M25 Development History

by Dean Michaelis
copyright 2000

The concept rifle was the brainchild of MSG Amelung and a late Master Sergeant Tom Kapp of the 10th Special Forces Group at Ft. Devens (now at Ft. Carson). AT that time, the 10th SFG(A) had a SOTIC (Special Operations Target Interdiction Committee vs. Course) of their own. They conducted Level II training for their SF operators with their own course to supplement their Level I snipers and prior to sending shooters to the SOTIC course at Ft. Bragg. They even had their own machine room and reloading facility. Not anymore though with the politically correct military, special operations included. It was deemed not career safe by a commander at the time.

The major component differences between the original M25 and the M21 were the scope mount and the steel liner. The barrel at that time, was the same National Match barrel used on the M-21. Contrary to what I thought and until recently was corrected on, the scope mount was not actually developed by a couple of instructors at the Ft. Bragg based SOTIC. David Zavitz did develop a mount but it stayed at SOTIC and was never used. The Brookfield mount was intended to replace the mounts used to support both the ART I and ART II scopes. The major difference being the third point of contact over the forward receiver ring. This third point of contact was intended to eliminate flex in the base during shooting. That was determined to be one of the major causes of the base shooting loose. I have photos of the original design work of that base.

The other major design difference in the base was the cam type mounting bolt for the side of the receiver. The mounting hole on the side is located in different positions on different rifles over the years. This slight variation in location induced stress in the standard base that also contributed to zero loss and the thing coming loose under shooting. The base, as everyone knows was intended to allow the use of the L&S M-3 Ultra scope. This is the version prior to the public built Mark IV system. Originally the M-1 Ultra was built first, again with input by SOTIC personnel and people from Leupold and Stevens. The legend is that it was designed on a paper napkin at the NCO Club on Fort Bragg. The M-3 system was made after the M-1.

The steel liner system on the original M25 was merely an interface designed to allow the operator to install and remove the barreled action from the stock for maintenance and not have a zero change. The intent was similar to the result obtained with the H&S Precision stock for the M-24 SWS. There were no lugs on the receiver and the barreled action was held in by the trigger guard. The liner was also intended to replace the sorry "bisonite" bedding compound used by military armorers of the time. That compound was not impervious to chemical cleaning compounds like today's Devcon or Brownell's Steel Bed are.

The early and late models of the M-25 shot extremely well. The various SOTIC cells all pushed the M-25 system as the backup to the M-24 bolt rifle. From SOTIC's earliest days, their training was conducted with in house built bolt action rifles using short actions obtained from the Air Force. Instructors and members of the USAJFKSWCS weapons facility built in house rifles using McMillan barrels (pre-Harris Gunworks), McMillan M40A1 field stocks and their competition prone stock. Optics were all M-3 Ultras. The M-3A was the upgraded version. The difference being that the M-3 scopes had 1 MOA windage adjustments, while the M3A had 1/2 MOA windage adjustments.

The new scope base also allowed the use of AN/PVS-4 night vision sights on a custom built base that interfaced with the base on both the M-24 and the M-25 rifles. Few of these bases were made however, and did not see field issue to the various SF groups. At the time SFOD-D used ARMS custom made mounts to put the AN/PVS-4 on their bolt guns. The SIMRAD was not in use at that time.

The M-25 used no bipod and shooters in the SOTIC course at Ft Bragg used sandbags under their rifles. The Harris bipod of that era was indeed a piece of crap and constantly fell apart. Later as the M-24 was being considered for upgrade to a heavier caliber for special operations (.300 Win Mag or .338/.416) the M-25 was being considered for the backup gun for the observer. Suggested modifications included a standard trigger group vs. the match trigger (since that is a problem with all M-21 and Match M-14s, armorer needed too much of the time). Parker Hale or Harris Bipod (now much better).

The guys at the 10th SFGA also worked with Phil Seeberger of OPSINC, one of the finest suppressor manufacturers in the world. They designed a suppressor for the M-25. The hole in the gas piston was welded up and changed (won't state the dimensions, sorry) so that the rifle functioned correctly using the suppressor. Accuracy further improved and was easily up their with the M-24 (better when the 24 was shooting M118 and the M25 was shooting M852, no surprise there).

Different stocks such as the M2A were mostly out of the unit models that were made by various gun builders. I made 3 M25s using the M2A stock and much preferred that over the standard heavy match McMillan stock. Works great with the saddle cheekpiece. Lastly, my opinion is that the M-25 built correctly, will flatten any SR-25 or AR-10 that is around. Gun for gun, the M-25 design is superior, maybe outdated, but so is the bolt action rifle. The M-25 was designed to fill an initial shortcoming in the M-21, then to augment the sniper team using the M-24, or .50 caliber rifle. Tough gun all around. Hope this provides some interesting reading.

Rick Boucher was there at the time also. Most of this took place prior to my being at SOTIC, but most of the individuals were still there when I was there. Most honorable mention, David Zavitz (late), without a doubt the most mechanical, machine type shooter I have ever seen shoot a rifle. He was a magician. Of course, honors to Rick Boucher, next to Dave was the finest sniper instructor that I had the pleasure of learning from.