The Ohio Ordnance Works unleashes a new weapon in the modern military arsenal: the Recoil Enhanced Automatic Precision Rifle, commonly known as REAPR. This groundbreaking machine gun will be developed to surpass the existing SOCOM military specifications and maintain the unmatched performance features required in modern battlefields.
The REAPR is an ultra-lightweight, highly portable battlefield suppression system chambered in .338 Norma Magnum, with an optional 7.62 NATO conversion kit. The simple and rugged receiver allows toolless field stripping and one-handed barrel changes. It breaks down into three major components in under ten seconds, small enough to fit into an operator’s backpack.
The REAPR is the brainchild of OOW’s advanced engineering team, drawing upon a rich 40-plus-year history of designing and manufacturing fully functional, belt-fed, supplied weapon systems to US and allied military divisions. Orders in limited test quantities are accepted now; the volume is in April 2024.
The REAPR was teased, and scrimmed, at the 2022 SHOT Show and finally revealed in its entirety this year as a machine gun easily caliber convertible to 7.62x51mm. Development of the weapon above was in response to solicitations by US SOCOM and the US Marine Corps for a Lightweight Medium Machine Gun in .338NM-a niche requirement that goes back at least as far as 2012.
General Dynamics leaped first with their .338 machine gun, since divested to True Velocity, and SIG Sauer developed their MG338/SL MAG. That 2017 .338 machine gun solicitation is inactive, but in 2021 SOCOM started looking to equip their ‘LMG-M’ with a door-kicker that tops out at 2,500m, has heavy-barrel time-of-persistence to match an M240B, and otherwise fits a similar weight and form factor hinting “at interoperability with extant GMGs”. This will be accomplished by bridging the gap between the 7.62mm GPMG and .50 HMG with lighter-weight platforms that will have .50-caliber machine gun performance.
OOW started working on the project in 2020 and is patented on several of the features. The shoulder-fired, select-fire weapon has ambidextrous controls for fire and magazine release, on both sides of the pistol grip assembly, and a traditional crossbolt safety. The pistol grip can be replaced with anything compatible with AR15/M16. Its president and one of the designers, Robert W. Landies, said that this weapon resolves what he calls many problems that the legacy machine gun designs suffer by combining the best features.
It has a type of roller-delayed operating system, similar to the MG45, which effectively prevents the opening of the action; it is not positively locked. It has been highly influential in everything from the design of the SIG MG 710-3 to all of the weapons made by Heckler & Koch. The gun is operated with a dual guide rod set-up with springs and, on average, has a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. It is tool-less field strippable; the action is removed by taking out a pin at the rear and allowing the butt stock and rear of the receiver to be taken off.
Equipped with B5, the side-folding stock contains a shoulder rest and an adjustable cheek riser. B5 also provided the REAPR with its P23 Grip and MLOK rail covers. It weighs 26.8 lbs / 12.1 kg while being 51.7 in / 131 cm long overall, 54.5 in / 138 cm with the stock deployed, and 44 in / 112 cm folded. The stock is removable for the user to mount the gun on vehicles or aircraft. Should the user so wish, a spade grip kit can be installed along with a rail-mounted removable carrying handle.
Probably the most salient feature of the gun is a one-hand-operable quick-change barrel system; patented, it uses two groups of five interrupted threads that are opposed, allowing the barrel to be released with a 90-degree turn. The REAPR can also mount with a suppressor and has been seen with various cans.
With a 24.5in 61cm barrel length, the whole system can be stripped down into three pieces within 10-20 seconds. The one-piece steel receiver is flanked with an aluminum handguard with M-LOK slots, detachable using a pair of catches. Mounting points to MIL standard for tripod or pintle mounting are provided. Another key design feature is the feed tray, which is articulated from the receiver to the left as it swings out for loading and unloading to allow for non-standard optics that are larger. Feed is reversible left or right out of the receiver; the ejection is from the receiver bottom.
Ohio Ordnance Works continues to serve the United States Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, US Army, US Marine Corps, US Navy, US Air Force, and over 43 international allied military divisions, another proud building in America by American Veterans for American and Allied Forces.