Another major development is night sights, to make the M16 more capable in darkness or bad weather. The Marines already have the AN/PVS-4 light-intensification sight for the M16, but they are rapidly developing and fielding newer systems. For instance, a new night fighting/spotting system, the PAC-4C, utilizes a special shoulder sling and red laser dot. But what Marines (especially reconnaissance and scouting units) really want is a thermal-imaging sight. The Marines have already adapted the thermal-imaging sight from the man-portable Stinger surface-to-air missile (SAM), though it is a bulky, expensive device which drains batteries rapidly. Both the Marine Corps and the Army are evaluating the NiteSight, a miniature thermal sight from Texas Instruments (TI). Small and lightweight, it draws much less power than earlier thermal sights. The key is a TI-designed imaging system. Unlike most thermal sights, it does not have to be chilled far below zero. Because it functions at 70deg F/21 C, size and cost are greatly reduced. TI has plans to adapt NiteSight for motor vehicles and commercial aircraft.
MP-5N Submachine Gun
Okay, I'll admit it. When we visited the Weapons Battalion, my mouth really started to water when I saw it at the firing range, with as many loaded 9mm magazines as I wanted to blow off. It is the Heckler & Koch (H&K) Machine Pistol-5 Navy (MP-5N), the world's finest submachine gun. If you enjoy shooting, then the MP-5 is your dream weapon. Considering that a submachine gun is designed to spray an area with bullets, it's lightweight, deadly, and surprisingly accurate. The MP-5N derives from the German machine pistols feared and respected by opponents during the Second World War. These early machine pistols, called "burp guns" by Allied soldiers, were lightweight, simple, and deadly, particularly in street fighting or inside buildings. Since the end of World War II, many nations and companies have tried to produce their own machine pistols, with varying success. The U.S. M-9 "Grease Gun" was wildly inaccurate and only marginally reliable. The little Israeli Uzi is a worldwide best-seller, favored by VIP bodyguards, because it can easily be concealed under a jacket. But H&K has produced the world's finest submachine gun: the MP-5N.
The Marine Corps bought the MP-5N for what it calls close-quarters battle (CQB). This includes actions by units in MEU (SOC)s, Force Recon, and Base Security, as well as the various USMC Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams that they maintain. The need is simple: to get in close, then rapidly and accurately put a 9mm round through a target before the other guy can return the favor. The MP- 5N has been adopted by law enforcement and special operations units around the world. Elite military hostage rescue units (like the SEALs, Delta Force, GSG-9, SAS) and police SWAT teams (FBI Hostage Rescue, German Police, New Scotland Yard Special Branch, etc.) make the MP-5 their close-combat weapon. The MP-5N is just that good. Let's fire one and see why.
When you pick up an MP-5N, you can feel German quality and engineering (you get the same kind of feeling when you drive a Mercedes Benz sedan). As you would expect from some of the best firearms engineers in the world, everything about the MP-5N has a function, yet there is a comfort and elegance to the whole thing. The basic weapon is 19.3 in./49 cm long with the stock folded (26 in./66 cm with it extended), and weighs about 7.4 lb/3.4 kg with a thirty-round magazine loaded. In addition, there are fittings for a flashlight (for use in night fighting) and a flash/noise suppressor (this adds about a foot to the overall length of the weapon).
The MP-5N uses the same NATO Standard 9mm ammunition as the M9 Beretta handgun and many other automatic pistols. This ammunition has excellent stopping power at short ranges (less than two hundred yards/meters), and is readily available anywhere in the world. You load MP-5N in much the same way as the M 16A2. You insert a thirty-round magazine into the lower receiver until you feel (and hear) a satisfying "click." You then pull back the cocking handle, switch the firing selector from Safety to Single Shot or Automatic, aim, and fire away. With typical German efficiency, H&K stamps symbols on the side of the weapon for each mode, which makes it almost "idiot proof"!
Single-shot firing is even easier than with the M16A2, and there is almost no barrel displacement when you fire. Out to about two hundred yards/meters, you just put the sights on the target, and then you hit it. Automatic fire is even better. The barrel rise, so common on automatic weapons, is almost non-existent on the MP-5N, and keeping the weapon on the target is easy. In fact, other than a heavy machine gun, nothing I've ever fired compares to the experience of automatic shooting on the MP-5N. While I was reloading the weapon with a fresh magazine (just press the release button and push in a new one), Colonel Nance came up behind me and said, "Go ahead, I'd do it too!" This said, I let loose with a thirty-round burst, emptying the magazine in less than 2.3 seconds. Astonishingly, about half of the rounds actually hit the target, about one hundred yards/meters downrange. While I was shooting, I could hear the sound of the bolt and slide cycling, but almost nothing from the actual firing of the 9mm rounds. It was a bizarre sensation until I realized that this was a result of the superb flash/noise suppressor screwed onto the muzzle of the MP-5N. It was amazing to pump out almost eight hundred rounds per minute and scarcely hear it!
There are no current plans to replace the MP-5N. It is an almost perfect weapon for the CQB role, and will likely stay that way for years to come. If you want to know perfection in firearms, find a way to get some "trigger time" on an MP-5N. You will not be disappointed.
M40A1 Sniper Rifle
For decades, the Marine Corps has been famous for its sniper program. Sniping — to kill or disable enemy leaders — is an integral part of infantry combat. Since the first Marines climbed into the rigging of sailing ships to sweep the decks of enemy frigates with musket fire, the Corps has valued accurate shooting. But Marine historians tell us that systematic emphasis on marksmanship only began in the early 1900s under the influence of Commandant Heywood and under the direction of Captain William Harllee.
The core of this capability today is the M40A1 sniper rifle. First fielded in the 1970s, this bolt-action heavy-barreled rifle fires a 7.62mm Match Grade round out to 1,000 yards/914 meters, with enough accuracy to hit a man-sized target in the head. The M40A1 is built from stock parts by the armorers of the Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico. Based on the Remington Model 700 rifle, it is "accurized" to an almost unbelievable degree by adding:
• A commercial competition-grade heavy barrel.
• McMillan fiberglass stock and buttpad. Each stock is blasted in a glass bead machine at Quantico to improve accuracy.
• A modified floorplate and trigger guard, as well as a lightened trigger.
• A 10-power Unertl sniperscope.
• A five-round magazine.
With these features, the M40A1 can fire with an accuracy of less than one minute of arc. That's less than 1/60 of a degree. At 1,000 yards/914 meters, this means an error of less than 10 in./25.4 cm! With a little work, Colonel Nance's gun-smiths and armorers at Quantico usually get the error down to a third of that. Much of the technology that makes the M40A1 so accurate derives from the efforts of the USMC competition rifle team, which uses similar rifles and heavily modified M 14s in contests with the shooting teams of the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Secret Service, DEA, and FBI.