This is a build that has taken years of work gathering the correct parts and it's finally done! I've also been told that this is a completely unique rifle, apparently it's the only black stock USMC DMR clone that's been built with original parts. I have no idea if that's true or not, but if anyone has a black DMR build, feel free to post it up!
This build has some unique and original USMC takeoff parts:
This was a difficult build for a few reasons, the first of which was even finding the extremely rare original USMC takeoff parts and the second issue was trying to figure out how the original black DMR's were even configured. Fortunately, @Random Guy posted this rare photo in the M14 optics thread, its shows the Marines using a Unertl MST-100 that was probably stolen off an M40A1:
This photo was supposedly taken in 1996, so I needed to find a barrel that was close to that year. The closest I found was a 1997 dated barrel with the correct profile, so I decided to use it for the build. It's a legit USMC Barnett takeoff that was used on a target rifle or possibly even one of these black DMR's. The RTE stands for Rifle Team Equipment shop and the P is the proof mark. The USMC barrels on every rifle (M40A1, DMR, etc.) were only marked with the highly desirable RTE-P stamp after the rifle had been shot in the test shed, and passed its accuracy and function test.
Another piece of the puzzle was trying to figure out which scope mount went on these rifles. A while back I posted a thread about the USMC GG&G mounts, where I discovered that there wasn't just 1 type of GG&G mount, but 3 that were used by the Corps! I know that the 2 earlier GG&G mounts are USMC used because of photos that show them on USMC rifles and talking to old 2112's.
The most well known GG&G mount (used on the green stock DMR's) has USMC on the side of it, but the 2 earlier ones do not. Another interesting piece about the earliest mount is that it's picatinny rail is shorter than the later 2 mounts. I opted to use the earliest mount for this build, which also meant finding the correct height GG&G rings to go with the mount.
The earliest GG&G mount has a picatinny rail that's so low, I can't use the GG&G rings from a later green stock DMR. The low mount and the low rings cause the Unertl scope's objective lens housing to hit the rear sight. I solved this height problem by using an original set of GG&G rings that I took off of an original USMC Unertl MST-150 scope. The GG&G rings that were on the MST-150 scope are higher because that scope/ring set was originally used on a Barrett M82A1, not another DMR or very early M40A3. These are 30mm rings with 1" inserts that were originally made to be used with the Unertl scopes.
Looking at my rifle and comparing it to the photo @Random Guy posted, I think that I might actually have the correct set-up as in the picture, but I can't really tell. Let me know what you guys think, should I be using this mount/ring set or should I be using something else? The mount is either this one, the other early GG&G mount or possibly something from a different brand. I opted to use the GG&G mount because it's known to have been used on the early black stock DMR's (possibly on the one in the USMC photo) and it's an extremely rare part which makes the clone build just that much more awesome, lol.
Here's a photo of the 3 known types of USMC GG&G M14 DMR scope mounts, the one I used for this build is on the left:
If anyone is interested in learning more about these USMC GG&G scope mounts, please check out my thread on them, which has a bunch of information and great photos:
https://www.m14forum.com/threads/3-versions-of-the-gg-g-usmc-dmr-mount.515610/
And finally, here's my black USMC DMR:
These prototype black DMR rifles are extremely important in USMC firearms history because they paved the way for the creation of the issued green stock DMR's and the chassis built M39 EMR's. The Corps wanted a more modern M14 rifle and these black DMR's were a proof of concept successfully showing what could be done to the weapons platform. The Corps probably tested a bunch of mounts, rings and scopes to see what combination worked the best. I made thus variation of the black DMR based on information that I know to be true and a few educated guesses. This rifle could have easily been made differently with other optics and mounts, but to me this version truly embodies what the black DMR was and it's the closest that I could get to replicating the rifle shown in an extremely rare photograph.
Another interesting aspect of this rifle is the use of parts that were already in USMC inventory, it's sort of a link between a few different rifles. The scope connects it to the M40A1, the rings connect it to the M82A1 and the barrel (and other M14 parts) connects it to the USMC shooting team M14 rifles. All 3 of these parts were already in use with the Marines, so it shows how they built a new prototype based on already existing parts that were on hand. All they needed was a new stock and scope mount, that's it!
Additionally, the GG&G mount wasn't even created by GG&G, it was actually a 2112 RTE shop invention! That's right, the USMC 2112's created the very first versions of this mount and provided the schematics to GG&G so that they could mass produce them. I know of only 1 USMC made "GG&G" scope mount that's still in existence, but unfortunately the old 2112 doesn't know where it currently is (he used to use it as a doorstop). A close friend has also seen the original USMC blueprints for the mount.
This build has some unique and original USMC takeoff parts:
- Black McMillan USMC DMR stock
- prototype USMC GG&G scope mount with USMC GG&G scope rings
- prototype USMC Unertl MST-100 scope (1 of the first 25 built, shipped to the Corps in 1980)
- the 1997 dated Barnett barrel with RTE-P stamp
This was a difficult build for a few reasons, the first of which was even finding the extremely rare original USMC takeoff parts and the second issue was trying to figure out how the original black DMR's were even configured. Fortunately, @Random Guy posted this rare photo in the M14 optics thread, its shows the Marines using a Unertl MST-100 that was probably stolen off an M40A1:
This photo was supposedly taken in 1996, so I needed to find a barrel that was close to that year. The closest I found was a 1997 dated barrel with the correct profile, so I decided to use it for the build. It's a legit USMC Barnett takeoff that was used on a target rifle or possibly even one of these black DMR's. The RTE stands for Rifle Team Equipment shop and the P is the proof mark. The USMC barrels on every rifle (M40A1, DMR, etc.) were only marked with the highly desirable RTE-P stamp after the rifle had been shot in the test shed, and passed its accuracy and function test.
Another piece of the puzzle was trying to figure out which scope mount went on these rifles. A while back I posted a thread about the USMC GG&G mounts, where I discovered that there wasn't just 1 type of GG&G mount, but 3 that were used by the Corps! I know that the 2 earlier GG&G mounts are USMC used because of photos that show them on USMC rifles and talking to old 2112's.
The most well known GG&G mount (used on the green stock DMR's) has USMC on the side of it, but the 2 earlier ones do not. Another interesting piece about the earliest mount is that it's picatinny rail is shorter than the later 2 mounts. I opted to use the earliest mount for this build, which also meant finding the correct height GG&G rings to go with the mount.
The earliest GG&G mount has a picatinny rail that's so low, I can't use the GG&G rings from a later green stock DMR. The low mount and the low rings cause the Unertl scope's objective lens housing to hit the rear sight. I solved this height problem by using an original set of GG&G rings that I took off of an original USMC Unertl MST-150 scope. The GG&G rings that were on the MST-150 scope are higher because that scope/ring set was originally used on a Barrett M82A1, not another DMR or very early M40A3. These are 30mm rings with 1" inserts that were originally made to be used with the Unertl scopes.
Looking at my rifle and comparing it to the photo @Random Guy posted, I think that I might actually have the correct set-up as in the picture, but I can't really tell. Let me know what you guys think, should I be using this mount/ring set or should I be using something else? The mount is either this one, the other early GG&G mount or possibly something from a different brand. I opted to use the GG&G mount because it's known to have been used on the early black stock DMR's (possibly on the one in the USMC photo) and it's an extremely rare part which makes the clone build just that much more awesome, lol.
Here's a photo of the 3 known types of USMC GG&G M14 DMR scope mounts, the one I used for this build is on the left:
If anyone is interested in learning more about these USMC GG&G scope mounts, please check out my thread on them, which has a bunch of information and great photos:
https://www.m14forum.com/threads/3-versions-of-the-gg-g-usmc-dmr-mount.515610/
And finally, here's my black USMC DMR:
These prototype black DMR rifles are extremely important in USMC firearms history because they paved the way for the creation of the issued green stock DMR's and the chassis built M39 EMR's. The Corps wanted a more modern M14 rifle and these black DMR's were a proof of concept successfully showing what could be done to the weapons platform. The Corps probably tested a bunch of mounts, rings and scopes to see what combination worked the best. I made thus variation of the black DMR based on information that I know to be true and a few educated guesses. This rifle could have easily been made differently with other optics and mounts, but to me this version truly embodies what the black DMR was and it's the closest that I could get to replicating the rifle shown in an extremely rare photograph.
Another interesting aspect of this rifle is the use of parts that were already in USMC inventory, it's sort of a link between a few different rifles. The scope connects it to the M40A1, the rings connect it to the M82A1 and the barrel (and other M14 parts) connects it to the USMC shooting team M14 rifles. All 3 of these parts were already in use with the Marines, so it shows how they built a new prototype based on already existing parts that were on hand. All they needed was a new stock and scope mount, that's it!
Additionally, the GG&G mount wasn't even created by GG&G, it was actually a 2112 RTE shop invention! That's right, the USMC 2112's created the very first versions of this mount and provided the schematics to GG&G so that they could mass produce them. I know of only 1 USMC made "GG&G" scope mount that's still in existence, but unfortunately the old 2112 doesn't know where it currently is (he used to use it as a doorstop). A close friend has also seen the original USMC blueprints for the mount.
