Sniper rifles made on the basis of AR15 / M16 and their other "relatives" are far from uncommon. Stamp them all and sundry, many honestly talk about kinship with the developments of Stoner, many come up with fairy tales about incredible characteristics and make "breakthroughs" in the arms business, so there is no shortage of such weapons. Judging by the fact that from year to year models that practically copy each other appear, and not always from different manufacturers, they buy and buy weapons willingly. So let's try to briefly familiarize ourselves with one of the recent models offered by Remington Arms, and for one thing, figure out what is the reason for the popularity of this weapon: characteristics, lack of an alternative, or price.
In early 2012, Remington Arms introduced the new R11 sniper rifle chambered for.308Win. This weapon appeared for a reason, and its appearance was preceded by a statement from Remington Arms and JP Enterprises Inc about joint cooperation. It must be said right away that such news was received “with a bang”, since one company is already world famous, and the other became famous thanks to its sporting rifles, therefore, the result of such joint work should have been more than positive. They decided to take the JP LRP-07, in other words, the sports adaptation of the AR-10, as the basis. The division of labor in the companies was as follows: JP Enterprises Inc developed the trigger, optics brackets and receiver, the rest was left to Remington Arms.
The appearance of the weapon immediately suggests that the rifle was made based on the works of Stoner, but some details are interesting. So, first of all, it should be noted that the cocking handle was moved to the left side of the rifle, which made the weapon more comfortable when firing from a prone position. But the angle of inclination of the handle for these purposes, in my opinion, is too steep, it was possible to change it too. The rifle butt has the ability to adjust its length, and in several ways at once. Firstly, you can adjust the butt itself in steps using a bracket that securely fixes the butt. For a more accurate fit of the weapon to the shooter of a specific build and equipment, it is possible to adjust the butt plate using a vertical roller. The same roller is used to adjust the cheek rest. Despite all the thoughtfulness of the design, one cannot pass by the fly in the ointment, which is represented by the lack of the possibility of installing a monopod under the butt, however, with straight hands you can screw it on yourself, but this is not the same. On the left side of the weapon there is a barely noticeable fuse switch above the pistol grip; it would also be quite nice to make it larger. An interesting solution was to make this switch a three-position switch. So, in one position, the weapon safety is turned on and the rifle becomes completely safe. In the second position, the automatics work and the rifle becomes self-loading, in the third position the gas outlet is locked and the powder gases do not affect the bolt group, which significantly increases the accuracy when firing, but requires manual reloading after each shot. This is far from the first rifle with such an opportunity and such an implementation, we can even say that in the latest models, most manufacturers immediately lay down the ability to turn off self-loading by turning the fuse switch, apparently, there is a new trend in the world of weapons. If we talk about the practical value it is so easy to make a non-self-loading rifle out of a self-loading non-self-loading rifle, then of course only positive aspects can be noted. Whatever one may say, sometimes just one accurate shot is required, and the rate of fire and sniper shooting are generally completely different concepts. The weapon manufacturer himself only speaks about the possibility of using a silent firing device in combination with subsonic cartridges, for some reason they are silent about increasing the accuracy, but the fact that it should be is beyond doubt.
Returning to the appearance of the weapon, it should be noted that the weapon has a lot of cuts on the fore-end, which are so hotly "loved" by those who prefer the practicality and unpretentiousness of the weapon, and not the ability to hang on it kilograms of often unnecessary bells and whistles, which are also more often than not. The forend of the rifle is made completely full of holes, on the one hand it makes the weapon lighter, on the other hand, cleaning from simple dirt and earth becomes a long task, although a sniper rifle is still an accurate tool that does not allow tanks to ride on it, but nevertheless. The forend itself is an octahedron on each of the edges of which an attachment bar can be placed. As standard, there is only one picatinny rail, which is not removable and connects the seat on the receiver with the seat on the powder gas outlet. The rest of the fixing strips are individually installed in the desired location for the shooter. The location of the extension of the mounting bar on the outlet of the powder gases from the barrel bore is not accidental, it is intended for the installation of the front sight, the rear sight, respectively, will be installed on the upper part of the receiver. Unfortunately, there are no open sighting devices in the set of weapons, well, given their low cost, they can be freely purchased by the owner of the rifle separately, and in general the equipment of a sniper rifle is a rather conventional thing, easily changeable. The barrel of the weapon is thick-walled, but does not have longitudinal valleys that increase its rigidity; a muzzle brake-recoil compensator is installed on the muzzle medium on the thread, although it can rather be called a flame arrester. A silent firing device is installed on the same thread.
An interesting point is that in most cases this rifle is referred to under the name R11 RSASS (Rifle 11 Remington Semi-Automatic Sniper System), which is not entirely true. In fact, the weapon is referred to as simply R11, but this large set of letters is the designation of a ready-made sniper kit, in this form the weapon is usually offered. So, this kit, in addition to the rifle itself, includes a Leupold Mark 4M3 optical sight with a variable magnification of 4, 5-14X, a Harris bipod, a silent firing device, and a hard case for transportation. It is also worth noting that in most price lists the price is indicated for everything together, the rifle itself is usually much cheaper.
The basis of the weapon was an automation system with the removal of powder gases from the barrel of the weapon with a direct effect on the bolt group (as in the M16). They say that such an automation system shows better results in terms of fire accuracy than systems with a piston, we will not argue, in the end, there is at least a decrease in the weight of moving parts when fired, and this is already a plus.
Sensitivity to the quality of gunpowder and pollution in this case also fade into the background, because the weapon is sniper, which means that the ammunition will be of high quality, and the weapon is well-groomed. In general, such an automation system is quite a suitable option for a self-loading sniper rifle. In addition to completely blocking the outlet of powder gases, there is also the possibility of adjustment depending on the surrounding conditions, as well as the type of ammunition. The trigger mechanism is actually sporty, fully adjustable in all conceivable parameters, but within fairly narrow limits, which has already been noted by those who got acquainted with the new product, but this is not a gripe, but just a note. Food is carried out from detachable box magazines with a capacity of 20 rounds; in their place can be installed magazines with a smaller capacity, as well as wild drum mutants with a capacity of 50 rounds. We would also add the possibility of automatic fire and it would turn out to be a completely suitable light machine gun chambered for 7, 62x51.
The characteristics of the weapon in numbers are not entirely encouraging. For example. the weight of the weapon without an optical sight, bipod, cartridges is 5.5 kilograms. This is of course a plus to the stability of the weapon during a shot, but then the question arises in what place did the designers facilitate the rifle with aluminum alloys? And how much would a fully steel weapon weigh, 7-8 kilograms? Actually, this is exactly how much the weapon weighs if you install an optical sight, bipod and a magazine with cartridges - 7, 15 kilograms. The total length of the weapon is equal to one meter, if you install a silent firing device, then the length will increase to 1168 millimeters. The barrel length of the weapon is 457 millimeters, although variants with a longer barrel have recently appeared, respectively, the length of the weapon also increases, as does the weight. The accuracy of the rifle at ranges up to 1000 meters, according to the manufacturer, is less than 1 arc minute, which is confirmed by practice, of course, not with all ammunition and not in every hand, but only experienced and solid ones. In general, the weapon has nothing outstanding for which it would be possible to catch on and push forward other similar models - somewhere better, somewhere worse, and what is more important to whom, everyone decides for himself.
Initially, this version of the weapon was created for the army and the police, but they were not interested, which is predictable. There is no money, no desire, and the old rifles have not yet broken everything. So so far, the only place to sell such weapons is the civilian market in the United States. True, now they are actively trying to interest the armies and police of other countries, but they seem to be unsuccessful. However, the civilian market fully pays for the development and production of weapons, so there is nothing to complain about. If we proceed from what is known about this weapon, then it is easy to conclude that this rifle is still rather a police version of a sniper weapon. Whatever one may say, but in the army environment, there is much more dirt, dust, water, so there would be a more acceptable option with an automatic system with a piston, and not with a direct output to the receiver. Conversely, the abundance of places where dirt can accumulate is not at all good for the weapon. The weight of the rifle, especially in a hard case, is not conducive to long walks and so on. On the other hand, it is not clear why a police sniper needs 20 rounds in the store, of course it is not enough, but still. In addition, the cartridge itself is excessively powerful in the city limits, but if we are talking about an enemy in a bulletproof vest, then of course a completely different conversation. It is also interesting that the standard version of the rifle is sand-colored, which, as it were, hints, but we will not pour from empty to empty. In the end, use what is at hand and do not look for another, and in the skillful hands of a policeman or army sniper, the weapon will work equally effectively.
Summing up the description of this rifle, it should be noted that it enjoys some success in the civilian market, and this despite the fact that there are more advanced weapons next to it. The reason lies in the fact that, unlike us in the United States, people can count. So, if, when browsing the catalog, our compatriot saw a weapon twice as expensive as other samples, then with a high degree of probability he would simply move on to another item, glancing briefly at the characteristics and only a few would ask why this model is two times more expensive than others. The curious American gets to the bottom of the matter, but the bottom line is that along with the rifle, he receives a complete set with bipods, telescopic sight and PBS, if it is allowed for civilians in his state. Having carried out simple mathematical calculations, a potential buyer sees that he will not only receive everything at once and adjusted to each other, but also save a couple of dollars, which is the main selection criterion. In other words, the sales department worked for 5+ and saved the buyer from the need to separately order optics, bipods and the rest, and laziness is the engine of not only progress, but also trade. In general, there are alternatives to the rifle, and the price for it is quite ordinary, the characteristics are also not the most outstanding, but nevertheless they choose it.
