For a serious, dedicated rifleman, I pretty much agree that an M40/M700/M84 has a lot going for it; for the 20-year-old six or eight months out of OSUT at Ft Benning or Polk, not so much. As for those *modern touches* note the AW type chassis stock on the new Army M700s, and that they're long action rifles [always have been, the Army specified the LA M700 action for their M24 SWS long ago] and that they're chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum.... just 37 years after the SEALs were working with M84s in .300 Win Mag we built for them at Crane.
When the 82nd Airborne was running snipers in Bosnia and I got to run along with them, they liked to work three-man teams in towers, one with an M24 boltgun in 7.62, another with a semiauto M25 [upgraded M14 or M21] and the third guy on the ground with a scoped M16A2 or an M4 with M203 and night vision pulling security on the ground.
It worked for them, in that AO, at that time, in those conditions. Textbook perfect? Nope? Workable then and there? Yep.
“for the 20-year-old six or eight months out of OSUT at Ft Benning or Polk, not so much.”
I was 22 and not far out of AIT when I got mine.
It’s a poor workman who blames his tools. Just saying.
Best,
L