Charlie's has teamed-up with Potomac Armory and Red Bull Armory, to bring you a unique, exclusive Mk13 Mod 7 full deployment kit. The man behind Red Bull Armory, is Chris Higgins, who designed the Mod 7 during his time at NSWC Crane, is the gunsmith who assembled this limited edition offering. The attention to detail and the authenticity that this deployment kit brings is a once in a lifetime opportunity to own a piece of true craftsmanship and history.
This precision rifle and deployment kit is built with care and attention to detail to provide superior accuracy and function and clone-correct, using the exact same parts as used by Crane, when they assembled hundreds of these rifles, and assembled by the exact same armorer who designed the rifle. It is not often you find an authentic SOCOM sniper rifle for sale, let alone one hand built and test fired by Chris Higgins. Of course, you are not going to use this rifle as a sniper rifle, but it is great to hold a living piece of history in your hands and actually shoot it and store in much the same manner as it left NSWC Crane and was received by SEAL and MARSOC snipers.
Chris Higgins is a decorated US Navy SEAL sniper and trainer, and joined NSWC Crane in 2010. Chris worked on improving the Mk13 Mod 5, and designed the Mod 7, which went out for bid in 2013, and was initially fielded to the MARSOC Marine Raiders, and then later to Marine Fleet snipers. Working with Potomac Armory, Chris, through his company, Red Bull Armory assembled each of the Mk13 rifles and test fired and recorded the shots in the official Navy record book.
A precision rifle is nothing without a quality optic. Charlie's has many quality options available, such as the Schmidt & Bender PMII 5-25X56, and the Nightforce ATACR 5-25x, both with Tremor reticles. The S&B PM-II was the SOCOM optic chosen with the original Mk13 sniper rifle award, and the Nightforce ATACR later for the Fleet Marines in 2018-2019. We also offer Surefire silencers for use on this rifle. We recommend the flat dark earth Surefire SOCOM762-RC2 which is the current variation of the earlier model silencer issued with the Mk13 series.
Note: Charlie's also offers the rifle alone, see: AI Mk13 Mod 7 USMC Sniper Rifle.
The USMC's long history of sniping can arguably be traced back to before this nation's founding. With their long Kentucky rifles, the Revolutionaries were capable of more precise fire than their Redcoat adversaries using Brown Bess muskets. American riflemen would use a host of weapons for sniping and designated marksmen duties throughout the many conflicts in which they had been deployed. During the World Wars, the M1903 Springfield .30-06 rifle was modified, and later purpose built, using available target optics from the civilian world. The M1903 would continue to be fielded into the beginning of Vietnam, where Winchester Model 70s were also acquired. By 1966, the Marine Corps had decided on a variant of the Remington 700 in .308 Win mounted with a Redfield 3-9X Accu-Range scope. As these units, officially designated the M40, were issued and lessons learned from after action reporting, USMC armorers would upgrade and modify the rifles with newer stocks, optics, and accessories as time went on. While the Army was using the factory built M24, the Marines were refining their M40s in-house. The M40 would go through multiple upgrades, designated by new sub model numbers such as the M40A1, A3, A5, and A6.
While the M40 series continued proving effective at its assigned tasks, as the Global War on Terror continued into the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, SOCOM decided it was time to extend the range capabilities of sniper teams. A .300 Winchester Magnum rifle known as the Mk13 entered into the inventory. The Mk13 sniper rifle saw various iterations, or "Mods" and over the course of time, it would see use with special forces such as the Navy SEALs and later, the Mod 7 with the USMC Raider units. By using these magnum rounds, the effective range of the sniper was extended from 800 meters to 1,300 meters, which is roughly a 50% increase. While the M110, M40A6, and M107 would remain in the inventory as alternates and for training, it was announced in 2018 that the Mk13 Mod 7 would become the standard issue rifle for all USMC snipers.
Like the previous Mk13 sniper rifle variants, the Mod 7 is a long action bolt gun firing .300 Winchester Magnum in an Accuracy International chassis system. The Mod 7 features a KeyMod forend system with Picatinny rail segments for mounting accessories as needed. The Stiller actions were fitted with stainless Lilja barrels and mounted with a Surefire muzzle device to accept the SOCOM762-RC sound suppressor. The adjustable chassis provides better customization to individual shooters than earlier traditional stock such as those found on the M40 series and the Army's M24. The chassis is also a very rigid platform, giving it a solid base for accessories such as bipods and clip-on thermal optics. The stock folds to make transport easier. Modern high performance optics were also acquired to make the most of the new system's capabilities. The Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PSR and the Nightforce ATACR 5-25X56 were the most common optics to find on these.
The Mk13 Mod 7 long-range precision sniper rifle was designed by Chris Higgins, with an RFI, testing and bid selection by NSWC Crane in 2013-2014. Accuracy Internation, Stiller, Lilja, Surefire and XTSP would become the providers of the components, with Chris and his team at Crane manufacturing the final sniper rifle and deployment kit. While the design was based upon feedback from US Navy SEALS, The Navy determined that the SEALS had plenty of Mod 5 sniper rifle components available, and they would continue to use that Mod, and the USMC MARSOC Raiders took the first tranche of rifles. Later, in 2018, the "Fleet" Marine Corp awarded a contract for the Mod 7. The last Mod of the Mk13 sniper rifle, the Mod 7, became "fully operational" in the middle of 2019. The rifle is currently in service, but is scheduled to be replaced in the future as SOCOM moves to consolidate the Mk22 multi-caliber sniper rifle, which was initially fielded for USASOC US Army snipers, as they retired the M2010.
The Raiders originally used the Schmidt & Bender 5-25x PSR scope with a Tremor 2 reticle. The larger Marine sniper community is largely using the Nightforce ATACR 5-25x scope with a Tremor 3 reticle.
Photo credits: U.S. Marine Corps. Photo by Kristen Murphy and Lance Cpl. Reine Whitaker The US DoD makes no endorsements or warranties of any kind in association with this product.
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