Was it possible late in the transition between the A1 to A3 that an A1 could have had a MIRS rail?
I will only add some chronological info: The M40A3s were built at Quantico and generally first fielded in the 2001-02 era. They were updated via Change Orders a couple of times during that decade. Those USMC/PWS Change Orders didn’t include installing a MIRs rail.
The original MIRs rail was a military contract first awarded to McCann Industries by Crane (US SOCOM) in Indiana. It was awarded in late 2003 or early 2004. I seem to recall the first order was for 600 MIRs rails to be delivered sometime in 2004/5, but I don’t have the specifics in front of me. I’m guessing these were for long action rifles, and a few were apparently made for left-handed actions on Navy M700-300s. Mike Haugen of course knows the full history, as he developed the rail when he was retiring from 1st SFG to join Remington Defense, and he had John McCann manufacture it.
Anyhow, it was never a USMC procured item, so it was not part of the M40A3s build guide, nor likely installed by USMC 2112s - unless that 2112 was supporting a MARSOC mission. As noted above, it was developed to allow clip-on night vision devices to be added to SOCOMs M700 rifles, principally the Navy (NSW) long-action 300 WinMag rifles, but US Army units under SOCOM command (Army Rangers and Special Forces) also had access to SOCOM weapons and exotic NV gear, and thus the MIRs rails. That’s presumably why you see random M24s with the MIRs rail installed. It was not a Big Army thing, or a USMC thing - it was a SOCOM-specific thing.
Lastly, the USMC didn’t have a command under SOCOM until MARSOC was stood-up in Feb 2006. I suppose after that time the MARSOC guys had access to exotic Crane-procured gear like MIRs rails and exotic new night vision devices that Crane procured, but again these would be basically ad hoc (one-off) experiments trying to get a NV device mounted on an M40A3 before the PGW rails were in service, etc. That’s my understanding of history re the MIRs rails.
(Fwiw, NightForce won its first scope contract with SOCOM in July 2005, so after that date, one can see NF scopes on various SOCOM weapons (Navy SEALs/Army Rangers/Special Forces). I think I spot NF in one on those pics of an M40A3 with a MIRs rail. So the earliest it could have been taken is late 2005, or sometime thereafter. A MARSOC mission would be early 2006 at the earliest. Just an fyi re chronological history and how you can guesstimate dates some of the above pictures with NF NXS scopes & MIRs rails).
, but there were never any issues with the single screw cocking piece.
