I just spoke with my friend and former SEAL Team 3 teammate Chris Kyle today. I called to ask him his advice regarding my own upcoming media tour with the release of my book April 10th. After a shooting the shit we ended up talking about the SOFREP TV show (well…we ended talking about beer drinking and this before.)
As my mind was racing on my drive home I thought to myself, “Why don’t I talk about ALL the guns in the SEAL sniper’s kit, and post them in a series in The Loadout Room?” And this post was born.
What I’ll do is go through the full weapons spread one-by-one and give you guys some personal perspective and my opinion on employment and overall thoughts on the weapon.
Also check out gear and guns of the Navy SEALs on SOFREP (we update this monthly).
The Mk-12 Special Purpose Rifle
Axe is pictured here with the Mk-12 rifle with NVG attachment in the front of the Nightforce scope.
Thoughts: I’m not a big fan of anything 5.56 and I personally avoided carrying the Mk-12 in favor of the 300 win mag or 7.62 semi.
The 5.56 round itself is just substandard all around in my opinion. The only thing I would consider it good for is sub 300 yards urban operations, but you better make head shots. And if you’ve ever shot someone in the head it’s a damn hard shot to make in a critical situation. Peoples heads bob back and forth and move around constantly. Better to go center mass to the chest with 175 grains of 7.62 boat tail hollow point. It’s the kind of chest pain that ends quickly and never comes back….
The Mk-12 would make a good paper weight, that’s about it….
Next week I’ll feature the Mk-11 7.62 by RK (not a fan of this rifle or Reed Knights Non-Quality Assurance program).
Brandon out.
