Firearms

SOCOM Taps the Sig Sauer MCX Rattler as Its Personal Defense Weapon of Choice

Small but Mighty

US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), on May 19th, issued a notice of intent to buy an undisclosed quantity of Sig Sauer’s MCX short-barreled rifles as personal defense weapons (PDW) under a five-year sole source contract. As a result, special Operations Forces (SOF) will finally be receiving a much-requested ultra-compact PDW to help blast their way out of tight places. Known as the “Rattler,” this Sig will be chambered in .300 blackout and standard 5.56X45mm ammunition.

The Sig MCX Rattler is destined to be an operator’s new best friend. Image Credit: Sig Sauer

The official US Government notice of intent reads, in part:

“The Government hereby submits a notice of intent to award the Commercial Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) contract to Sig Sauer. This IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract) will provide complete PDW weapons (Sig Rattlers – 5.56mm and .300 Blackout caliber) that includes suppressors (SL series), cleaning kits, magazines, quick barrel change kits and force on force training kits. Furthermore, parts, sustainment, and New Equipment Training will also be part of this IDIQ. The PDW system will allow Operators to have maximum firepower in a concealable weapon.”

A Long Time Coming

SOCOM had explicitly requested a weapon chambered in .300 blackout as it delivers more stopping power when launched from a short-barreled rifle (the Rattler has a 5.5-inch barrel) and boasts improved performance over 9mm offerings in the subsonic velocity band. If an operator decides to fire 5.56 NATO rounds instead, the switch is simple. All one has to do is change the barrel. As you’ll note above, quick change barrel kits are included.

The cartridge base is identical on both rounds fired by the MCX, so the bolt and bolt carrier are unchanged. For this same reason, magazines are interchangeable as well.

Here, the factory experts tell you all about this compact yet powerful firearm. Video courtesy of YouTube and Sig Sauer.

In both configurations of the Rattler, the barrel is married to a familiar AR-15 style lower receiver. With the folding aluminum stock fully extended, the total length of the .300 Blackout version is 23.5 inches, a half an inch longer than the configuration chambered in 5.56mm. Both versions weigh roughly six pounds. Both feature Sig’s M-LOK free-floating handguard topped with a Picatinny accessory rail and ambidextrous charging handle. Operators will be provided with Sig Sauer’s SL series suppressors, which add an additional 8.8 inches to the length of the weapon when attached.

The Rattler should require less maintenance in the field when compared to other AR-15/M16 platforms. It utilizes a physical gas piston to cycle the action rather than a direct impingement system that would blow propellant gas directly into the weapon’s inner workings.

The Sig Sauer ROMEO4T red-dot and Sig JULIET magnifier have proved to be ideal companions for the MCX Rattler.

SOCOM began looking for a new PDW in 2017, at first thinking they might be able to have one built around the M4 carbine’s receiver. But the Sig MCX was already in production, so they acquired ten of them in 2018 for testing purposes. Their stated goal in that search was to “find a new PDW with a highly concealable .300 Blackout upper receiver group (URG) and buttstock kit solution for the M4A1 platform.”

As it turned out, the Rattler worked out nicely to meet SOCOM’s intent for the new PDW. If you want to buy one of these bad boys for yourself, they can currently be purchased online for about $2,299. I just found a new item for the top of my Christmas list.

Shoot Better by Mastering These 4 Simple Marksmanship Fundamentals

Before even picking up that shiny new rifle you just purchased, let’s take a moment and talk about the four fundamentals of marksmanship. These aren’t going to make you a trick shot or a sniper on day one, but they underpin everything you need to hit your target, whether at 50 meters or 500.

There are many schools of thought for this, but here is an easy one for everyone to remember: Steady Position; Aiming; Breath Control; and Trigger Squeeze.

For this article, the shooter will be in the prone or laying down position.

1) Steady Position

The first marksmanship fundamental has to do with your position. The rifle handguard should rest one heel of the non-firing hand in the V formed by the thumb and fingers. The grip of the non-firing hand should be light, do not squeeze the rifle.

Place the butt of the rifle in the pocket (just above the armpit) of the firing shoulder. This will reduce the effect of recoil and help ensure a steady position.

The firing hand grasps the pistol grip, having it fit in the V formed by the thumb and forefinger. The firing finger should be placed on the trigger, so the rifle’s lay is not disturbed when the trigger is squeezed. Basically, you don’t want the rifle to move right or left when you pull the trigger. The remaining three fingers apply slight rearward pressure to ensure that the buttstock remains in the pocket of the shoulder so that it minimizes the effect of recoil. Nobody wants to get shoulder punched by a rifle.

The firing elbow is essential in providing balance. Placement should allow the shoulders to remain level.

The non-firing elbow is positioned under the rifle to allow a comfortable and stable position. When you are engaging moving targets or targets at various elevations, the non-firing elbow should remain free from support.

The rifle’s stock should provide a natural line of sight through the center of the rear sight, to the front sight post, and onto the target. It would be best if you began by trying to touch the charging handle with your nose when assuming a firing position. This will aid you in maintaining the same cheek-to-stock position each time the weapon is aimed. You should be mindful of how the nose touches the charging handle and you should be consistent when doing so.

2) Aiming

Having mastered the fundamental task of holding the rifle steady, you now must align the rifle with the target in the same way for each firing.

Alignment of the rifle with the target is critical. It involves placing the tip of the front sight post in the center of the rear sight aperture. Any alignment error between the front and rear sights repeats itself for every half meter the bullet travels. For example, at the 25-meter line, any mistake in rifle alignment is multiplied 50 times. If the rifle is misaligned by 0.1 inches, it causes a target at 300 meters to be missed by five feet.

A proper firing position places your eye directly in line with the center of the rear sight. When the eye is focused on the front sight post, the eye’s natural ability to center objects in a circle and seek the center of the aperture aids in providing correct sight alignment. For the average person firing at targets, the eye’s natural ability can accurately align the sights. Therefore, you can place the front sight post’s tip on the aiming point, but the eye must be focused on the front sight post’s tip. This causes the target to appear blurry while the front sight post is seen clearly.

Marksmanship fundamentals — A correct sight picture.

Once you can correctly align your sights, you can obtain a sight picture. A correct sight picture has the target, front sight post, and rear sight aligned.

3) Breath Control

The third fundamental is about your breathing. As your skills improve and as timed or multiple targets are presented, you must learn to control your breath at any part of the breathing cycle. There are generally two types of breath control techniques that most people use. You must be aware of how the rifle’s movement (while sighted on a target) changes due to breathing.

The first technique is used when time is available to fire a shot. According to it, you fire the shot the moment of natural respiratory pause when most of the air has been exhaled from your lungs and before inhaling. Breathing should stop after most of the air has been exhaled during the normal breathing cycle. The shot must be fired before you feel any discomfort.

The second technique is to hold your breath for a moment in order to fire a shot.

4) Trigger Squeeze

The final of the marksmanship fundamentals is about the trigger squeeze. Even a novice firer can learn to place the rifle in a steady position and correctly aim to target if he follows the above three fundamentals. However, if the trigger is not squeezed correctly, the rifle will be misaligned with the target at the moment of firing.

Trigger squeeze is essential for two reasons: First, any sudden finger movement on the trigger can disturb the rifle’s lay and cause the shot to miss the target. Second, the precise instant of firing should be a surprise to you. Otherwise, your natural reflex to compensate for the noise and slight punch in the shoulder can cause you to miss the target if you know the exact instant the rifle will fire. You usually tense your shoulder when you’re expecting a rifle to fire. This isn’t easy to detect since you don’t realize you’re flinching.

Your trigger finger should be placed on the trigger between the first joint and the tip of the finger (not the end). This will also adjust depending on hand size, grip, and so on. The trigger finger must squeeze the trigger to the rear so that the hammer falls without disturbing the rifle’s lay. It isn’t easy to see what effect trigger pull has on the lay of the rifle. Thus, it is important to experiment with many finger positions to ensure the hammer is falling with little disturbance to the aiming process.

Hopefully, this article helped you out some or maybe refreshed your knowledge. With ammo prices seemingly on the rise, consider applying these four fundamentals while dry firing and have a buddy watch you. When coaching, I almost always watch the shooter exclusively, then see where the bullets hit the target later.

The M224 60mm Mortar – Every Light Infantryman’s Friend

The M224 60mm lightweight mortar is a man-portable, smoothbore, muzzle-loading, high-angle-of-fire weapon used for close-in support of ground troops, airborne and special operations forces. It is currently in use with both the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps. It was used extensively along with the M252 81mm mortar in the War in Afghanistan.

Better in Every Way

The M224 LWCMS (Lightweight Company Mortar System) was first adopted in 1978. It replaced the older (WWII-era) 60mm M2 Mortar and the inaccurate M19 Mortar.

While the M2s and M19s had an effective range of only 2,000 meters, the M224’s new primary rounds gave it a range of effective indirect fire of 3,489 meters. Meanwhile, it could still fire all types of older ammunition.

In 2011, an improved M224A1 version came into service. Thanks to its new lighter components the weight of the weapon system decreased from 46.8 to 37.5 pounds.

M224 Components

The M224 mortar is composed of these parts:

M225 Cannon: 14.4 lbs
M170 Bipod: 15.2 lbs
M7A1 Baseplate for use in conventional mode: 9.6 lbs
M8 baseplate for use in handheld mode: 3.6 lbs
M64A1 Sight Unit (The M67 Sight Unit is now widely used for the system): 2.5 lbs

The mount consists of a bipod and a base plate, which is provided with screw-type elevating and traversing mechanisms to elevate/traverse the mortar. The M64A1/M67 sight unit is attached to the bipod mount. The mortar can be fired in the conventional gravity fire mode or the handheld mode by using a manual spring-loaded trigger.

The 60mm mortar is typically fielded at the infantry company level. A small mortar section with two mortars is organic to Army rifle companies (light, airborne, air assault) and Ranger companies. Marine rifle companies have a section with three 60mm mortars in the company weapons platoon.

The mortar can fire a sustained 20 rounds-per-minute with 30 rounds-per-minute in certain circumstances and for short durations. The ranges for the M224 extend from 70 meters to 1,340 meters for hand-held firing and 3,490 meters for the conventional firing mode. A crew of three can operate the mortar extremely efficiently.

60mm mortar Afghanistan — 60mm mortar being fired in Afghanistan using the smaller baseplate and the hand-held trigger. (DoD photo)

The 60mm Mortar’s Ammunition

The M224 Mortar can fire the following principal classifications of training and service ammunition:

High explosive (HE): These are used against personnel and light materiel targets.
M1061: Improved HE with insensitive munitions performance-enhancing fragmentation warhead.
Smoke Cartridge (White Phosphorous): Designation M722. Used as a screening, signaling, or marking munition.
Illumination (ILLUM): Used in night missions requiring illumination for assistance in observation.
Red Phosphorus: Can be seen with or without a Night Vision Optic.
Full Range Practice Cartridges (FRPC): Designation M769. This round is used for practice or clearing misfires.
M1061 MAPAM: SAAB Technologies produced a Multi-Purpose Anti-Personnel Anti-Material round.

While mortars are indirect fire weapons, in mountainous terrain if the mortar crew is located on the high ground where the target is visible, they can be pinpointed right on the target. An example and amusing story of how this can play out happened while an A-Team from the 7th Special Forces Group deployed to Honduras back in the day.

Hey, you gotta have an anecdote with these stories, after all, right?

The M224 60mm Mortar in Action in Honduras

Our A-Team was moving farther up in the mountains to work on pack animal configurations (see Wilson, Charlie) with the 6th Infantry Battalion (Centaurs) at Ojo de Agua, which we regularly called “Ojo de Nada.”

The Centaurs were located in the mountains and had a large base for the Contras. The Centaurs had enough U.S.-made GP Medium tents where a battalion could refit and rest. They also had a large shooting range built on several of the base’s rolling hills.

When we had first arrived the weather had been cold, raw, and rainy. But about a week later, it had dried out and was hot and sticky. A stiff wind had dried everything out to where it was like tinder.

We were high up on a hill with our Honduran counterparts shooting at targets located about 300-400 meters away. We were using M-60 and M249 (SAW) machine guns as well as their Russian 82mm mortars and our M224s. The Honduran kids, not used to having this much ammo, were having a ball, blazing away at the silhouettes with reckless abandon. Those short controlled bursts we had discussed in training were quickly forgotten.

One of the tracer rounds from the SAW started a range fire on top of the hill. Our Hondo allies had a pickup truck, an old beat-up piece of junk that looked like it would fall apart at any minute. It came loaded with soldiers who raced down there and quickly put the fire out. Kind of like a Keystone Kops fire brigade.

After lunch, we had a second group, their mortar section, who were beginning to get the U.S. 60mm mortars. We did some crew training with them and their crew drills were pretty good. They had a few old Soviet 82mm mortars, from God knows where. They looked like antiques. So firing them seemed like an iffy proposition. They used the U.S. 81mm mortar rounds, which we didn’t have any.

The M224 60mm mortar firing in Afghanistan using the conventional firing mode. (U.S. Army)

I had never fired a U.S. round through that Soviet system (I had started as a heavy weapons guy), but one of our other guys had. He said that a weird sound was made when dropping the round. Instead of that metallic sliding, sucking sound, it was a click, clickety-click, sound as the slightly smaller American round would ever so slightly bounce down the tube. Although you could fire those, Luis, our heavy weapons guy, said, they weren’t the most accurate… no kidding.

So, after doing some crew drill on the 60mm M224 mortar, the mortar guys got their turn on the machine guns. After a few moments, one tracer round hit in front of one target, bounced backward about 10-20 meters, and started a small fire in the grass. The fire was burning in a small neat circle.

Danny, our Team leader, was reaching for the radio to tell the Hondos in the beat-up truck to put out the fire when Bruce, one of the other guys, spoke up. “I can put that range fire out, sir,” Bruce said. Bruce was a huge guy who was loaned to us from the 2nd Ranger Battalion for this deployment. He was also the weapons platoon sergeant in the Battalion.

The Hondurans were in awe of his size. He was easily double their diminutive height, so, they were scared shitless of him. Bruce had a very typical Ranger haircut buzzed on the sides. In the Honduran army, they only did that to the criminals, “Los Castigados” in their terminology.

He grabbed the smaller M8 baseplate for the 60mm mortar and put a round in the tube while lining up his range estimation. Giving himself a bit of windage, he pulled the trigger and we all waited a few seconds for the round to go downrange. Bruce grabbed another round and was preparing to fire again when the mortar landed with that flat-sounding explosion. It landed squarely on the fire, which was no more than three-four meters wide at that point.

Special Forces Honduran Airmen — A Special Forces soldier (left) observes Honduran airmen firing their pistols. (DoD)

The results were electric. We whooped, “Good shot bro,” while the Honduran mortar section sat there dumbstruck with their mouths literally wide open. It was a shot in a million. And to put things in perspective, they were used to firing 81mm mortar rounds through a Russian 82mm antique mortar. “Holy shit,” Bruce said to Danny. “I’ve never hit one on the first shot before.”

“Look at them,” Danny said, motioning to the Honduran mortar section. “They are going to kneel and ask you to bring back the sun any minute.” We all cracked up. The Hondos sat there mesmerized for a few more seconds. “Hijo de puta! Their lieutenant yelled. He turned with a big grin and began to bark at his troops. We all cracked up. Bruce, who at that time had a very limited Spanish vocabulary, asked Danny what they said.

“Basically, he is telling them that until they can learn to shoot like that, he’s going to shave all their heads.”

Bruce again tried to tell us that he’d never hit anything like that on the first shot. Danny told him to act as if he did it all the time. Bruce played along, set down the tube, and told the Hondos, “Eso fue fácil” (that was easy).

After that, every time Bruce walked through the compound, the Honduran kids would salute him like he was a field grade officer. Not long after we returned from that deployment, the Special Forces had ruined Bruce with the Ranger Battalion.

He reported to the sergeant major (SGM) with his hands in his pockets, put his feet up on the SGM’s desk, and said, “Hey SGM, I’m back.” His SGM at the time was also a long-time SF NCO. He laughed and said, “Report to RIP in the morning.” Not long after that, Bruce joined SF and went through the Special Forces Qualification Course as an 18E. He later became an officer… and a very good one.

DOL