime for these young marines.
Most of them have already been in
combat. It gives them a true appreciation for what the veterans before
them have done with the gear and
the weapons they had back then.”
Another Marine instructor
echoed those sentiments, “It’s
amazing that the guys could have
those kind of optics and still be
able to put rounds on target at the
ranges we were shooting today. But
whether you are looking through
something 63 years old or looking
through today’s optics, what counts
are the basics: controlled breathing
and a slow, steady squeeze. It was
definitely an honor to experience
history.” Then, nodding toward
Land, “Especially him being here.”
Land knows as much about
Marine Corps sniping and related
equipment as just about anyone.
He created the first post-World
War II scout sniper school in 1961
for Fleet Marine Force Pacific in
Hawaii. There he quickly discovered the same thing that Col.
USMC M1941, 8X Unertl “USMC Sniper” Scope
The standard Marine sniping rifle of
World War II and Korea was the USMC
M1941, built on a National Match
M1903A1.
46 A
ugust
2007 American Rifleman
R708_F_MARINESCOUTweb.indd 46-47
Photos by James O.E. Norell; rifles from the Jim Land collection
Walter Walsh found when he was
training snipers in World War II—a
dearth of materials on sniping.
And like Col. Walsh, Land adopted
as a basic primer a volume by
World War I veteran sniper Herbert McBride: A Rifleman Goes to
War. (McBride, issued a rifle with
the always-loose Warner & Swasey
mount, discovered a solution—
rust, accelerated with a liberal
application of urine.)
Five years later after arriving in
Vietnam in October 1966, thenCapt. Land found himself without
formal orders, standing before the
First Division commanding general,
Gen. Herman Nickerson, who told
him: “I want snipers in this division;
I want them killin’ VC. I don’t care
how you do it, if you have to do it
yourself. Got any questions?”
After a “Yes, Sir” and “No Sir”
answer, Land found himself heading a program with no people, no
instructors, no rifles, no ammunition, no range, but with some great
NCOs “gleaned from a list of all the
distinguished marksmen in Vietnam.” Among them was a man who
would become his longtime friend,
then-Staff Sargeant (later Gunnery
Sargeant) Carlos Hathcock, who had
graduated with the second class
of Land’s Hawaii course and who,
through his woodscraft and shooting
skills, would create a legend.
As for rifles, Land first scrounged
12 Model 70 sporting rifles that
had been procured by Special
Services for deer hunting at Camp
Pendleton. Through the PX system
in Okinwa, Land’s NCOs bought
mounts, rings and scopes.
The second lot of rifles used by
Land and his teams in Vietnam were
also Winchester Model 70 target
guns in 30-’06 Sprg. that had been
originally purchased as “across-the
course” bolt guns for the National
Matches. They were mothballed
after NRA changed match rules to
limit service personnel to shooting
service rifles. Among them were
arms with heavy barrels and sporter
stocks. Some of these rifles were
equipped with 20X Unertl scopes
and mounts, which were originally
procured as long-range match optics.
At the time Land was organizing
his first sniper teams, then-Major
Cam Hayden (USMC), who was
first officer in charge of Marine
Marksmanship training, discovered
the Model 70s and scopes listed as
surplus property. (Like Land, Maj.
Hayden made a lifelong career
of NRA after leaving the Marine
Corps.) Hayden, who calls his
find “serendipity,” also searched
Marine Corps inventories and
came up with 8X Unertl optics. The
rifles were worked over by Marine
armorers—glass-bedded and wood
removed from barrel channels to
free-float the target-weight barrels.
Among these was the rifle that
Carlos Hathcock used during his first
tour in Vietnam, but Land says Carlos’
rifle was anything but a tack-driver:
“Snipers today talk about halfminute of angle. Carlos Hathcock’s
rifle barrel looked like it had
been sandblasted. On the inspection sheet, you’d say, ‘Slight pits
throughout.’ His rifle would hold
about two minutes of angle. That’s
20 inches at 1,000 yards and that’s
what he had to work with.
“We had M1Cs and M1Ds available that would hold a minute of
angle, but they didn’t maintain
their zero.
“But Carlos’ rifle maintained its
zero day in and day out.”
Land said the Unertl scopes
would not have lasted an hour in
the hands of regular Marines.
“Carlos had excellent results with
that scope, but it was only because
he understood it and he knew how
to take care of it, and he was very
meticulous in doing so. The major
problem they had with it was that if
you got careless, it would fog up on
you. Anytime we came back off of a
patrol, the scopes would be put in a
hot box to dry them out.”
The other problem was crosshairs blowing out under recoil.
Land said one of the armorers, Vic
Johnson, kept a box of spiders to
spin the filaments for replacement
crosshairs as a field expedient.
Before leaving Vietnam in 1966,
Land set up the initial testing program for what would become the
USMC MC-52 Garand, 4X Stith-Kollmorgan Scope
The Marine version of the M1C had a
stiffer Griffin & Howe sidemount than
the regular M1C.
August 2007 American Rifleman
47
3/10/11 9:24 AM
USMC SNIPER RIFLES
continued from p. 47
U.S. M1D Garand, U.S. M84 Scope
USMC M40A3, 10X Unertl Scope
Winchester Model 70, Unertl 8X Scope
The current-issue USMC sniper rifle is the Remington Model 700based M40A3 built at Quantico.
This Model 70 is of the type used by
Carlos Hathcock in Vietnam.
basis for all Marine Corps sniping
rifles for the foreseeable future: the
7.62 NATO (.308 Win.) M40, built by
Remington with considerable design
input from Marines in the field.
Of the commercial actions available, why not the Model 70? Why
Remington? “The new Model 70
(post-’64) had a weak extractor,
and if you didn’t clean the chamber after about every 10 shots it
would likely break. And in Vietnam, we didn’t have that luxury.”
Land said, “Remington really
went out of their way to help put
this together. They created the
stock with the cheekpiece on it;
they never had this heavy a barrel
in this stock. We had the scopes
sent in from Redfield. Remington
mounted them, tested them, and
they were put in a specific case and
shipped to Vietnam or to Quantico.”
This was the rifle used by Carlos
Hathcock in his second tour of duty.
The Redfield 3-9X variable
scope for those initial M40s were
produced in two finishes—green
and deep black. Ostensibly
they had a built-in rangefinder,
which Land said was “worthless,”
because it often melted in hot sun.
Land calls the M40 a “Pretty
good interim rifle, which saw a lot
of use. The main problem was the
stock, which swelled and touched
the free-floated barrel when it got
damp or wet.”
Land said that when he left Vietnam, the M40 was fast replacing all
other sniper rifles, from the Special
Services rifles to the target-grade
Winchester Model 70s to the M1s
in various configurations.
The experiences with the M40,
led to design of the M40A1—a rifle
Land says is the most accurate he
ever owned. Made in the Marine
Corps’ precision rifle shop, it had a
finely- tuned Remington 700 action,
McMillan fiberglass stock and custom heavy McMillan or Sinclair barrels. He said that when first issued it
was topped with the Redfield 3-9X.
But a variation was created for the
2nd Force Reconnaissance Unit that
mounted a Weaver T-10. Later, the
rifles were re-scoped with special,
strictly Marine Corps, 10X Unertls.
There is only one representative
rifle missing in Land’s collection—
the ’03 Springfield long-range target
rifles issued to Marine Corps units
USMC M40, Redfield 3-9X Scope
USMC M40A1,
10X Weaver-T10 Scope
The M40 had a wood stock, while the M40A1
used a McMillan synthetic stock.
48 A
UGUST
2007 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN
R708_F_MARINESCOUTweb.indd 48-49
for 1,000-yd. competitions. Topped
with an 5X Winchester A-5 scope
with a Mann-Neider base, the rifle/
scope combination was an unofficial
natural replacement arm for the
failed Warner-Swasey topped ’03s
officially tagged as Marine sniper
rifles. When they were deployed in
World War I, Land said, units took
their long-range target guns into
battle. The scopes, he said, were
extremely fragile in combat.
Between the wars, the Marine
Corps made a search for a new
sniper rifle which culminated
in a 1941 recommendation in a
report titled “Equipment for the
American Sniper” and bylined
simply, “George O. Van Orden and
Calvin A. Lloyd.” The egalitarian
byline with then-Colonel and, later,
General Van Orden is a testament
to the respect he held for Warrant
Officer Lloyd. Gunner Lloyd, by
the way, was a legendary Marine
marksmanship coach, whose name
now graces a range complex at
Quantico.
Referring to the “inherent
defects created by mechanical
problems which we seem unable
to solve…” with “telescopic sights
of the type ‘Warner & Swasey
Prismatic Sight,’” the report asked
a rhetorical question, “What is the
most effective Sniper’s Rifle available in America to-day?”
Van Orden and Lloyd concluded:
“It is the Winchester Model G7044C
Rifle. … a military-target type, bolt
action, five shot magazine rifle,
chambered for the standard military
cartridge … . The high standards of
the Model 70 series have produced
the most accurate long-range rifle
in the world, as have been demonstrated by many years’ success.”
Oddly enough, this vision of the
perfect sniper rifle comes close
to describing the second series
of rifles used by Marine Snipers in Vietnam—those Model 70
Target guns gleaned by Hayden—
equipped with 8X Unertl scopes.
Although the Van Orden/Lloyd
recommendation on the Model 70
was turned down by the Marine
Ordnance Board, their strong recommendation for use of the Unertl
8X scope was accepted, and thus
was born the scope that bore the
inscription, “USMC Sniper.”
Ultimately, the Marine Corps
chose to mount the Unertl sniper
scopes on superb 1903A1 Springfield rifles with the longer-pull
type “C” pistol-grip stock.
The rifles chosen to be altered
by Marine Corps armorers, were
in the main, very accurate pick-ofthe-litter National Match rifles, or
rifles built to match-grade specs
with remarkably close tolerances
and very slick actions.
Standard alterations included tapping the receiver ring and mounting
a scope block expertly mortised in
the handguard halfway between the
front sight and the lower barrel band.
The handguard was scalloped to
accommodate the scope. Uniquely,
armorers blued the bolts.
When all was said and done,
the Marines produced a very
accurate sniper rifle, which saw
extensive service in World War II
and later in Korea. If we had taken
a poll during the live-fire exercise
with Land’s collectables, this 1941
variation would have been the
favorite, hands down.
Among rifles shot by those young
Marines was one that was never
officially adopted by the Corps, but
used extensively by Marines—the
U.S. Army M1903A4. The one on
hand that day had a scant stock. Land
says the rifles were never chosen for
accuracy as were the Marine Model
1941s, although many shot well. “The
’03A4 rifles were produced with six
different scopes. It started off with a
Weaver 330, 2.5 power; then it went
to the M73B1, which was a Weaver
330 with a military designation; then
it went to the Lyman Alaskan allweather; then they went to the M81
(crosshair) and the M82 (crosshair
with post). Land said he believes that
for all the hype about German optics,
American wartime scopes were actually far superior.
For his remarkable live-fire
hands-on demonstration, Land also
provided two pristine M1 sniper
rifles. The Marine Corps M1C
differed from the Army version,
having a much more robust Griffin
& Howe side-mount rather than the
standard Griffin & Howe unit. The
Marine M1C, which saw extensive
use in Korea as the MC-1952, also
sported an uniquely USMC StithKollmorgen 4X scope, according to
Land, the best optic yet produced
for the Corps. It saw service in
Lebanon and Panama.
Also on the firing line was
Land’s M1D with its M84 scope,
a rifle not used by Marines in
Korea, but, which like the M1C,
was fielded in Vietnam. Land said
both rifles, when used by Marine
Corps snipers, were glassbedded and given additional
tuning by armorers.
For Land, that day on the range
was an odyssey of sorts. “I’ve been
collecting Marine Corps sniper rifles
for probably 40 years, and this was
the only time we had an opportunity
to put them all on the firing line at the
same time. When we first came up
with this idea, I thought, there goes
the value of my collection, but now
I know that watching those Marines
firing rifles used by Marines in their
fathers’ or grandfathers’ or greatgrand fathers’ generation made it
more valuable than I can say.”
AUGUST 2007 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN
49
3/10/11 9:24 AM