Has anyone seen one of these yet? U.S.M.C. M40 Replica Vietnam era Remington sniper rifle.
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Neat rifle. I'm thinking about taking the plunge.

Terry

The M-40 is nice, classic in appearance and very accurate.

A friend of mine (a sniper while in Iraq, wounded by an IED) has his own M-24 that he had built as Remington wouldn't sell them to anyone besides the Army at the time.

That rifle can shoot. While not really as pretty as the M-40 it really is a superior piece.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

regards,

Eric

Haven't seen one & not likely to either......no mention of anything custom like bedding, lapping and all the other things that make a rifle accurate. Why not a M700 VLS Varmint like the two I have & replace the stock? Put the money savings into accurizing improvements IMHO........r in s.

The M40 replica has an aluminum bedding block in the stock, it comes out of the custom shop which may or may not be a good thing. You would have a very hard time finding a replica M40 stock and would pay big $$$ to have the reciever cuts put in the action.

I have no problem with the suggestion that a more accurate rifle could be built for around the same price. I ran across a 700 with a 5R barrel the other day for $800 which most certainly had more accuracy potintial than a M40, but a M40 it wasn't

Terry

Well if I was able to get one I could always pull my ART scope off of my M14 witch is also Vietnam vintage.

ART scope?

Is this a Redfield range finding scope? I hear the originals a very rare.

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by TC1:
ART scope?

Is this a Redfield range finding scope? I hear the originals a very rare.

Terry

Terry,

The original Redfield scopes used on Vietnam era M40’s were 3x9 variables with a range finding reticle, which didn’t work very well in practice.

Located at the top of the FOV were two horizontal stadia wires that supposedly referenced 18 vertical inches (average distance from waist to shoulders on adult male). In theory you adjusted the power until that portion of his body fit between the two lines, then you read the target distance off a yardage scale at the bottom of the FOV that slid up and down with the power ring. That would work up to 600 yards or so, but beyond that distance you had to bracket the two lines off a 36 inch reference area on your target (knees to shoulders on average adult male) and double the reading on the scale.

Lots of guessing and fiddling around with the scope in order to use, plus the range scale tab had a bad habit of drooping when the temps got high as they were made from a thin plastic material.

Vietnam era M40’s were little more than factory Remington 700 BDL’s with a parkerized finish, heavy varmit contour barrels and plain oil finished stocks.

OK, But what is an ART scope?

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by TC1:
OK, But what is an ART scope?

Terry

ART stands for Adjustable Ranging Telescope, and they were first made by Redfield and later by Leatherwood. They consisted of a Redfield 3x9 Acu Range variable power scope and mounting assembly with a ballistic cam system attached to the power ring and mount.

They were used by the Army on their XM21 (M14) sniper rifles in Vietnam, NOT on USMC M40’s. The Marines tested the ART’s and found them to be far less than accpetable.

They were a first generation BC range adjusting scope and suffered from all of the problems inherent in first generation products. In other words, they didn’t quite work as planned.

Thanks!

Terry,

The later versions of the ART system worked a little better, but they still had some serious and inherent faults that makes them less than desirable.

If you can picture a scope and mount system with an eccentric cam mounted on the scope where the rear ring would be, and as the power ring is turned the scope tilts up or down to compensate for the trajectory of the round.

In use you would estimate a portion of your target that equalled 30 inches in height. You would then adjust the power until that 30 inch portion fit between the horizontal stadia lines, center the cross hairs on the target and fire. Since they were 3x9 scopes the ranging capability was from 300 to 900 yards.

Yes mine is built by leatherwood its mounted on a M14, the story I was told was you got the target in your sight work the cross hairs till they were on person belt buckle then pull the trigger.

quote:

Originally posted by octave:
Yes mine is built by leatherwood its mounted on a M14, the story I was told was you got the target in your sight work the cross hairs till they were on person belt buckle then pull the trigger.

Well, sort of.

You adjust the power until a 30 inch area on the target (belt to top of head on the average adult male) is between the horizontal stadia lines (not the cross hairs) and the cam will automatically elevate the scope for the range. You then place your cross hairs where you want on the target and pull the trigger.

A friend of ours is a USMC Recon Sniper Vietnam Vet and he said his Remington 40 had a Unertl scope that he was instructed to destroy before being taken prisoner.

quote:

Originally posted by scr83jp:
A friend of ours is a USMC Recon Sniper Vietnam Vet and he said his Remington 40 had a Unertl scope that he was instructed to destroy before being taken prisoner.

The Corps used Winchester 70’s and Remington 700’s (M40) as sniper rifles in Vietnam, and the Unertl 8x scopes were used on the Winchesters not on the Remingtons.

quote:

Originally posted by scr83jp:
A friend of ours is a USMC Recon Sniper Vietnam Vet and he said his Remington 40 had a Unertl scope that he was instructed to destroy before being taken prisoner.

The last thing you would want is that Unertl scope giving away any secrets...

I was fortuneate to have a real M40 in my posession for a while in the mid '70s. It resides in the Oregon NG museum at Camp Withycombe (SP?) now as I traded it to the museum before I did something stupid like modify it (I have that bad habit). It was all original and had the original Redfield scope and was a bring back (yes I know it was probably not legal). I got a M1A super match built by the Oregon NG rifle team armorers and a gob of ammo and other accessories. I was shooting for the Oregon Guard then. I got the M40 through the family of the sniper it had belonged to before he was killed in Vietnam. I probably would be a lot of money ahead if I still had it AND I'd not modified it. Long story but that's the short of it.

Anyways I did shoot it quite a bit when I had it and still have the loading notes and velocities (had an Oehler back then too). I also shot it out to 1000 yards with M118 and have a good idea of the rifles capabilities. It was/is a nice rifle but most of the "off the shelf" varmint/target type .308 rifles are better shooters these days. Still it was nice to have for a while knowing where it had been and what it had done.

Larry Gibson

quote:

Originally posted by fyj:

quote:

Originally posted by scr83jp:
A friend of ours is a USMC Recon Sniper Vietnam Vet and he said his Remington M40 had a Unertl scope that he was instructed to destroy before being taken prisoner.

The Corps used Winchester 70’s and Remington 700’s (M40) as sniper rifles in Vietnam, and the Unertl 8x scopes were used on the Winchesters not on the Remingtons.

I did some research some had 10 power unertl scopes and I'll take the word of my friend who carried the weapon in nam.

quote:

Originally posted by scr83jp:

quote:

Originally posted by fyj:

quote:

Originally posted by scr83jp:
A friend of ours is a USMC Recon Sniper Vietnam Vet and he said his Remington M40 had a Unertl scope that he was instructed to destroy before being taken prisoner.

The Corps used Winchester 70’s and Remington 700’s (M40) as sniper rifles in Vietnam, and the Unertl 8x scopes were used on the Winchesters not on the Remingtons.

I did some research some had 10 power unertl scopes and I'll take the word of my friend who carried the weapon in nam.

Are you talking about the Unertl 10x target scopes or the 10x tactical scopes? The latter weren’t adopted until long after the Vietnam war.

The M40’s came directly to the Corps from Remington with the Redfield scopes already mounted on them. They came in a hard case with cleaning gear etc. The scopes and mount were serialized to match the serial number on the rifle. The Winchester 70’s came from the marksmanship units and the various rifle teams in the Corps and had Unertl 1 ¼ 8x target scopes with Unertl adjustable mounts. Some of these scopes were the ones used on WWII and Korean era 1903 Springfield sniper rifles used by the Corps.