SC-M40 as it comes from the SC factory.
In honor of past US Combat snipers, SC Rifleworks was proud to build the SCM40 sniper rifle. The SC-M40 is a replica of the USMC M40 sniper rifle of 1966. The M40 served the USMC from 1966 through the end of the Vietnam conflict with a total of 750 having been produced. Because of the pressing demand for an official USMC adopted sniper rifle to replace the M70/Unertl target rifles (being used as sniper rifles) with a lighter rifle that allowed quicker times to get off the first round, the Weapons Training Battalion conducted a comparative test of commercial rifles and telescopes. They concluded that the Remington 700 combined with the Redfield accu-range 3-9x telescope was "superior to items now in use." On April 7, 1966 the Model 700 and Redfield scope were officially adopted as the "Rifle, 7.62mm Sniper, M40". The rifles were "off the shelf" Remington 700's with a heavy barrel, the muzzle diameter being .830". The stock had a dull oil finish and the barrel and action were parkerized. The floorplate and bolt shroud were "colored black" and the bolt was finished in a very matte black. The barrel was free floating and the action was NOT glass bedded. The special Redfield scope was anodized green and had the accu-range reticule. The rifle proved effective during the conflict, though the scope was a bit fragile and the rifle had its problems. But it was a good first step of which was later modified into the M40A1 which served for 30+ years.
The SC-M40 was a 96% replica of the original M40 with some improvements. The largest of which is the bedding on the rifle. While we are keeping true to the original M40 and not glass bedding the rifles, we are doing the next best thing, using an Accurate Innovations ® walnut stock with their patent pending aluminum bedding block.
A look at the aluminum bedding block
The Stock is finished in a dull linseed oil finish and is made as close as possible to the original Remington walnut stocks of the era. This includes a monte carlo cheekpiece as was found on the original M40's. The bedding block gives you all the benefits of a fine bedding job and the durability of aluminum. The bedding blocks are also sitting in the stock on top of aluminum pillars for the mounting screws to travel through. While the original M40's used a steel buttplate, we have strayed a bit and opted for a hard plastic buttplate (with a small amount of rubber) to look original, but keep the costs reasonable. The SC-M40 shown on this page uses a prototype version of the stock, the others we built for customers have a stock with some minor tweaks to get it very close to factory original M40 stocks.
The SC-M40 was built using new Remington 700 actions that had been squared and trued by SC Rifleworks and have had their lugs lapped. The serial numbers were obviously very different from the original six digit numbers on the M40's, and also, here is the biggest deviation from the original M40's: Due to practicality and cost, there were no stripper clip slots on top of the action as there was on the M40's. Obviously a useless feature when a scope is mounted. The actions had a hand lapped Montana Rifleman barrel of the proper contour attached. The barrels had the correct 1:10" twist for the M40's (which the current remington Commenerative M40's do not have) and had a 11 degree target crown which is an improvement over the original M40 flat crowns. The barrels were also properly marked with the "7.62 NATO" marking.
Proper barrel markings.
The barrel and action were parkerized as were the original M40's. The bolt on the originals were a very dull black and the aluminum floorplate and bolt shroud were black. We ceramic coated the bolt in a "military" black and ceramic coated the floorplate and shroud in a satin black. While these colors seem like a hodpodge, it is how they came originally (though ceramic coating is a step up).
The original Redfield accu-track scopes are no longer produced and are difficult to find, and as is such, were not available through SC Rifleworks. But, we did provide a very similar in outside appearance 3-9x40mm scope painted in green dura-coat for a semi-replica appearance. The factory prototype rifle pictured on this page had a later generation Redfield accu-track scope mounted with this green finish. We found this scope on a rifle we picked up from a pawn shop.
Redfield accu-range 3-9x40mm with green duracoat. Notice also the black bolt.
The one big advantage of the SC-M40 over the original M40 (besides being much cheaper than trying to procure an original) is performance. The SC-M40 does not suffer from weather effects on the stock as the original M40's did with their walnut stocks and no glass bedding, and the SC-M40 had a factory guarantee of .5 MOA with match ammo (and qualified shooter).
Here at SC Rifleworks we are proud of our US Armed forces and the job that they do, especially our snipers. This rifle was a tribute to them, and specifically to the USMC snipers of the Vietnam conflict. We hope to be able to offer additional replica sniper rifles in the future to further honor our snipers and the work they do.
Several months after we started these rifles, remington began to offer Vietnam Era M40 commenerative rifles, we would like to think that they got the idea from us, but who really knows. As it is, we no longer are offering these rifles for sale.
SC-M40
SC-M40, matching JR Rings and Base, and proper sling.
SC-M40, matching JR Rings and Base, sling, and weaver 3-9x40mm colored green.