Barrett MRAD Expands to Grab Advanced Sniper Rifle Contract

BARRETT MRAD EXPANDS TO GRAB ADVANCED SNIPER RIFLE CONTRACT

BY SCOTT R. GOURLEY

Among the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) acquisition programs executed over the past year is the Advanced Sniper Rifle (ASR).

As outlined in a relatively simple “sources sought” announcement on April 6, 2017, ASR was envisioned as “a complete system” to include three caliber conversion kits – 7.62mm NATO, .300 Norma Magnum, and .338 Norma Magnum; “any tools needed to complete the conversion”; and “a light/sound suppressor that can be attached to the system when needed.”

According to the April 2017 announcement, the new ASR system would also feature: a total system weight, less suppressor and with unloaded magazine, not to exceed 17 pounds (T) [threshold], 13 pounds (O) [objective]; Length with stock extended, less suppressor, not to exceed 50 inches (T), 40 inches (O); and length for transport, by means of folding or collapsing 40 inches (T), 36 inches (O).

The initial specified accuracy criteria for each of the three caliber configurations was: 7.62mm 1.0 MOA [minute of angle] (ES) [extreme spread] at 328 yards (300 meters); (T) 0.5 MOA at 328 yards (300 meters) (O); .300 NM 1.0 MOA (ES) at 328 yards (300 meters) (T); 0.5 MOA at 328 yards (300 meters) (O); .338 NM 2.5 MOA (ES) at 328 yards (300 meters) (T); 1.5 MOA at 328 yards (300 meters) (O).

The modularity of the rifle’s chassis allows for a platform that can be upscaled or downscaled relatively easily.

Al Photos This Spread Scott Gourley

The modularity of the rifle’s chassis allows for a platform that can be upscaled or downscaled relatively easily.

On March 11, 2019, less than two years after that request for information (RFI) and following extensive interaction between USSOCOM and industry, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing received the ASR award.

During a visit to the Barrett manufacturing facility two weeks later, Special Operations Outlook learned about how the company worked toward the ASR program as well as a number of other SOF sniper weapon support programs around the world.

Bryan K. James, senior vice president of sales at Barrett, noted that he was limited as to what he could say about the March 11 USSOCOM (Program Executive Office, Warrior Systems, SOF Lethality) ASR award. In addition to the date and contract issuer, the only available specifics included the fact that the five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract is based on the

Barrett MRAD Rifle System, with a maximum procurement quantity of 2,675 units, and a maximum contract value of $49,936,299.50. “That’s all that’s official on ASR,” he said. As a result, discussion focused on the company’s Multi-Role Adaptive Design (MRAD) rifle platform, which is not only fielded across several special operations elements but was also modified to meet the specifics of the ASR requirement.

Origins of MRAD

“MRAD started off with Chris Barrett and the Model 98B, or the 98 Bravo as some people call it, which was a bolt action, .338 Lapua Magnum dedicated rifle platform,” James said. “That was his design, with a barrel that was in an upper receiver that had a bolt go directly into the barrel extension, sort of like an AR-15, as opposed to a barrel that gets screwed into a receiver and then a bolt that gets ‘headspaced up.’ You had direct interaction between the bolt and the barrel extension in the barrel. The chassis was there just to facilitate the meeting of the two.”

Barrett Firearms Manufacturing’s Advanced Sniper Rifle.

Scott R. Gourley Photo

He said that the design provided accuracy and ease of manufacturing. “Then, when the original PSR came out, the Precision Sniper Rifle, that was the base platform that then had the modularity of barrel changes. We already had the direct interaction between the bolt and the barrel. So now all someone had to do was change the bolt and a barrel, keeping the same chassis. And now the design is caliber convertible from, in this case, .260 Remington all the way up to .338 Lapua. We had the basic design already. We just had to make a few tweaks on it and made it interchangeable.”

This interchangeable flexibility is reflected in the fact that the 98B is now available in nine different calibers. While the most popular caliber choices are the .300 Win Mag, .308/7.62, and .338, James noted that other popular calibers are the .300 and .338 Norma Mags, 7mm Remington Magnum, .260 Remington, and 6.5mm Creedmoor.

“6.5 Creedmoor is hugely popular now because this is a solid platform to shoot it from,” he said. “There’s no recoil, so you can see your hits and see your misses through the optic. You can see your own trace, actually watching the path of your ‘boat’ going in, because of the lack of recoil.”

Modifying the MRAD

While MRAD performance has already made a positive impression on the global SOF community, James acknowledged that the specifics of the ASR requirements mandated a few minor changes in the rifle design.

Caliber options were not a problem, he observed. “They said three calibers: .308 [7.62mm NATO] is a given. We already made it in .308. But they asked for it in .338 Norma Magnum and .300 Norma Magnum. And we had already made that for the commercial market, so we had it. For us it was a COTS [commercial-off-theshelf] item. It’s like, ‘Oh, they want this one. Here you go. Here’s your .338 and .300 Norma Mags.’” James identified several other minor program alterations. “The magazine release can be hit from either the right or left hand by pushing forward, and the magazine drops free,” he said. “The magazine well is cut out so that when you’re behind the gun, you can stay on target to reload the magazine without having to tip the gun.”

Another modification of MRAD was the use of a USSOCOMspecified Harris bipod with adjustment knob, James said, “a specific design that cannot fold to the rear. It can only fold forward, so that when you are loading the gun or pushing forward on it, it can’t collapse into the dirt.

Other ASR changes were incorporated into the folding buttstock design, including both length adjustment and vertical adjustment.

The suppressor, which is made by Barrett, is also unique, featuring a secondary locking device that eliminates the risk of the device unthreading off the muzzle brake.

Other MRAD alterations ranged from a new “toolless” disassembly of the bolt to the replacement of the adjustable trigger on the traditional MRAD with a non-adjustable design.

“They didn’t want guys in there messing with the triggers,” James said. “On the MRAD, it’s a fully adjustable trigger. On the ASR it’s not adjustable.”

New Tool

Asked what the MRAD and now ASR will provide to the SOF warfighters, Joel Miller, director of Global Military Sales for Barrett offered, “What it’s going to give right now is, I think, a lighter weight system that’s going to replace many of the current systems that are in place. If you look at the ASR, it’s intended to replace M107s, for the anti-materiel solution, Mk 13s, M24s, and M40s. So essentially what it’s going to give is that uniformity, that one platform that’s capable of doing multiple things that essentially everybody will have, with commonality for ammunition, systems, parts, so on and so forth.”

Emphasizing the modularity of the chassis, Miller added, “One of the beauties of this system is that we are capable of providing multiple calibers,” Miller added. “The modularity of the chassis is, what if somebody comes up with a ‘.336 Lapua Improved’? Oh, well great. It’s a barrel and bolt change and we’ll keep running with it.

“It becomes a very easy ECP [engineering change proposal], as opposed to having to go through an entirely new procurement program for a new caliber and all that.”

“This becomes a platform that we can upscale and downscale,” said James. “So let’s say that some new caliber comes out between the .338 Lapua, which is a relatively small cartridge compared to a .50 BMG, and the .50 cal. Now we can take this chassis and grow it, upscale it, to a .416 Barrett, for example. You know, we just set a land record, at Vegas, in that caliber. The guy was shooting a 500-grain bullet at 3,150 feet per second. And a guy two weeks ago just set another record: three hits, cold bore with two follow-up shots, at 2,100 meters on a 1-meter plate. And so yes, we could upscale it. So, instead of an MRAD, we could have a bigger MRAD. And now you’re chambering your .408 CheyTac [Cheyenne Tactical], your .375 CheyTac, your .416 Barrett, .460 Steyr, whatever caliber is out there.

“We … want the warfighter to know how much confidence he can have in this rifle to perform day in and day out, multi-calibers, multi distances,” James said. “This rifle will help them accomplish every mission they need, from training to urban combat to longrange shooting. It absolutely inspires confidence in a platform because it’s simple and it’s accurate.”