true or false

H

hammered54

New member
read this on another fourm.

In the US forces all the sniper rounds are custom made by Black Hills per the customers requirements.
 
its not my statement, I'm just repeating it as it was posted.
I would "cough cough" assume he's referring to ..snipers in the u.s. military... all branches.

now I've heard of Brass Extrution Ltd. making ammunition for the u.s. in the past and I just read on the Black hills site that they do in fact make "match ammo in 5.56 of the military..but that's it.

so......
 
I watched a show on the history channel about the marine shooting team iirc.

All their ammo was loaded by arsenal handloaders to the shooters requested specs.

They had every wiz bang reloading tool you can think of.

It was an assembly line deal. One guy sizing. Handed down the line. Next guy was charging with powder using a measure, then trickling to final weight using a 1010.

Next guy seated bullets. Very neat.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using Tapatalk 2
 
I thought that it was made by ATK. They own both Alliant Powder and I've been told that the Army requires that Reloder 15 be used in the M1118 LR ball ammo.
 
I don't think it's true, for several reasons. I think the US Armed Forces are very careful to not single source any mission critical components. And I don't think they'd tell you where they got their stuff. And there is not a single "sniper weapon" but several sniper systems in different calibers. Including .308, .300 WSM, .50 BMG, 5.56 Nato, etc. And each branch probably goes it's own way as well. I don't think the US fields any .338 Lapua but several allies do.
 
In the 7.62 NATO, I've mostly seen Lake City issued ammo for marksmanship teams and sniping over the years. The M118, M852 and M118LR have all been Lake City. The cases are headstamped with the LC initials.

In the 300 Winchester magnum it has mostly been Federal ammo with a 190 grain MK bullet. The cases have been headstamped with the FC logo.

In the 338 Lapua Magnum, the ammo that I've used had an "L" within a shield on the headstamp.

For ball ammo in the 5.56 (A1, the A2 and M4), 9mm and the 45, I've seen TZZ, FC, WCC and Lake City all issued.
 
False, with a grain of truth.

Mk262 ammunition is made by Black Hills. This is the Squad Designated Marksman round that was developed using the 77gr SMK.

M118LR ammunition is made by Lake City (ATK).

A191 300 Win Mag ammo, not sure, I think that Black Hills might be loading the new 220 gr SMK version. Not sure though.

For Marines, the same ammo is issued, however the Marines do get custom ammo for their rifle competitors, and it is hand loaded by fellow Marines in Quantico.

The AMU may have a contract for some custom ammo with Black Hills, but that would be an AMU only thing.

Jimro
 
Black Hills does load the MK 262 round for the DOD special purpose rifle. Would not go so far to say all sniper use but it is the prefered round for a lot of the special forces.
 
Jimro said:
For Marines, the same ammo is issued, however the Marines do get custom ammo for their rifle competitors, and it is hand loaded by fellow Marines in Quantico.

The AMU may have a contract for some custom ammo with Black Hills, but that would be an AMU only thing.
Click to expand...
Atlanta Arms & Ammo is listing 5.56 match ammo for Army Marksmanship Service Rifle Team, so "not all" US forces may apply - http://www.atlantaarmsandammo.com/MATCH_AMMO/match_ammo.html

Looks like Atlanta Arms & Ammo is also supplying pistol match ammo to AMU and Marine Service Pistol Teams too.
 
definitely false. all small arms ammo used by the armed forces is manufactured at the lake city ammo plant which is currently being run by ATK and is manufactured to specs laid down by the DOD. independent soldiers have zero say in how the ammo is made whether they are SEALS, snipers, recon, or Joe Navy that is pulling IA duty.


EDIT army competition shooting teams are a completely separate group of shooters. they compete with a number of people to show that they are the best in the world. military specs are thrown out the window for these guys however military operations do not affect what ammo is used. the closest combatants come to custom ammo for special operations is if you need to punch through vests, M855, if you need to kill unarmored BGs them M193, if you are working with allies, be prepared to shoot SS109 ETC...

that is simply blackhills claiming as much as they possibly can without getting in trouble with DOD in order to get people who don't know better to buy their product.
 
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Army Competition Shooting Team

tahuna001 is correct about the Army Competition Shooting Team, they were at Trinidad State Jr. College in 2000 trying to recruit from Trinidad's Gunsmith program. As I recall they didn't recruit anyone, if I had been a young man it would have been tempting. One of the things I picked up on they loaded their ammunition for each shooters particular rifle. William
 
If I am not mistaken, American Ballistics also loads M118LR. I have five or six boxes of it somewhere. Simple brown boxes. I know they produce their own cases and bullets. Pretty high quality stuff.
 
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