THE MINUTEMAN Volume 10, February 2024
Packs, MK12 SPR, and Kit baseline...
Breaking Down The Rucksack (CM-9 Book Excerpt)
Packs
Packs come in many different designs and sizes, and with that comes many differing needs amongst the end user. The most common question asked is “what pack is best for me?” and that isn’t an easy question to answer without first understanding how packs fit into your overall usage and mission profile. You have hydration packs, assault packs, patrol packs, and long range packs. Too many times we get lost in the weeds chasing the ultimate pack instead of focusing on needs. So lets break this down into 3 main pack sizes that make sense for us to use...
-Day Packs (1,000 cu in to 2,000 cu in or 18 liters to 30 liters) This pack size is great for outings where the bare minimum is needed and for trips where the duration is expected to be 24 hour or less. Maybe it’s a quick scout of ones property, a hike with the family, or as an EDC bag for your vehicle. Its volume is enough for an insulating/rain layer, spare socks, snacks, water, first aid, and your remaining 10 essentials as mentioned above. These packs usually have a thin polyurethane frame sheet or pad and no hipbelt and are best with loads weighing under 20 lbs.
-Patrol/Assault Packs (2,200 cu in to 3,500 cu in or 35 liters to 50 liters) The Patrol or Assault Pack is probably going to be the most used pack for the Professional Citizen. Perfect in size for 2-to-3-day trips that require multiple days’ worth of rations, fuel, sleep and shelter kits, foul weather gear, mission essentials such as observation gear, and possibly more. A lot of folks will consider this family of packs when putting together GHB’s (Get Home Bags) or BOB’s (Bugout Bags). Many of these packs will have a thin frame sheet with some sort of aluminum internal frame and adjustable hip belt to better help with weight transfer to one’s hips. This is due to the design being able to carry larger/heavier loads than the above-mentioned daypack. To be able to carry 30 to 50 lbs. would not be uncommon due to the nature of the use of the pack.
-Long Range Pack (3,600 cu in on up or 60 liters plus) If you need a pack to support trips in excess of 5 days (or shorter cold weather trips), then these larger packs are just what you will need. Lets use a 5 day outing as an example… That’s 5 days worth of rations (6 if you’re into contingency planning), medical, communication and observation gear, clothing/layers, spare ammo, E&E gear, and possibly more depending on the scope of that outing. Cold weather trips require additional layers and bulkier sleep kit not to mention the need for additional calories for sustainment. All of this comes at a weight and size cost hence the need for larger volume packs. It is not unheard of to need an 80-to-110-liter pack for a 5 to 10 day winter unsupported excursion. These packs will have large external pockets, expandable lids, more robust harness systems, and heavier duty frames to help take the brunt of the excess weight to be carried.
In a perfect world you would have all three, but it isn’t a perfect world so you should focus on your most likely use and get the best that you can. Generally, most of our needs will fall in the first two options so this simplifies things a bit. For the budget minded you can never go wrong with a Medium Alice pack. 40 liters in size with 3 large external pockets and the ability to add a couple sustainment pockets if needed. For under $100 you have a very serviceable pack that has a proven track record. If the funds allow it, I would recommend options like the Mystery Ranch 3 Day Assault Pack or Karrimor Predator Patrol 45 Pack.
Links to packs pictured above:
Interested in reading more? Grab a copy of my book with The Professional Citizen Project called CM-9 Adverse Conditions and Environments here:
https://tpcproject.com/products/citizen-manual-9-ace-adverse-conditions-and-environments
The Minuteman MK12 Mod H, well, kind of…
Part 1:
So you have the GPR, Recce Rifle, the MK18, and then you have the MK12 SPR series of AR rifles.
So let’s start with a quick history:
The United States Navy Mk 12 MOD 0/1/H Special Purpose Rifle (SPR) is a designated marksman rifle (DMR) that was in service with United States Special Operations Forces in the designated marksman role until 2017. The SPR initially stood for Special Purpose Receiver as it referred to an add-on upper receiver assembly (part of the proposed SOPMOD upgrades), but that was later changed to Special Purpose Rifle as the weapon became a stand-alone weapons system in its own right.
Write up from Safe Defense Journal for a detailed history and use for the MK12 series of SPR’s…
https://sadefensejournal.com/the-mk12-spr-special-purpose-rifle/
The accuracy of the AR-15/M16 has always been top rate. For the longest time, when one would think of a long range designated marksman rifle (DMR) you would think of something in 7.62x51mm NATO and more than likely bolt action. During the Vietnam War, it was seen that there is a benefit to having a semiautomatic DMR-type rifle so the accurized M14 appeared. In the calm of the Cold War, little attention was paid to small arms; money was going into nuclear weapons and advanced aircraft. Since the Vietnam War, U.S. troops encountered little combat and small arms would remain virtually unchanged. After 9/11 all that would change. Now with the Global War On Terrorism, infantry battles would be back rather than the high tech air war, which really was the First Gulf War. Prior to that, former Army Colonel Mark Westrom, former President of ArmaLite, Inc. conceived a 5.56x45mm SPR (Special Purpose Rifle); originally envisioned by Westrom to be in 18 inch, 20 inch and 22 inch barrels. The SPR as initially designed was to be an upper receiver that would be adaptable to current M4/M4A1 carbines that would fill two roles. First as a light sniper rifle and then, if need be, it could be used as a light machine gun. There was again no one rifle or carbine available that would fit this particular role so SOCOM would build it. Unfortunately it stopped, at least for a short period of time.
The concept sat dormant for years until SOCOM revived the concept in the 1990s as an initiative by the 5th Special Forces Group. They envisioned the SPR as a Special Purpose Receiver that drops on a standard M16/M4-type lower receiver. This receiver was to be highly accurized and would shoot a new type of 5.56x45mm round – one that would go on to be the most accurate 5.56mm cartridge in the world. The SPR upper receiver would provide a lightweight, compact, long-range precision fire and light support capability to the small Special Operation Forces groups that were not in a position to receive support from aircraft or artillery.
Read more in the link above…
What's the point of all this? Well, my buddy
had written a piece on his 3 rifle philosophy and it made me think about the roles my rifles could play and I realized that I was missing a Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR) as an option.I have the Recce Rifle or GPR concept covered as well as a Patrol Carbine covered but having a dedicated option for a true marksman style rifle is lacking. Something that has kept me from going this route is caliber options. Most rifles in this class would fire the larger 7.62 NATO rounds, but the need to reach out to extreme distances doesn’t exist for me, but shots of 500 yards to 800 yards do exist and this seems to be a sweet spot for the MK12 Mod H with Mk262 77 grain ammo from Black Hills. I feel that the combination of above factors make utilizing the MK12 SPR concept a worthy endeavor for my area.
So my build is closer to the MOD H with a 16” barrel versus the Mod 0/1 with 18” barrels… I used the following items to put mine together.:
Center Point Adventure 3-9x40 FFP Optic with piggybacked RMR
So I present to you my poor man’s take on a MK12 (let’s call it the MMK12 for Minuteman MK12)…
The piggybacked RMR and a 3-9x40 scope w/illuminated reticle are in transit so there will be an update in the coming month on the finished product along with some initial range testing!
Also, here are a couple great videos on the MK12 that brought me quite a bit of inspiration for this…
Do you have your base kit figured out yet?
The above Gear Pyramid is a great visual to help folks with getting their base kit dialed in. There are a few items that I would move around (LBE as an example, I feel that can be included under Patrol) but overall it is a solid reference.
This has been a mission of mine over the last few years and it all finally came together for me this last year. One component of that was solidifying my purpose for it all. Property Patrolling and Reconnaissance are really the two main aspects of my use and identifying that really helped me zero in on the base loadout that I had been looking for.
Utilizing the Gear pyramid has made kit setup much easier for me. Since 80% of my use is nailed down, Setting up chest rigs, LBE’s, and packs for sustainment is easy. To top it off getting out regularly to train in it has built confidence in the systems and has allowed me to test proofs of concept in different scenarios. Trust the process.
So with this all said, the above has lead to a new LBE setup I am working on inspired by the Everyday Marksman that he calls The Minuteman Harness. There will be more on this in next month’s newsletter!