SEAL Recon Rifle

The SEAL Recon Rifle, built in-house by U.S. Navy SEAL Team armorers, and later by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (often referred to as NSWC-Crane or "Crane"), was developed to provide SEAL snipers with a portable, lightweight, accurate weapon with greater lethality than a standard M4 carbine. The SEAL Recon Rifle is sometimes referred to as the "Recce Rifle".

When production of this rifle was turned over to NSWC-Crane, U.S. Army funding and concepts were apparently incorporated into the program (there is some confusion as to the exact events). The SEAL Teams were apparently disappointed with the performance of the resulting Mk 12 Special Purpose Rifle (SPR), and convinced the program managers at Crane to return to the original specifications. Production of Recon rifle on the original pattern is progressing now according to several sources.

Specifications

The SEAL Recon Rifle was initially built in-house with the only specifications being the ability to shoot any 5.56×45mm cartridge in inventory (at the time this included the first iterations of the 77-grain (5 g) Mk 262 Mod 0 cartridge), and that the rifle have a barrel 16 inches (406 mm) in length.