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Heym SR21: Marine Corps Is Looking for a Few Good Rifles

heym_sr21_01aThe Marine Corps announced in August they are looking for a sniper rifle chambered in .300 Win Mag. One of the rifles the Corps may be looking at is the Heym USA’s SR21 sniper rifle.

Heym is known for high end double guns, both rifles and shotguns.  Peruse the Heym website and you will see many photos of dangerous game taken by their customers in Africa.  Interested in buying one of their guns?  MSRP is “contact us.”  I’m thinking that might be a touch out of my price range.  In fact, I would get in trouble with my wife if she knew I was even looking at their guns.

Heym’s standard SR21 can be seen on the Heym site.  The Marine Corps has the sniper version for T&E.  I’ve seen the standard SR21 in .300 Win Mag sell around $4000.

So why does the Marine Corps want a .300 Win Mag rifle?  The Corps wants to engage targets beyond 800 yards.  The problem?  Many of their snipers do not have the skills to reliably hit targets at 800 yards.

In the article Experts: New rifle not answer to sniper issues, Dan Lamothe reports that a lack of training facilities with realistic targets and the inability to retain Marines are two reasons that Marine snipers may not be able to utilize the added range of the .300 Win Mag.

heym_sr21_01

The US Marine Corps prides itself on everyone being a rifleman.  In other words, no matter what else you may do, you can pick up a rifle and be an effective troop in combat.  The Corps is a small fighting force compared to the US Army.  But, they are still required to handle some of the most dangerous missions.  Therefore all of their members must be combat effective.  Drive a truck?  Ok, but you better be able to shoot a rifle also.

By Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson is a gun writer, amateur historian and - most importantly - a dad. He's done a lot of silly things in his life, but quitting police work to follow his passion of writing about guns was one of the smartest things he ever did. He founded this site and continues to manage its operation.

One reply on “Heym SR21: Marine Corps Is Looking for a Few Good Rifles”

I have a Heym SR20 rifle and it is the most accurate I have shot.

I didn’t know about the sniper rifles, but I think the rules for rifle ownership here in the UK are slightly different!! – ours are only stalking rifles.

On the sporting versions i prefer the SR30 to the SR21 as it has the drop magazine.

I got my Heym SR20 second hand from the UK distributor (info on http://www.heymrifles.com).

good shooting all…

ben

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