Full disclosure, this review is yet another excuse for me to engage in one of my all time favorite activities; shooting a precision bolt-action rifle. Regular readers will know by now that the bolt gun is one of my many passions. I don’t claim to be an expert, simply a dedicated and devoted student of the gun. Myaffair with the M40 sniper rifle began twenty plus years ago.
In the spring of 1990 I was one a few men selected from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 6th Marines, to attend Rifle and Pistol Marksmanship Coaches School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. We moved out to the temporary barracks at the Stone Bay Weapon Training facility. For two weeks we ate, slept, and breathed marksmanship and training. I was truly in my element.
My first glimpse at the Olive Drab Beauty came when we were drawing our M-16A2 rifles for range time. Stone Bay was where the 2nd Marine Division snipers did their training. The custom-built M40 sniper rifles were aligned in racks in a designated section of the armory. I recall watching the Sniper School candidates drawing their rifles and heading out to training. I know its a sin, but I felt a tinge of jealousy.
In cases you are interested, I successfully completed coaches school and actually fired the highest score of my time in the Corps, which only makes sense. It would be more than a decade later that I would attend a law enforcement sniper school and acquire my own M40 rifle.
The Subject 
In 2006 I purchased a standard Remington 700 short-action .308 Winchester in their “SPS” configuration. There were nothing particular unique or special about the gun and the truth is I only needed the action. The rifle was shipped directly to Tactical Rifles in Zephryhills, Florida with the instructions to build it into an M40, akin to those in service with the USMC.
A few months later the gun arrived and it was all I that I could have hoped. A heavy-weight barrel with match crown was free-floated into a McMillan A2 stock with a woodland camo pattern. The bolt action was smooth and polished and the trigger tuned to 3.5 pounds. Using Federal’s Gold Medal Match ammunition, shot groups in the half-M.O.A. range, or better, were the norm. For the last eight years the rifle has been a faithful friend.
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