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

The 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.

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.