Great Article on the Army / Remington XM110 Program

[Lowlight]

Micheal Haugen provided us with a comprehensive article on the Remington XM110 Program

http://www.snipershide.com/remington-and-the-xm110-program/

Like many things in this life, you cannot understand something fully unless you understand where it began and the processes involved getting to the end. What makes something such as this interesting to some is the nuances, specific events, and view point of the situation whereas to others it is the raw facts and details. It is for this reason that I am presenting this in all of its glory but providing “chapters” so some can get right to what they want. I apologize in advance for the length of this article, however there is a lot to tell and should I skip something that someone deems important, I am sure I will hear about it. Lastly, I will refrain from commenting too much on the various SASS competitors as anything I would have to say would generally be hearsay. Anything I will say will be something I believe to be true or was involved with.

 

[GUNNER10]

good article,

consider how fucked up the CSASS turned out, all I can do is laugh

I hate picatinny

 

[KevinCollins]

I worked on the SASS solicitation with Mike Haugen. At the time, I was the Engineering and Quality Control Manager for DPMS. It was a fun and exciting program to work on.

I never got to try the Surefire sound suppressor, but I did get to test the OPS Inc. 3rd Model and 12th Model sound suppressors. Both worked well, but we went with the 12th Model suppressors since they attached to the muzzle brakes.

Later,

Kevin

 

[Tx_Flyboy]

Kevin,

since CE you were in QA, why did DPMS not NDE ever part of the rifles they sent to be evaluated by the military?

It it seems to have been a failure of QA to ensure no defects with parts is what de-railed DPMS's entry.

 

[KevinCollins]

We did not have many resources at DPMS. The program was ran fast and frantic. Some testing was performed by the Remington crew, and some by the DPMS crew. Several parts were also prototypes or ones from low volume production runs. Either way, little testing was performed on some components because they were new to Remington and DPMS. From what I remember, the components that were shared with the standard LR-308 rifle worked well.

Every XM-110 rifle was inspected at DPMS, and presumably by Remington. No defective parts were knowingly shipped out with these rifles. As Mike states in his article, the after action report listed some complaints about features that our rifles didn't have.

I don't remember any bolt catches breaking or bending during the SASS tests. I also don't remember seeing any broken or bent ones from any of the 10,000+ LR-308 rifles that shipped before I left DPMS in June 2006. If one of our bolt catches did fail, then it probably did while the sound suppressor was being used. The additional bolt velocity would cause the bolt to impact the bolt catch harder than normal.

I have no doubt that Knight's Armament was much more prepared for the solicitation than DPMS. They had more resources, and more history with their SR-25 rifles than DPMS had with their LR-308 rifle.

Later,

Kevin

 

[RonA]

Some familiar names coming up. Just read the article and I'm glad to hear Mike is still around. Brought back a few memories and reminders about how military contracting works.
Ron Allen

 

[Movistar]

Really interesting read. I'm a huge fan of KAC and of Remington both. Thanks for taking the time to write that up.

 

[sandwarrior]

This is a very interesting article LL.

I have to wonder too that with the initiation of the SASS program, what happened to the 6.8 SPC and 6.5 Grendel? In a three way competition they got dumped in favor of Mk 262 ammo. No need to change the rifle. The 6.5Grendel outperformed the 7.62/M118LR. But, only SOC operators could use it.

I'd have to agree with Haugen in that the process and transparency have gotten so convoluted it's hardly worth throwing your hat in that ring.