Look what just arrived today!
This is my 2nd Remington 40X USMC Property .22LR rifle that I've purchased from the CMP. The CMP has sold 5 of these USMC Property 40X rifles (with a 6th one uper for auction right now), and they've come with different scope bases. There's the typical Unertl/Lyman type bases that are normally seen on the shooting team rifles, but now we're seeing some of these rifles with Redfield scope bases! This is a very interesting development because this probably means that these rifles were used as .22LR trainers at one of the USMC Scout Sniper schools, as opposed to being used by the USMC shooting team.
A few of the CMP rifles have Redfield 700SA scope bases, but this rifle is extremely unique with it's Redfield 40X scope base. However, this isn't just any Redfield 40X scope base, this particular base was actually taken off an original 1966 USMC M40! The serial number on the left side of the base, 221344, the early squared corners, and the 40X stamp on the underside of the base prove this M40 sniper rifle provenance!
The USMC shooting team has been using these Remington 40X .22LR rifles with Lyman Super TargetSpot scopes since the 1950's. I think that these Redfield scope bases (both 700SA and 40X) were put on some of these Remington 40X .22LR rifles sometime after 1982. The Corps was still using thes Redfield base and rings up until they started receiving the first shipments of Unertl mounts in 1982. So, with scope bases being pulled off of the transitional M40A1's, there were plenty laying around to put on these Remington 40X .22LR rifles since they share the same scope base hole pattern with the Remington 700 rifles (M40's).
I'm not sure if the USMC shooting team would have ever used a set-up like this, I'd imagine that their target scopes were a lot better suited for competition than some 3-9x Redfield scopes or Leupold scopes in Redfield bases/rings. Almost all of the known Remington 40X USMC Property .22LR rifles still have the Unertl/Lyman bases attached, it's only recently that we've seen 3 or 4 of these rifles with the Redfield scope base/rings. We also know for a fact that in the 1980's and 1990's the USMC Scout Sniper schools used these rifles for training (doll house shoots, ballistics, etc.), and we know that they used Redfield and Leupold scopes on these rifles. The Redfield 700SA and 40X scope bases and Redfield scope rings on these rifles fills in a missing piece of information that has never been part of any public discussions. It's difficult to find any school trained 8541 Scout Snipers that even remember these rifles, or their various components, from 3 or 4 decades ago. I have talked to a few old Scout Snipers who do remember a little bit, and that's where I've found some of this information.
This is an amazing piece of USMC Scout Sniper history, and more are being listed on the CMP auction site! There's probably enough to go around, so don't just dog pile on 1 single rifle and bid it up to crazy levels. They've started to put these USMC .22LR's out there, and I bet there will be more available (there's even one with a Leupold scope base on their site right now). I hope that the collectors on this forum end up grabbing a few of them!
Here's the auction link to this rifle:
https://cmpauction.thecmp.org/detail.asp?id=8561&n=US-Marine-Corps-Remington-Model-40-X-6204
The current CMP Remington 40X USMC Property .22LR rifle is pretty unique because it has a Leupold scope base. This is the first time that we've ever seen a Leupold scope base on a USMC rifle like this. Knowing that the previous CMP auction Remington 40X USMC Property .22LR rifles have M40/M40A1 transitional take-off 40X and 700SA scope bases, it could also be assumed that this Leupold base might have been removed from an an M40 variant, maybe a transitional A1. However, I just don't think that this is the case with this Leupold scope base. Had they been used on some type of M40xx rifle, we would have seen them before. We also know that the USMC Scout Sniper schools also used Leupold scopes on their .22LR trainers. I think that this Leupold scope base was specifically ordered by the Corps for use on these .22LR rifles with the Leupold scopes. I don't think that this Leupold scope base is any kind of M40xx take-off scope base. This is speculation, but it's what makes the most sense to me. Please post you thoughts on this, and please take this into consideration if you plan on bidding on this rifle!
https://cmpauction.thecmp.org/detail.asp?id=8608&n=Remington-Model-40-X-Serial-Number-4714