About Ohio Ordnance
Ohio Ordnance made a name for itself in the military market manufacturing guns like the M249, M240, and .50-caliber M2HB machine guns. Established in 1981 by Robert I. Landies, the company had its hand in American machine gunnery basically from its inception.
The founder himself came from a military background with extensive experience as an armor officer during his service. Though a relatively young and small company to be chasing a contract for a new gun with the U.S. military, Ohio Ordnance’s legacy of manufacturing light, medium, and heavy machine guns placed it in a sort of sweet spot of experience and flexible innovation.
The proof is in the product when it comes to that innovation. Working from a 30,000-square-foot facility outside of Cleveland, Ohio Ordnance is aiming for a future that includes a focus on in-house designs.
“Nothing under the sun is new with guns,” Robert W. Landies III, the company’s president and one of the designers who worked on the REAPR, told Guns.com. “We’re all taking things that have come up over the years and learning from those. Things that are not great, we don’t want to repeat those mistakes. But then we keep the stuff – again preserve the past – of the designs that have been awesome.”
The new REAPR design blends lessons learned manufacturing the U.S. military’s legacy belt-fed machine guns with several innovative new patents from Ohio Ordnance. That, combined with a diligent study of firearms history, led to a gun that’s not quite like anything we’ve seen before, yet almost familiar.
SOCOM’s Request
Recognizing a battlefield need to expand the range of small, often dismounted units, Special Operations command, in conjunction with the Marine Corps, put out a request for a new belt-fed machine gun chambered in .338 Norma Mag back in 2017. The new lightweight medium machine gun had some very specific and technically challenging requirements:
“The LWMMG should fire the belted .338 NM round of ammunition with a polymer case. The LWMMG should weigh less than 24 pounds unloaded with a barrel length of 24 inches. The LWMMG should have a rate of fire of between 500-600 rounds per minute. Weapon shall be compatible with current rail mounted aiming systems with the ability to incorporate more advanced fire control technology … The LWMMG should be able to mount in current machine gun mounts designed for the M240B/C.”
Adding a requirement for the new weapon to reach ranges up to 2,000 meters for engaging area targets and vehicles, SOCOM’s request reads a bit like a machine gunner’s wish list to Santa Claus. Never mind the fact the new gun was to be chambered for a round that was not yet designed for a belt-fed firearm.
The bold request called for something superior in nearly every aspect to the M240, which has been a workhorse for U.S. ground forces since 1977. Notably, the original M240 design was actually intended as a vehicle-mounted machine gun due to its weight and 7.62x51mm NATO chambering. It proved so effective and vital that U.S. forces took to dismounting with it.
Effectively, SOCOM wanted a gun that could blend the range and power of the mounted .50 caliber M2 with the portability of the M240, but even lighter and updated for modern optics, lasers, and other accessories.
Meet the REAPR: Specs & Features
Ohio Ordnance answered SOCOM’s request by first breaking with the last half-century of U.S. machine gun designs. Instead of the gas operating system found in guns like the M240 and M249, the company pivoted to a blowback-type operating system for the new air-cooled, belt-fed Recoil Enhanced Automatic Precision Rifle.
“One of the things we focused on was truly making this designed for the cartridge itself. It’s not taking something and up-chambering it to .338. It’s understanding the energy in a .338 Norma Mag and designing the system around that cartridge. So, we chose to not go gas-operated because we make other gas-operated guns, and we know the downfalls of those,” said Landies. “The operating system is more of a blow-back system than anything. Some people say it looks like a modern-day MG 42. Again, we go back to the history, and we look at what has worked.”
A blowback system at once simplified the design and created a robust action. This meant the REAPR boasts around 35 percent fewer parts than a comparable M240 – a blessing for operators in the field – and creates a reliable yet controllable platform for the powerful .338 NM. Historical comparisons aside, Ohio Ordnance added several unique touches to make the gun extremely versatile.
“We also came up with some new innovative stuff,” Landies added. “There are two patents that have been issued for the parts on this gun. One is the top cover, the feed tray system, and the other is the barrel locking mechanism.”
SOCOM’s request required a quick-change barrel system, which isn’t in and of itself particularly special, but Ohio Ordnance’s solution was unique. The company ditched the common button/latch release that’s often built around a ratchet-like carry handle and designed something from the ground up.
The result was a barrel, complete with hand shield, that can be removed by simply depressing the barrel into the receiver and rotating it for release. The design makes barrel changes rapid and even one-handed operations easily completed in the field.
The company’s patented sliding feed tray also solved a problem that’s plagued American machine guns since the advent of modern optics. Knowing special operations units would heavily favor the use of optics, night vision, thermals, and lasers, Ohio Ordnance designed a feed tray that could operate without impeding attachments.
Users can simply slide the feed tray out to the side and underneath any attached optics for loading and clearing operations. The tray is also reversible and capable of feeding from either the left or right side.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the basic specs:
- Weight: 26.8 pounds
- Length: 54.5 inches (stock extended), 51.7 inches (collapsed), 44.25 (folded)
- Barrel Length: 24.4 inches
- Barrel Twist: 1/9.4
- Muzzle Thread: 5/8x24 TPI
- Lands/Grooves: 5/5
- Max Effective Range: 1,600 meters
- Max Range: 6,700 meters
- Feed Mechanism: Disintegrating metallic belt
- Rate of Fire: 550-650 RPM
- Feed: Left or right side
- Caliber: .338 Norma Magnum
On top of a healthy array of accessory mounting points, the REAPR features a folding buttstock from B5 Systems complete with a cheek riser. It can be set to swing to either the left or right side. Combined with the quick-detach barrel, this makes a gun that breaks down into a remarkably small package.
“During the design, we had the opportunity to make some changes and integrate some features into the gun where this can break down and fit into a backpack,” observed Landies. “You can take it out very quickly and put it together in 10 seconds or so. That’s not something, I would say, people would think about.”
The design allows operators to carry the heavier REAPR machine gun inside their backpack to remote positions while simultaneously wielding a more nimble firearm for self-defense and maneuvering across rugged terrain.
User controls are ambidextrous, thanks to another Ohio Ordnance patent for a select-fire grip that includes a crossbolt safety. Completing another SOCOM requirement, the REAPR fits in existing mounts for the M240B/C machine gun already in the field with the U.S. military.
Ohio Ordnance also developed a toolless 7.62x51mm NATO conversion kit that can be easily changed in the field. This effectively makes the REAPR a two-caliber gun, with the 7.62 NATO option a cheaper training alternative and all-around common backup caliber.
New Optics-First Design
Calling the REAPR a “battlefield suppression system” in its initial press release, Ohio Ordnance clearly set out to make more than just your standard infantry machine gun with its new REAPR. The gun was designed to allow operators and their teams to dominate wide swaths of the battle space. That meant maximizing the use of modern optics and accessories.
For the last half century, most of America’s medium and heavy machine guns have been a sort of Frankenstein’s monster when it came to adding optics. The M240, M249, and M2 machine guns were never designed for optics. Instead, manufacturers essentially welded or milled an optics rail onto something like the feed tray cover. It was an imperfect and inelegant solution.
Ohio Ordnance hated that idea and completely redesigned its gun with an optics-first layout.
“Overall, what kind of drove the top cover feed tray is the optic,” said Landies. “Your optic should be rigid … We’re trying to upgrade and give guys more capabilities. This being a newly designed gun, we wanted to keep all of that in mind, and, I say, ‘not make the gun be the limiter for what you can put on it.’ The gun is agnostic to optics, thermal, night vision, lasers, suppressors.”
Between the solid, one-piece railed receiver and the sliding feed tray, the REAPR can host even the longest of optics while leaving plenty of room for other essential accessories to fit a wide range of missions. It’s a feature that positions the new gun to take maximum advantage of the .338 Norma Mag with its extreme long-range capabilities.
Why .338 Norma Mag?
Originally designed by American sport shooter Jimmie Sloan as a wildcat cartridge for long-range precision shooting applications, the .338 Norma Magnum had some enviable characteristics for machine gun applications.
Along with a flat-shooting trajectory, the heavier .338 bullet generally came in at around double the weight of its standard 148-grain 7.62x51mm NATO counterpart. That meant the round brought range, power, and predictable precision.
Its battlefield potential already had the U.S. military exploring the round as a possible replacement for some of its precision sniper rifles chambered in 7.62 NATO and .300 Winchester Magnum.
“What I tell people at the end of the day is .338 Norma bridges the gap between a 240 [7.62 NATO] and an M2 [.50 BMG],” Landies told Guns.com. “This gets you closer to the M2, but it’s dismountable. It’s actually lighter than a 240, and you have more than double the distance of effective engagement area.”
While the round was never meant for a belt-fed machine gun, there’s been a parallel effort to create a new machine gun spec for the .338 NM. Ohio Ordnance has been testing this with the new REAPR platform.
Future Plans
Just over 40 years ago, Ohio Ordnance got its start as primarily a buyer and seller of existing military firearms, parts, and accessories. It moved more into manufacturing in the 1990s. The striking distance the company has come since then to design and manufacture its own unique machine gun is telling of the path Ohio Ordnance is on now.
“We designed this because we’re looking forward to the future and what we have as a company to offer. We’re more of a technology company now and being innovative and looking forward to the future of the company and what we’re doing,” concluded Landies. “It sounds cliché, but we really do want the guys who need it to have the best gun.”
It wouldn’t surprise us to see more home-grown designs from Ohio Ordnance in the near future. As for the REAPR, full production is already set to start in the first half of 2024.
