M40 Rifle Question

[USSR]

I agree with Marty, the picture appears to be that of a M24, not a M40.

Don

[bd1]

During the time in question, IIRC, all Remington 700 receivers were drilled and tapped for a metallic sight base. So it would have been a matter of drilling and tapping the barrel up near the muzzle. I don't recall seeing that on original M40 barrels but some could have been or Marine Corps armorers could have done it easily enough.

[chuckindenver]

the heading says USMC photo, hard to say for sure,
the M24 is a long action, the M40 is a short action.
the M40 is based on the Remington 700 action.
the early 40x and 700,s were basicly the same receiver, until 1968 the 700 had a cutout for a stripper clip guide, and likely was only a 722 left over until supplies lasted.
the 40X retained the cutout, and had thicker walls then the later 700,s
when the Military first but in an order for the 700,s they requested they be fitted for iron sights as well, front and rear, so, the M40,s were first shipped with holes front and rear, as well as ahead of the chamber for a target sight block.{Remington just made them that way}
as the rifle stayed in service and was rebarreled? who knows.
i can tell you, not all US Property 700,s went to the armed forces. some were sent to AK, WY, MT, and other states that have Game wardens that are State law inforcement as well.
matter fact, most US Property marked 700,s were used that way..
someplace i have the ranges of serial numbers used by the military vrs, State issues..
i think the Green book on 700,s might list it..
Remington may still have some records, but ist changed hands a few times, and records get lost, chaged ect..

[Badgerord]

I have spent the last 2 years researching sniper rifles for an upcoming book.
I have personally physically inspected 6 M40 rifles including Chuck Mawhinney’s rifle in the Marine Corps museum.

I have photographs of 16 different rifles including one from the first contract and one from the last.

I have configuration management documents for the M700 Sniper (the real name for the M40, the M40 nomenclature was not used by the Corps till 1975 after the war) the M40A1, M40A3 and the M40A5 and NO front sight or holes are listed for ANY of the models.

There is No M40A2, The PWS did not use this number because of the M40A2 106mm Recoiless rifle, Some of the Snipers used the term “M40A4” to differentiate the M40A3’s with the Detachable triggerguard NOT an official designation!
After the addition of the Surefire suppressor the nomenclature was officially changed to M40A5.


Here is a little sampler from the book, "The originating requirement for the M700 Sniper was placed by the Air Force not the Corps."

The first pic...from the top

M70 Bull Gun
M40 (M700 Sniper)
M40A1
M40A1 w/ SIMRAD mount
M40A3 w/ Unertl
DMR
M40A1
M40A5 w/ DM triggerguard, PGW UNS mount and Surefire adapter





Marty

[Chris F]

the M40 was the first Remington 700 sniper rifle used 1966 to 1975, then the M40A1, M40A2and now the M40A3...and so on. all had changes based on the 700 action.
the M40 was drilled for the front sight base, and came with iron sights as well, so the rifle could still be used if the optics failed.
rumor has it, no one used the iron sights, and most were tossed.
all the M40 rifles made after were drilled for sight bases, for the same reasons.

If you look at Senich's book, "The One Round War", which is probably the most scholarly work on the USMC Sniper Program available to date, there are several close up's of the upper portion of actual M40 muzzles. There are no holes. Definitely no bases.

I can say more definitively that when they went to the M40A1's (RTE shop produced vice Remington produced), there were definitely no holes. The one exception would be when the MTU pressed the M40A1's into service in the 1000yd Roumanian Trophy Team Match. This was an iron sight match, and they fitted up their M40A1's with Iron's, then went out and won the match.

That rifle referred to by the OP is definitely an M24. It's an M700LA. HS Stock and Leupold M3 scope.

when the Military first but in an order for the 700,s they requested they be fitted for iron sights as well, front and rear, so, the M40,s were first shipped with holes front and rear, as well as ahead of the chamber for a target sight block.{Remington just made them that way} as the rifle stayed in service and was rebarreled? who knows.

It sounds an awful lot like you're referring to the Army's M24 (minus the rear barrel block).


Marty, here's a couple of interesting tidbits for you;
Did you know that the design consultant for the M24 project was a retired Marine?
Did you know that Mawhinney's M40 was still in service as an M40A1 into the 90's? E-mail me for more details if you'd like to run those down for your book.

[Chris F]

[chuckindenver]

nice pics,
id like to see a closeup of the USP markings on the M40...
looks like a private collection.
iv seen a few types of USP markings.
from roll stamped, hand stamped{ questionalble} and arc engraved. {genuine}
most if not all M40,s had the barrels changed at sometime, would like to see the markings on the barrel as well.
i know of 3 types of Redfield 1" tube scopes.
my dads late friend worked ar Redfield, and had a straight 12 power in the green finish, and a 4x12 in the grey finish,
as well as a 4 power green finish...until i went to the Rockisland museum, i couldnt figure what the military would want with a 4 power scope..then i saw the Ruger 1022,s select fire, and suppressed.
they had cheesy bushnell 2 powers on them...ill bet the 4 powers were entended for them.

[Badgerord]

Chris, I know the 2112 that reworked Chucks rifle from a A1 back to a 40.

There were several consultants on the M24 project including the original engineer of record for the M40 (M700 Sniper) program.

The M40 in the pic is in a private collection, it was a prize gun awarded the the National Matches in the early 80's.

According to Naval sources there were quite a few Redfield scopes found on the M40 over its life including:
The Greeney Matte finish Duplex with the range finder
The Black Matte finish Duplex with the range finder
The Black Gloss finish Duplex with the range finder
The Black Matte finish Widefield Duplex with the range finder
The Greeney Matte finish Circle/dot reticle with the range finder
This is not a complete list but all of these have been observed on issue rifles.

Marty

[bd1]

That's some great stuff on that wall. I know "improvements" came along for the M40, such as swapping in a Win M70 steel floorplate + armorer-made steel triggerguard, but that original one is a spitting image of a '60's commercial Rem 700 "Varmint Special" except it's park'd instead of blued and it has a plain stock. I still have a pair of old .308 VS's from around '68, same barrel length (24") & contour, same hokey flat "crown," still shoot like a house afire. Dial up the glass, hold hard, they'll take a turkey's head clean off at 200 meters.

[Badgerord]

BD1
Very astute, the M700 Sniper was in fact just a Parkerized Varmint rifle, with the factory addition of the scope, Rings/Base and the rest os the initial issue kit, case, sling, cleaning kit.

The configuration management document for the M700 Sniper has all the same P/N's as the varmint, just calls out a different finish and the rest of the kit.

Marty