700-800m seems reasonable, longer on a good day.
In the SPR Course I did a few years back with GPS Defense in Phoenix, you will engage targets on the last day out to just over 800 yards. I actually made a shot with the loaner rifle using BH MK262 ammo at around 864 yards.
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The original question was about combat effectiveness. People often forget that putting rounds on target is not necessarily synonymous with lethal effects.
It is essentially a 3gun rifle that was the heater in the early 2000s. Still a good rifle but largely out of use.
With the right bullets and a skilled shooter, I would cap its COMBAT effectiveness on target at more like 500m. Some peers and I were just discussing a similar topic the other day, and the unanimous decision was that we wanted something bigger than .308 for beyond 800m. Sure guys are making shots at targets at much farther ranges, but we weren't talking about making steel sing. There is a big difference that isn't often considered.
It's remarkable how different people with significant combat experience can have different opinions. I know two people with kills at approximately 900 yards with the Mk12 and another with an M4 at 600y. One of them had other rifles available, to include a 300WM. Now I don't have the experience to take a position personally but that has a certain amount of significance to me when discussing the max range of 5.56mm. Sure one of them was a Group guy (NG) but the other two were a leg and an Infantry officer with an ACOG.
The latter says approximately "I don't need to kill them at long range. With a hole in them I can run them down and empty their head at close range."
Making a one off shot at range with a less than ideal platform is one thing, choosing a weapon for full time longer range use is a different one. Some guys at work have had some pretty impressive shots with MK18s but does that mean I would carry one by choice in a 400M+ range gunfight?
No.
This is correct, the Mk12s have been pulled along with the Mk11s. The M110 is to fill those roles. I was in 5th in 98' when I worked on the SPR with Steve Holland. We were working toward a separate match upper to swap with our standard M4A1 for a target rich environment since SOCOM wouldn't field a 7.62 semi gas sniper rifle (SR25s too few and they were only on loan for max 6 mos). Crane later built compete rifles instead of just a receiver.
CD
De Oppresso Liber
You will continue to see the mk12 in use just like the MK48 when everyone went to 240Ls, even though it is no longer a supported weapon. For what it is the mk12 is a awesome weapon. 600m is the sweat spot for this rifle but hits at 800m is possible. I have accomplished hits on IPSC size tragets with both m193 and m855 at 800m. Of course it is no 1 shot hit but it is possible. The mk12 really shines in heavy urban environments such as Iraq were most precision rigs never see 600m shots as the rule.
The debate on lethality and terminal ballistics at long range with the 556 will never end. Not sure were I find myself siting on which side but from personal experience people in my unit have killed dudes at 800-900m with m855 from area weapons (i.e. mk46/m249). Not sure if it is optimal to be killing dudes at almost a kilometer with 556 but it can get the job done. I think people tend to forget that at 1000m your rounds are arching in like a mortar round and theoretically still have enough kinetic energy to easily pierce skin.
Any one who says that 762 nato is insufficient at killing at 1000m is mistaken as that round is still very capable at that distance.
I love my mk12 and it will always be a apart of my panoply just like a 14.5, or 10.5, different jobs require different tools.
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