U.S. Army's New Sniper Rifle?

[Ccrider]

Ran across this and found it interesting. I wonder how much the Army is paying per gun.

The Army is buying thousands of the 'awesome' new rifle that is fast becoming the sniper weapon of choice for the US military

 

[Ccrider]

Well, for those interested, you can buy one scoped for about 18k.

SOCOM Set to Receive New Barrett MK22 Sniper Rifle

The Barrett MK22 can chamber eight different calibers, allowing snipers to train with one weapon in an array of operational environments.

sofrep.com

 

[okie]

18K????

 

[Ccrider]

18K????

Yes. $18,000.00. Actually more like $19,000.00 and some change.

 

[Bill Norris]

NICE LOL.

 

[okie]

Yes. $18,000.00.

yeah my online calculator is slow...typical gov. contract

 

[JEFFPPC]

18,000.00

 

[XL105]

Pretty cool rifle. Wide range of caliber options. Better investment then paying $300 for a brick of primers!?

 

[DangerRanger]

interesting that they went with the mk5

 

[kzin]

260r & 6.5cm
7mm ???
308w
300wm & 300nm
338lm & 338 nm

Is even the army setting up to shoot any ammo they can get?

 

[cw308]

Winchester in 30-06 and the Remington in 308 got the job done. The king of the jungle was the M2.

 

[dtucker]

Yes. $18,000.00. Actually more like $19,000.00 and some change.

That's chump change for the government, they have a endless amount of money to spend thanks to the tax payers. But all aside.....our men and women should have the best of what ever they need, they are putting their lives on the line for you and our country.

 

[biggun2869]

One of my nephews works at Crane Naval Base and he showed us this rifle at least 2 years ago (maybe 3) at Christmas.
I kind of agree with cw BUT I can't think of a reason not to give our guys as good as can be made. That price does get me though

 

[joshb]

Oh great!?! Some body talked the idiots into a switch barrel rig! It sounded like a great idea but it didn’t work for me!

 

[biggun2869]

He is in the firearms division and gets to shoot some good stuff but to hear him tell it he has more bread & butter assignments. He talked about a test on 3 1/2 inch mag 00 buck shot That hey had to shoot a big number of rounds through an 870 I think but I'm not sure of the shotgun. I tell you this to tell you it is not all fun and games. When they get a chance to shoot something good it is a treat

 

[Straightshooter1]

18K????

Well, it comes with 3 barrels, 3 bolt adapters, 3 sets of mags for each caliber and an awesome case to hold it all.

 

[divingin]

That price does get me though

Having spent 11 years building military avionics, it's not the rifle that costs that much; it's all the certifications and paperwork that goes along with it that's expensive. Our HUD unit for the AH-1T was about the size of a toaster oven; the paperwork that accompanied a new unit would fill a 4 drawer file cabinet, and that doesn't account for traceability paperwork that we had to keep. Or the stuff our parts vendors had to keep. Ad infinitum (or Ad nauseum, as the case may be.)

 

[okie]

Well, it comes with 3 barrels, 3 bolt adapters, 3 sets of mags for each caliber and an awesome case to hold it all.

bargain!!

 

[Ccrider]

One of my nephews works at Crane Naval Base and he showed us this rifle at least 2 years ago (maybe 3) at Christmas.
I kind of agree with cw BUT I can't think of a reason not to give our guys as good as can be made. That price does get me though

No doubt they deserve the best of the best, regardless of cost. Actually, the cost I posted is what they are selling to civilians for. My guess is that our government is paying 2 or 3 times that price.

Whether this platform is truly the best option I have no idea. I hope it is as our servicemen deserve the best.

 

[divingin]

Yeah; I should have said "It's not NECESSARILY that the rifle costs that much..."

That said, in this case it's not like they're buying a hammer that available in any hardware store across America. I'm fairly certain that Joe Citizen would pay about the same as the military if he bought, say, an M1A2 Abrams tank (for commuting purposes, of course.)

BTW the hammer would cost the gov't a substantial surplus above the hardware store price for the same reason: Someone would have to specify the brand, create a CIS (Commercial Item Spec) that details what it is, who makes it, what it consists of, and sources for where to get it, and that all ships with the hammer as well. All that traceability costs a lot to do.

Israel licensed our manufacturing for the AH-1S HUD; they bought the test equipment from us. We charged them $65 for an electrical ground isolator plug (you probably know them as a 3 prong to 2 prong adaptor - at the time they were 39 cents in any hardware or drug store) as it had to have all the same paperwork done.