"Dav1936531" wrote in message
...
From: "Kevin Brooks"
Date: 6/18/04 8:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

There was talk of providing the old M-21's down to the unit level for use
by
"designated marksmen", IIRC, as they were replaced in the sniper role by
the
M-24; I can remember a time when the standard weapons package for our
MSCA-CD
(Military Support to Civil Authorities--Civil Disturbance) mission
included a
couple of M-21's (along with a few 12 ga pump shotguns) in a similar role.
That
may explain where you saw them--then again, are you sure you were not
seeing a
SEAL or two (ISTR they sometimes carry the M-14 in desert operations), and
not
Army folks?
Brooks

The guy in the pic was definitely Army. It was one of a series of pics
showing
an Army unit's response to a convoy ambush. The guy in possesion was prone
on
the side of a ditch covering any enemy advance from a field next to the
road
where the convoy was ambushed. Couldn't tell you if the rifle was an M-14,
M-21, or M-24 though as I am not that familiar with the differences, but
it had
that basic design of the M-14 (box mag semi-auto) and was equiped with a
telescopic sight and bipod.

Up until you mentioned the bipod, you had me thinking M-21. But I don't
recall seeing any bipods being used with M-21's (and I seriously doubt any
of the ones that were at one *distant* time available for M-14's are still
around). I guess it could be an M-21 with a bipod, but I have never seen one
so equipped (note that the M-24 bolt action replacment does have a bipod
included in the kit). OTOH, are you sure you were maybe not gettting a
squirrely view of a M-249 (which does indeed have a bipod) with a 30-round
magazine in place of the usual drum mag? I am having a problem getting
around the whole sniper-with-M21 thing; I had a sniper-type attend a school
with me way back in 1995-96, and I can rememeber his telling me they had
already replaced the M-21 with the M-24 in his ARNG light infantry battalion
(and it was not an "enhanced brigade" unit, either, so their priority of
fill would have been about the same as the rest of the Guard units).

Brooks

Dave