KAC M110 SASS: The end of the M14 (SR25/ AR10 vs M21 sniper accuracy review)

Welcome back to 9 Hole Reviews, today we explore the m110 semi-automatic sniper system, or SASS, and pitched against one of its predecessors, the M21 sniper weapon system In the 1950s Eugene Stoner designed the AR10 with space-age materials and offered it to the US government, and unfortunately for him the M14 was chosen instead the M14 had one of the shortest service lifes of any US primary service rifles, and non-match variants were generally known to only have 3 MOA of accuracy... shores of M14 rifles were moth-balled in arsenals until the US recognized a potential in having a semi-automatic designated marksman rifle... with a significant amount of money and labor the US was able to accurize these standard M14 rifles into the M21 and later into the Mk 14 EBR systems the M21s and Mk14s were used well into the Global War on Terror era and some US units still have them on hand but the system required re-bedding every 2,000-3,000 rounds and tended to be more fragile in the field conditions and had major issues with heat and the point of impact shifts in the 90s Stoner joined the Knight's Armament Company on the Floridian coast and set off to further develop the AR10 into the SR25 system with some initial commercial success... it was SOCOM who first worked with CRANE to bring in the KAC SR25 in designating it as the Mk 11 alongside the Mk 12 program With the successful use of their use in SOCOM in the US Marine Corps the US military said to commission the M110 rifle the SR25 was the AR10 that was destined to return to the US military's arsenal and fully eliminated the last reason for the M14 systems existence as a designated marksman rifle... semi-automatic rifles are typically more useful in target-rich environments that designated marksman rifles are frequently deployed in and when shot from unstable platforms for roles such as aerial marksmen with the SR25 as a base rifle, Knights used a 20 inch 5R barrel that provides the basis of the M110's accuracy, and free floated it under the KAC URX II hand guards, integrated front sight into it, and backed it with rear 600 meter adjustable sights like the Mk12, the m110 uses a reflex suppressor that sleeves over the barrel, but the KAC suppressor cams into a locked collar in front the gas block... rugged reliability was definitely in mind with the design... as one hinges the rifle open and removes the bolt the sand cuts on the coated bolt carrier is very apparent... the bolt is also topped with dual ejectors to ensure positive extraction and ejection the rifles hammer channel is slimmer than a standard rifle... we're unsure this was done to restrict fire control groups to the KAC match two-stage trigger but the trigger breaks clean and about 4.5lbs Knights also added an adjustable length stock for shooter comfort, and manufactured these as fully ambidextrous rifles... fire selectors, bolt and magazine releases are on both sides of the rifle; finally the entire rifle was coated in flat dark earth... topped with a Knights 30mm mount and a tan Leupold Mark4 3.5-10x scope with very fast M3 turrets the M110 was designed around the m118 LR cartridge with a 175 grain long range projectile, the entire rifle was calibrated for minimal guesswork to get multiple impacts on different range targets if required so what happens when the M110 takes on the M21? we set up a target sheet and loaded up some Black Hills 175 grain 308 that closely duplicates velocities of the M118LR and we have each rifle shoot at four, 9 shot targets, we cook the barrels with around every 3-5 seconds to simulate a very target-rich environments... as DMR's are supposed to handle remember 9 shot groups, 3-5 seconds per shot and a maximum of 36 shots in four different groups the results were certainly telling of the two groups first off if we're only looking for accuracy both rifles do just fine factoring in some pulls, the M110 wins out on the accuracy realm of an average of 1.08 MOA with a best group of a 0.8 MOA 9 shot group The m21 shot an average of 1.83 MOA but in a past review we also clocked it at 0.8 MOA when the groups were shot slowly so, on paper the accuracy was neck-in-neck the interesting observation was with a point of impact shift by drawing the center lines of the second to the fourth groupings and comparing it to the initial grouping center lines we have an average of 1.2 MOA of a point of impact shipped with the M21 and a very negligible 0.1 MOA point of impact chef with the M110 by the 13th or the 14th shot, the m21 has been seen to start shifting groupings to the left and subsequent groupings largely remained on the left side it is clear that the M110's light, direct gas impingement system and free floated barrels is able to ward off some of these heat-related interferences as a further control, we compared footage and pull the target from when we shot the M21 a year ago, when we had a cold range after 8 shots, the cold bore shot placement was almost a duplicate of our current test we hypothesized that the M21's heavy piston system and non-free floated front end started a bind when the barrel heated up... our results were further supported by reviewing the practical accuracy results once the M21 passed the 16th round on the practical accuracy course at the 500-600yard range the barrel was sufficiently hot and we had significant trouble hitting at 700yards and 800 yards as we chased the rounds this was contrasted with the M110's performance on a day with some of the most ridiculously high winds... heat had minimal effect on the M110's performance to continue with fast precise follow-up shots... it should also be noted that I had less than 50 rounds that I'd shot through the rifle when we ran it on the practical accuracy course and we only had trued our dopes with 2 shots at 500 yards before shooting the entire course out of 800yards the rifles ability for relatively unfamiliar shooters to impact targets in a hurry was impressive... now the M110 is not perfect... the gas tuned M21 had much less recoil but that could also be remedied with a muzzle brake or the suppressor another issue is at the M110 suppressor gives it a whopping 46.5in or 1.2 meters of a total overall length when attached, making maneuvering the rifle difficult... at the end the M110 generally replaced many M21 or M14 systems the accurized m14 may be a great target rifle but oftentimes suitors do not see its flaws with the 2-3 minutes required between shots at shooting matches a designated marksman rifle ought to be able to handle high-volume shots without a point of impact shift although the M110 has received success in the fields the US military has recently decided to start phasing in the newer H&K g28 rifles designating it as the M110 A1 CSASS or compact semi-automatic sniper system the German Bundeswehr has been fielding the G28 or HK417 systems since the mid-2000s and has received plenty of feedback on its accuracy and reliability... this is a truly interesting move back to the piston design rifle with a shorter barrel and improved maneuverability thank you again for watching this experiment on the range with two giants of the US designated marksman rifle world what do you think about the US military's move away from the M14 and to the SR25? We'd love to hear from you We'd also like to thank Chris and Heather from Small Arms Solutions for making this comparison possible ...and until next time we'll see you on the range

Channel: 9-Hole Reviews

Views: 1,142,028

Rating: 4.9289503 out of 5

Keywords: Knights, Armament, KAC, M110, M110A1, SASS, CSASS, semi auto, sniper, compact, H&K, HK, Heckler, Koch, Armalite, AR10, SR25, SR15, Mk11, Mk12, AR15, rifle, target, designated, marksman, M14, M1a, M21, Mk14, PUBG, navy, seal, marines, long range, SOCOM, Eugene Stoner, Reed, GWOT, army, USMC, OEF, OIF, Afghanistan, Iraq, leupold, mark4, vietnam, war, 7.62, M118LR, M25, XM25, IMI, USN, ordnance, M305, accuracy, Modern Warfare, Call of Duty, battlefield, special forces, green beret, SCAR17, dr disrespect, shroud, chocotaco, svd

Id: ED6Br_qwBwE

Length: 9min 31sec (571 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 20 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Lethaen_MacUlster168]

Jeez, Anton is working so hard. There's no need to give him SASS

[u/WolffeCrow]

I second this!

[u/Cyberchaotic]

ah, 9 hole - does great vids

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edit: we need that ridiculously long suppressor