Tac-Ops Bravo-51

     Notes: It is a modern weapon with an adjustable stock and trigger, a choice of several barrels, an option for a threaded barrel for a suppressor, and a choice of several scope mounts or a Picatinny rail.  It has a large bolt handle and a short action, which makes follow-up shots easier.  The stock is made of fiberglass reinforced with aluminum pillars.  Three barrel lengths are available.  Aside from some use by military snipers (particularly those of the Montana Army National Guard) and police, the Bravo-51’s main customers are actually hunters and survivalists, and others who can afford the high real-world price. 

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The Bravo-51 is a sniper rifle that was very popular with US military snipers, particularly those in special operations units or National Guard units where restrictions on unusual weapons were looser. 

Tac-Ops Tango 51

     Notes: This is a development of the Remington 700 by Tactical Operations.  The stock is replaced with a Sako fiberglass stock, and the barrel is replaced with a new match-grade barrel.  The stock, trigger, and bipod are adjustable.  It is known for great accuracy. Several local and federal police agencies in the US have adopted this rifle.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This is another common replacement for M-24 and M-40 series weapons in the US military, when supplies of official military rifles ran short.

Tactical Para

     Notes: This is a weapon meant to be of equal utility to police and military snipers.  Though at first glance, the Tactical Para looks very much like the British AW folding stock model, it is in fact based on a Remington 700 action, with a folding stock designed by Malcolm Cooper, who used to work for AI.  The stock is greatly improved over that on the AW folder, being described as “almost indestructible.”  The Tactical Para comes in several calibers, and uses detachable box magazines, unlike the Remington 700.  The Tactical Para is equipped with a MIL-STD-1913 rail for maximum compatibility with optics and accessories.   It does not come with iron sights. 

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon does not exist.

Tactical Rifles M-40A1

     Notes: Tactical Rifles decided to make their own version of the US Marines’ M-40A1 in 2005.  Like the Marines’ weapon, it is a heavily-redesigned and rebuilt Remington 700.  The Tactical Rifles version features an 18-26-inch heavy match barrel (27 inches for the .338 version) which is free-floating, and a synthetic McMillan stock available in a large number of colors and camouflage patterns.  The stock also has a rubber recoil pad and an adjustable cheekpiece.  The metalwork is steel with a dark non-reflective olive drab baked-on epoxy finish that meets the US Navy’s standards for rust resistance.  The trigger is adjustable for weight.  The rifle comes with Warne Tactical 30mm scope rings, but the rifle also has a MIL-STD-1913 rail able to mount pretty much anything.  A bipod is not normally sold with the rifle, but there is an attachment point for one. 

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This rifle is not available in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

TUBB 2000t

     Notes:  The TUBB 2000t is a tactical rifle -- a rifle that is sized like a battle rifle or assault rifle, but meant to be used as a lightweight sniping weapon by firers that are sharpshooters (trained to a high degree of marksmanship) but not actually trained military or police snipers.  The 2000t is an AR-10-type weapon converted to bolt-action.  It is built to closer tolerances than a battle rifle, but not as accurate as a true sniper rifle.  It has a Picatinny Rail for a sight mount, and feeds from magazines.  The trigger is two-stage and fully adjustable.  The butt is also adjustable, as is the cheekpiece; the butt is also padded.  The barrel is free-floating and made of cold-forged moly steel. 

USMC Designated Marksman Rifle

     Notes: The Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR) is an M-14 which has been heavily reworked by the USMC Rifle Team Equipment Shop, for use by the spotter member of Marine scout/sniper teams.  Like the Army, the US Marines discovered during Desert Storm that there is in fact a need for the spotter in a sniper team to have a better weapon than a scoped M-16; they just took a while to come up with one.  They also had a much more limited budget to work with than the Army, and since they still had a large stock of M-14s in storage or which had never been issued, they decided to rework those rifles rather than buy new ones. 

     The DMR’s M-14 base is completely stripped, and the action has all selective fire components removed (or in some cases, welded together) to ensure that the weapon is unable to fire on full automatic.  The barrel is replaced with a Krieger-manufactured barrel which has been designed to Marine specifications.  The flash suppressor is also slightly modified (primarily to increase compatibility with match-grade ammunition), and it may be removed and replaced with a specially-designed silencer developed by OPS, Inc.  The stock is replaced with a McMillan M-2A stock with an adjustable cheekpiece and a stock adjustable for length of pull by the use of spacers.  A Harris bipod adjustable for height and cant is also added.  The receiver is bedded with fiberglass bedding in a system known as “Marine-Tex.”  The barrel band is welded to the gas system.  The iron sights are basically M-14-standard, but reworked to match the increased range.  Today the receiver is also normally topped with a short MIL-STD-1913 rail for mounting the optics (typically the Marines’ standard Unertl scope), though at first the DMR used a Brookfield Precision one-piece steel mount welded to the receiver, and many DMRs still have them.  The action is also reworked to greater tolerances and precision.

     Aside from its use by Marine snipers, the DMR is also used to some extent by US Navy SEAL teams and EOD units, as well as certain Marine FAST teams and security units.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: Though this particular rifle is not available in the Twilight 2000 timeline as such, similar rifles were built from existing M-14s, usually by unit armorers at the request of scout/sniper teams.

Weatherby Mark V Magnum Deluxe

     Notes: This is a sniper rifle, based on the TRR below, that is designed for several unusual but powerful magnum calibers.  The barrel is 26 inches long and fluted to reduce weight and aid in cooling; it is tipped with Weatherby’s Accubrake muzzle brake, which is very efficient at controlling recoil and may be removed if desired.  The stock is synthetic, similar (but not the same) as the stock used on Sako’s TRG series, with a deep pistol grip wrist.  The bolt action features a lift of only 54 degrees, which is very short and easy to actuate.  The bolt is also fluted to reduce weight, and has gas ports to vent the weapon if there is a case failure.  The Magnum Deluxe has two-position manual safety as well as a chamber loaded indicator.  The stock is adjustable for length, cant, and height, and the stock also has an adjustable cheekpiece.  The front of the stock is swelled to provide a positive handhold. 

     A variant of this rifle, the Desert Magnum, has different coloring on the stock, but is otherwise identical.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This rifle does not exist.

Weatherby TRR/TRRM

     Notes: The TRR (Threat Response Rifle) is a different sort of rifle from Weatherby – a tactical rifle with a polymer receiver, heavy barrel, heavy lugged – definitely not a hunting rifle.  While it uses conventional scope rings and can fire some odd calibers, it is designed to be police sharpshooter weapon and not by regular hunters (though it is available to civilians).  The TRRM (Threat Response Rifle, Magnum) is a TRR that fires magnum calibers, some of them exotic.

     The Sub-MOA TR is a variant of the TRR introduced in 2010. It has refinements such as a more ergonomic Monte Carlo stock with a monopod in the rear, and better grip shaping at critical points, as well as better attachments for optics.  It is designed to require less continual zeroing and to be broken down and reassembled without losing its zero.  For game purposes, it is otherwise identical to the TR.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon does not exist.

Wilson Combat UT-15

     Notes: The UT-15 is described by Wilson Combat as an “Urban Tactical Carbine.”  It is basically an AR-15 with heavy modifications to make it into a viable short-range sharpshooter’s weapon.  Chief among these modifications is a Picatinny Rail interface and a Leupold scope, along with an attachment point for a flashlight or laser pointer instead of the bayonet lug.  The handguard has been changed to a free-floating model with a different shape for a better grip.  The entire rifle is built to much closer tolerances than standard AR-15s.  The barrel is match grade of moly steel.  Civilian variants have a fixed stock; law enforcements models can use a collapsing or fixed stock.

Yost Custom M-700

     Notes: This is a Remington 700 rebuilt by Ted Yost for use by snipers.  It fires a powerful medium-caliber cartridge, and is designed to address the problems with the 7.62mm NATO-firing weapons that are used by most snipers.  The Remington 700 was used as a base because it is easily modified to fire different ammunition and has a number of desirable features such as an available adjustable trigger, available synthetic stock, and the ability to use a number of different barrel lengths and types.  The Yost Custom M-700 has a synthetic McMillan stock, heavy, tapered barrel, quick-detach sling, and a Leupold Vari-X III Tactical 3.5-10x scope.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon does not exist.

Yost Vortex Tactical Precision Rifle

     Notes: Built as an experiment by Ted Yost, the Vortex is based on the Remington 700, with a McMillan synthetic stock and firing an unusual choice for a sniper cartridge, the .280 Ackley Improved.  The barrel is a long 26 inches, heavy, free-floating, and crowned.  The scope base is another unusual selection (compared to most modern sniper rifles), a Leupold one-piece scope base with rings.  The preferred scope for the Vortex is the Leupold Vari-X III 3.5-10x50mm.  The bipod is fully adjustable, and the stock has a thick recoil pad.  There is no adjustable cheek rest, but there is a substantial cheek swell.  The resultant rifle is exceptional.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon does not exist.

Zel Tactilite T1/T2

     Notes: The T1 and T2 are custom upper receiver assemblies to be installed on an AR-15-type lower receiver, including a new stock, a MIL-STD-1913 rail atop the receiver, and handguards with four-point MIL-STD-1913 rails.  The new upper receiver includes a match-quality 24-inch heavy barrel tipped with a muzzle brake.  The stock used is a custom stock which is adjustable for length and has an adjustable cheekpiece.  The buttplate has a rubber recoil pad.  A bipod can be added, but is not included as standard.  The new action is bolt-action with a bolt handle which protrudes outwards and down for quick cycling from a greatly-enlarged ejection port/pull channel; the charging handle is not used on the T1 or T2.  The difference between the T1 and T2 is that the T1 is a single-shot weapon, while the T2 is magazine fed by a box magazine on the left side of the receiver. Magazines are based on Accuracy International rifles. Finishes are in black or Zel Tactilite’s “Sand Viper” desert camouflage finish.