Not to be a hipster, but there's something be to be said about the joy of using something vintage—be it a classic car, vinyl record, or the game “Duck Hunt”. A lot of us are constantly monitoring the pulse of the latest and greatest but let’s put the brakes on that for a little bit and get reacquainted with this Eurooptic exclusive that redefined the term "sniper rifle" over 30 years ago; the Remington Defense M24 Sniper Rifle.
EuroOptic Special Edition Remington M24 Sniper Rifle (Not Pictured With Included Scope Bases)
A product of the late 80’s, the M24 rifle isn’t exactly as old as vinyl records but compared to modern sniper rifles, it kind of shows its age by means of it not having a folding/fully adjustable stock, detachable magazine, pistol grip, forend tube covered in pic rails, etc. And yet. . . it feels great. If I had to pick one word to describe the rifle, I’d choose the word “solid”. This is not just a normal 700 with a fat barrel that is metaphorically stamped out of the normal production line at Remington. These are crafted with a much finer attention to detail by experienced and senior smiths who have spent years constructing the military’s weapons. That team has their own isolated section of the Remington factory.
Steel makes up the M24's trigger guard and a Kevlar-reinforced fiberglass HS Precision stock holds it all together. An aluminum bedding block secures the action as well as ensures that the barrel is freefloated within the stock. The grip is fairly beefy, symmetrical, and the angle lends itself well for prone, bench, pack and improvised shooting positions. The action is the R700 long (despite being chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO), with picatinny rail scope bases* and "Model 700 M24" stamped into it. This rifle does not have a rear iron sight mount but is drilled and tapped for one. Moving back, we see a very defining feature of the Remington M24, the adjustable butt plate. Able to be adjusted by a lockable knurled wheel, it is a very strong mechanism that allows a length of pull from 12-14”.
While some may question the usefulness of a long action .308, I see it as a nice idea. It was made in a long action in case they wanted to swap the gun to a magnum caliber, but the extra room makes loading the 5 round internal magazine easier and I can just casually huck a round into the raceway with room to spare if I want to single load it. The trigger is nice despite it being between 3.5 and 5 lbs. - but it still features a good crisp pull and break.
The 416R Stainless CHF barrel is a big ol’ thing, with a muzzle diameter around 0.9” at 24”, the rifle will certainly not be one for a mountain hunt. Still, the 5R 11.25” twist combined with it being free floated lends itself to some very good accuracy. It would be a good time to note that I actually own one of these from the last run we got a few years ago. Most of the ammo I shot through it was Federal 175gr Gold Medal Match. All groups were sub .5 moa, with many being 1/3. I have been recently using M118LR ammo and while that is a little bit slower than the Federal in my rifle, the M118LR has seen more groups around and below 1/3 moa. It shouldn’t come as a surprise though, when the rifle and ammo were essentially made for each other - how romantic.
This is fun rifle, but beyond its quality and accuracy is the fact that this is a very important one. While there is a whole community dedicated to cloning military precision rifles like the Mk12, M40, and M24, there is something that can be said about having the REAL thing. This is a firearm that has played a huge role in US military history and also that of over a dozen other nations, not to mention countless law enforcement units. Your chance to own something special is now, we have a limited number of the these special edition Remington M24 Sniper Rifles.
*The first shipment of M24 Sniper Rifles was shipped without scope bases, all M24 rifles going forward will include bases and first shipment customers will be sent bases as soon as possible.