Four days ago we learned that the U.S. Army’s new Squad Designated Marksman Rifle will be ye olde 7.62mm Heckler & Koch G28. The German-made rifle — modified for our troops’ dining and dancing pleasure — replaces the M110 SASS 7.62 compact sniper rifle. “As well as providing better penetration of enemy forces’ armour, it is expected to be lighter, shorter, easier to carry and more ergonomic to use,” news.com.au report. Let’s compare, shall we? . . .
The M110 weighs about 1.1kg more than the G28 — so this new modified US Army G28 could potentially be even lighter than 5.7kg.
How much shorter will the new gas-powered sniper rifle be? The G28 is 96cm long, so that is about 6.3cm smaller than the M110.
But wait! There’s more!
To adapt for mission requirements, the G28 has a conversion kit.
For example, if a lighter version is needed for a patrol or assault rifle purposes, then the approximately 635g lighter patrol variant can be used. There is also an “Over the Beach” capability available.
Leveraging thermal and starlight imaging, the G28 is designed for fighting at night as well.
For close quarters threats, the modified G28 should deliver enhanced accuracy and performance while being easier to use.
The G28 is designed to provide accuracy of 1.5 MOA.
What’s the maximum effective range? The company indicates high first round hit probability up to about 792 metres.
All that for just $44.5m. Not per rifle, obviously. Back in February, thedrive.com informed us that . . .
The Army’s contract for roughly 3,650 sniper rifles . . . which works out to roughly $12,200 per rifle, although the contract includes other items, like support and spare parts.
A bargain? We report, you deride.
Super nice setup. They deserve it. I’ve got some nice toys, but $12,200/rifle? Hot dang.
It is too expensive and is made by HK.
I agree that an American AR-10 manufacturer should have been selected.
Agreed. What ever happened to bulk discounts? I’d like to see the breakdown of what goes into that price.
This rifle is made of steel and aluminum so with the trump tariffs, this gun will go north of $13k.
Flinch, that may well be the dumbest thing I will read all month. Europe already restricts steel and aluminum from outside the EU, and this purchase doesn’t involve importing raw materials into the US. Go back to jerking off to Mother Jones articles, or is it Pravda that gets you off?
Holy Moly Tstew. It really says a lot about someone when they don’t get obvious sarcasm.
Hey, I think I hear your mom calling you for dinner.
Mom. Good one. Try the /sarc line. It clarifies thing a bit.
LMT’s LM308SS SASS (aka- L129A1) offering is superior to HK’s Wundergewehr.. and should have been the American Supplier for this contract. If the Euros think so… then why not the US Gov?
Quad rails? Really? Is that still a thing?
You’d think that…some American company could knock together a high quality AR-10, wouldn’t you? Why in the world are we buying from H&K? And Jeff above makes a point too…Why am I still seeing quad rails here and in other military/police AR pattern guns?
It’s hard to afford M-Lok after paying kickbacks to all the cack-sacking ohole holdovers.
I’m with ya. I haven’t considered buying quad rails over the lighter weight alternatives for quite some time. But if I had to venture a guess, it’s standardization might be more important to them than weight reduction. This isn’t just a quad rail, but it meets some Stanag standard.
They probably didn’t think of this, but maybe those extra few ounces of weight help with some of that extra 7.62 recoil.
The photo at the top of the article is of the standard G28, which does include quad rails. The derivative version being adopted as the new M110A1 and which will be used for the DMR platform comes with a Geissele M-Lok rail;
https://www.armyrecognition.com/ausa_2017_show_daily_news_tv_coverage_report/new_hk_m110a1_7.62mm_semi-automatic_sniper_rifle_at_ausa_2017.html
HK is one of those companies I won’t support because a polymer pistol is not worth $1,000 to me. Even a Beretta can be had for $400 and they’ve been around for 500 years. There is nothing they are doing that other companies aren’t while charging half as much. I would love to own one but it’s not going to happen. I’m not debating this, it’s just my opinion.
I haven’t bought an HK for 21 years myself, but not considering buying a rifle from them because their polymer pistol is not worth the price to you doesn’t seem very rational. Also what does Beretta’s age have to do with their pricing? That seems like some sort of non sequitur, no?
I come the same don’t buy HK decision as you but follow a bit different route to it.
I too avoid HK, but different reasoning applies. I avoid them because they don’t make civilian versions of the guns I want. MP5, G3, G36 (don’t you dare try to say that abomination SL-8 they put out a while back that can be modified into a G36 is a G36) No I want a real honest to God made to be that way from the factory civilian legal G36, and IMO they do over price some of their stuff plus some of their commercialized military style guns look HIDEOUS. For examples of HIDEOUS looke up pictures of a stock SL-8, the USC carbine, and the MK23. It seems the only way HK likes you and gives you what you want is if you are a military or military contractor, as for everyone else YOU SUCK AND WE HATE YOU!
They just had a huge price cut on all their pistols except the 23 and the USP series. P30s can be had for under 6 and 45s under 7.
“providing better penetration of enemy forces’ armour, it is expected to be shorter”
Do these words go together in that order? They don’t seem to make sense…
Someone above mentioned Geissele M-Lok. I surely wouldn’t argue with that upgrade. Geissele is a solid name and M-Lok is a solid game.
As for weapon length vs. penetration, there are other, lengthier articles mentioning a variation of this 7.62 weapon replacing a 5.56 weapon. That could explain being able to trim off a few inches of barrel length, while still getting better penetration than 5.56.
As for which branch gets which rail design, optic, etc., I have no idea. I guess that’s the beauty of modularity.
Please help save our 2nd Amendment rights. The Whitehouse.gov petition web site has a lot of pro-2nd Amendment petitions that need people to view and sign if possible. Look at these and decide which to sign. There are too many to link here.
A lot of anti-2nd Amendment petitions are post there also.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/oppose-gun-control-and-weapons-ban-legislation
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov
so they bought the HK 417. well I am sure it is a good rifle, but like someone else said, why can’t we put together an AR-10 . and we can keep the jobs here. someone like LaRue or some of the other companies. I am sure they could have done it.
It’s still a 7.62… How are they going to achieve better penetration…? Magic bullets or maybe ribbed for her enjoyment??? I don’t get it…
If they’re comparing it to 5.56 that’s just marketing hype…
Haha. And physics. Yeah, mostly physics.
How is cutting 3.5 inches from the barrel going to provide better penetration of enemy forces’ armour?
I’m not an expert here by any means. But I think that one website quoting a few other websites, who may have quoted a few more sites can end up like the telephone game. Some details might have fallen through the cracks, and assumptions get made.
The “better penetration, shorter” comment looks like it’s from an Australian source. That’s a start. But I think the conclusion there, Australian or otherwise, is that an 18″ .308 barrel is going to be shorter than a 20″ 5.56 barrel, as well as offering better penetration through light armor.
At that price per rifle they should be going with a Tracking Point rifle. What a waste of tax payer dollars. 🙁