Wilson Combat has fielded its own Designated Marksman Rifle in .223 Wylde instead of copying earlier military or original designs.

The rifle follows the squad designated marksman idea used by the Army and Marine Corps, which added reach to 600 meters from a lightly changed service rifle that stayed with the infantry unit on patrol rather than operating ahead as snipers do. Early Army guns were 5.56 NATO M16-pattern rifles with 20-inch stainless barrels, free-float handguards, extra accurizing, and 4-power Trijicon optics, remaining hard to tell from other squad weapons at a distance.

Wilson Combat chambers the rifle to the .223 Wylde specification created by Bill Wylde, with a 0.2240-inch freebore diameter, 0.0619-inch freebore length, and 1.25-degree throat angle meant to extract more accuracy from 5.56 NATO ammunition in National Match competition.