American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

114/439
auto. (I see now that some Mk-12s are being equipped with the collapsible
stock.)
On patrol, I like to use a shorter stock. It’s quicker to get up to my
shoulder and get a bead on somebody. It’s also better for working inside
and in tight quarters.
Another note on my personal configuration: I never used full auto
on the rifle. The only time you really want full auto is to keep
someone’s head down—spewing bullets doesn’t make for an accurate
course of fire. But since there might be a circumstance where it would
come in handy, I always wanted to have that option in case I needed it.
Mk-11
Officially called the Mk-11 Mod X Special Purpose Rifle and also
known as the SR25, this is an extremely versatile weapon. I particularly
like the idea of the Mk-11 because I could patrol with it (in place
of an M-4) and still use it as a sniper rifle. It didn’t have a collapsible
stock, but that was its only drawback. I would tie the suppressor onto
my kit, leaving it off during the start of a patrol. If I needed to take a
sniper shot, I would put it on. But if I was on the street or moving on
foot, I could shoot back right away. It was semiautomatic, so I could
get a lot of bullets on a target, and it fired 7.62 × .51 mm bullets from a
twenty-round box. Those had more stopping power than the smaller
5.56 NATO rounds. I could shoot a guy once and put him down.
Our rounds were match-grade ammo bought from Black Hills,
which makes probably the best sniper ammo around.
The Mk-11 had a bad reputation in the field because it would often
jam. We wouldn’t have jams that much in training, but overseas was a