Despite all the books, magazine articles and movies that have centered around precision marksmanship, for a very long time the Army didn’t seem very serious about it. The Marine Corps, yes. But the Big Green was pretty sure about which tool was best suited for the task. And, until the War on Terror began, a gap existed between basic rifle qualification and sniping.

Marksmanship—at least for the ground-pounders involved in dealing with these tactics—changed. A sniper team wasn’t always available, so units called for a specially trained designated marksman to be included within each squad with a particularly accurate scoped rifle.

A Purpose-Built Concept

The LM308MWS is one serious piece of gear, enough to engender gun lust at the range. The basic layout is a direct-gas-impingement Stoner system. The low-profile gas block is secured to the barrel and drives back the plated carrier and bolt just as you’d find on any M16. The scaled-up bolt and carrier handle the task of shuttling live rounds in—and empties out—of the chamber without a problem. The carrier cycles into the buffer tube, which has a LMT-manufactured CRANE stock, exactly as made for the U.S. Government.

The really trick part of it is the barrel attachment. Lewis simply machines both the receiver insertion shaft and the barrel extension to exacting standards, then uses two large machine bolts to clamp down the split part of the receiver tightly around the barrel extension. That’s why the gas tube is secured to the low-profile gas block and barrel—it comes out with the barrel as an assembly of barrel, gas block and gas tube.

The operation is exactly the same as any other AR. The selector is the same, the magazine release is the same, and the recoil, while heavier, is the same straight-back push as any other AR you’ve ever fired. The two-stage trigger LMT installs provide a clean, crisp trigger pull and reliable ignition, even of surplus 7.62 ammo.

Military-Driven Innovations
Enough of how the LMT .308 is like every other AR. How is it different? Well, there is that barrel. Installation or change is simple: Open the action, remove the bolt/carrier, check that it is empty, then take the supplied torque wrench and unscrew the two screws forward of the magazine well.

The torque wrench is adjusted and sealed by LMT, so you don’t have to wonder about how much torque to apply. Here’s an interesting detail: While you have to remove the front screw, the rear only has to be loosened (three full turns, LMT suggests), and you can then pull the barrel straight out the front.

The barrel is relieved at the rear to clear the rear screw, but slotted to allow the front screw to pass through. Not only does the relationship of the screw and slot lock the barrel in place, it orients it vertically so the gas tube lines up with the gas key on the carrier. Additionally, it provides great return-to-zero alignment of the barrel to the receiver.

Now, the overenthusiastic among us will be scheming already. “Cool, do the long-range patrol and march in with the long barrel and big scope, then swap to the SBR and red dot for CQB operations.” Calm down; that’s not why it’s there. Oh, you can swap barrels and count on a pretty darned close return to zero, but it won’t be perfect. And no one who is really serious about accuracy (especially of the 600-yards-plus variety) is going to go swapping barrels without confirming the zero.

The LMT .308 wanted to shoot better than I was able to. My groups were often as not “four and one” groups, where my rusty bench technique with .30-caliber rifles had me shooting four into a tight cluster, and throwing one out somewhere along the way. A dedicated bigbore shooter such as Dave Fortier could—no doubt—wring out more accuracy from this rifle.

The LMT worked flawlessly for the rest of my testing. The Leupold scope is an eye-opener, and everyone who looked through it wanted one of his own. In fact, everyone at the range wanted both the rifle and the scope.

Oh, and the British model? Why can’t you buy an “L129A1” with the tan-colored stock, ERGO grip and rail covers? Because the Ministry of Defence says no.

But if you simply must have yours look like the British rifle, you’ll have to order the tan furniture on your own. At first, the MOD said it wanted 440 rifles, no more. But LMT has since delivered more than 3,000 for use by the Brits.