Army Serious About Fielding 6.8 Caliber Round

National Defense ^ | October 29, 2018 | Stew Magnuson

[re_tail20]

“Right now, the feedback looks like we are going to a 6.8 caliber round,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said recently.

The service has a list of its top six modernization priorities and “soldier lethality” is one of the items. The most high-profile program in that category is the squad automatic rifle. Army Secretary Mark Esper at the Association of the United States Army annual conference — while promising the service is speeding up the way it does acquisition — singled out the program as one that would see prototypes in the near future.

“The bottom line is that we are committed to a new rifle,” Milley told reporters.

The 6.8 round would replace the 5.56 NATO round, which would mean two types of ammo for rifles on the battlefield, at least initially, Milley suggested. The 6.8 mm round was first developed by Remington and Special Operations Command. It is more lethal and accurate than the old rounds and 10 percent lighter.

If Milley’s prediction is correct, it would be used in one of six rifles being developed for the squad automatic rifle competition by five contractors. The competitors are: AAI Corp.-Textron Systems; FN America LLC (with two rifles); General Dynamics-OTS Inc; PCP Tactical LLC; and Sig Sauer Inc.

The new rifle is apt to be expensive, so not every soldier will have it from day one, Milley said.

“It’s a very sophisticated weapon. It’s a very capable weapon. And it has an integrated sight system,” he said. It will also integrate into the soldier’s wearable information technology.

“Not surprisingly, with a weapon like that it’s probably pretty expensive. We expect it to be expensive,” he said.

The initial buy would be in the 100,000 range, he said. “We will prioritize those soldiers who are in close-quarters...

[Yo-Yo]

“But what electronic components are needed other than night sights or thermal sights?”

Rounds remaining in the mag.

Barrel temp.

Gas pressure behind the piston.

Those are 3 I can think of. All via bluetooth. And displayed in the soldiers helmet shield.

More realistically, the electronics could include a scope with integral laser rangefinder tied to an electronic aiming dot that would automatically adjust for holdover to the target for the given range, increasing the probability of a first-shot hit.

That capability is already available to civilians from Sig, using a separate electronics-enhanced scope and handheld laser rangefinder. Short 3 minute demo of how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt4vKtlPMsY

Miniaturize it, ruggedize it, and put it all in one package on the rifle.

[butlerweave]

Not a big enough bump, bring back the 45-70 for close quarters.

Old timer thinking, if it does hurt you to shoot ,it will never hurt them ,LOL

[JudgemAll]

For the jungle too. 45-70 is not deviated by folliage unlike 7.62 and 5.56

[Mariner]

The new weapon is for Close Quarters Combat.

Not a new sniper rifle.

[The_Media_never_lie]

If they are serious about it. then they should go ahead and field it.

[pas]

At least they didn’t say fully semi-automatic.

[Colt1851Navy]

Or the 7x57mm Mauser, the original bolt action army rifle cartridge.

[Grimmy]

Yeah but a 6.8 inch round, while a flat out b***h to carry in a full magazine, would certainly have some good knock down power to it!

[Yo-Yo]

The technology is good for 400 meter shot. It doesn't have to be a sniper rifle to be effective. The new round is designed for a longer effective range that 5.56mm. From the article:

“This weapon has an accurate range far in excess of any known existing military rifle today. It will fire at speeds that far exceed the velocity of bullets today,” he said. It will penetrate any known body armor or any expected to be developed in the next 25 years, he added.

[Celtic Conservative]

So they’re serious aboud going to plastic ammo cases?

CC

[Spktyr]

Follow-up shots would be a bit of a problem...

[Spktyr]

Apparently. Earlier attempts were made with 6.5mm and 7.62mm and it looks like they’ve made a compromise between the two with the 6.8. Earlier attempt info: https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/05/08/lsat-6-5mm-plastic-cased-ammo-armys-next-small-arms-program/

Looking like they have the temperature stability issue resolved.

[Spktyr]

In addition to what others have mentioned - borrow something from the tanks and have a computer calculate point of impact based on barrel “droop” from heat or even just barrel deflection from pressure on the front end.

Alternately, look at the rifles from the Halo video game series.

[Grimmy]

I know, right?

I can only imagine the brutal recoil on a rifle that throws that slug.

[Redcitizen]

I recall the G11 had problems with the heat buildup from multiple rounds being fired. Seems the brass case takes the heat with it as it is ejected. That’s a shame because I like the concept of caseless ammunition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler_%26_Koch_G11

From Wikipedia: Premature ignition of ammunition from heat in the chamber, known as cook-off, was a major problem with early prototypes of the G11 where synthetically bound nitrocellulose, formed into blocks, was used. Normally, when a bullet is fed into a chamber its case insulates the propellant from igniting until its impact-sensitive primer is struck by a firing pin or striker. The case aids in insulating the propellant from the heat of the chamber and it takes time for the temperature to rise sufficiently, inside a chambered round, to ignite the propellant. In addition, in a traditional rifle, extracting a hot case removes heat from the system. As a result of doing away with traditional cases, the G11 became a safety hazard and had to be withdrawn from the 1979 NATO trials. The high rate of fire and lack of cartridge cases made cooking-off a significant problem since the heat buildup in the G11 chamber was immense, due to the chamber having no provision for cooling, as with a reciprocating bolt system which allows hot air to leave the chamber when the bolt is retracted and the chamber is exposed to air.

Another link:

https://www.quora.com/Why-was-the-G11-assault-rifle-not-a-success

[Pilsner]

The Brits were planning on going to a 7mm a lot earlier than WWII. They called it a .280 but the same thing.

The Pattern 1913 Enfield seen below:

would have used the .276 Enfield catridge:

The .276 Enfield ballistic properties were superior to the .303 British, both used cordite as a propellant, which resulted in a heavy recoil, a large muzzle flash, and rapid fouling and heating of the bore. That was problem for both rifles, but worse for the smaller .276. The Brits converted the .303 British from cordite to smokeless gunpowder about that time, but WWI came along before the bugs could be worked out of the .276 Enfield rifle and its cartridge. Both were shelved for the duration, and never put into production.

[yarddog]

I have Winston Churchill’s six volume “History of WWII”.

Something I noticed is he never calls the .303 by that name. He always says .31 caliber.

I also recall his wanting to know who the idiot was who ordered a ship to travel to another port for unloading.

The ship contained something like several hundred million rounds of ammo and many thousand rifles from the U.S. Churchill was angry that such a valuable cargo would be sent back to sea.

[Spktyr]

Red, the G11’s issue was caused because it was a caseless rifle, where by definition the propellant is directly exposed to a potentially hot chamber - and since it is caseless, it basically is a projectile stuck on the end of a small block of RDX. The new ammo uses conventional gunpowder and projectile in a plastic tube - the thermally stable plastic insulates the propellant from the hot chamber.

[Fightin Whitey]

How is Carcano different from Creedmoor?

[Spktyr]

Also, the G11’s issues with cookoff were eventually remedied and the rifle was set to go into mass production and general German Army/NATO issue - and then German Reunification happened and the G11 was a casualty of post-Reunification budgets.

Just as well because there is no way in hell the US Government would let civilians buy blocks of a more-heat-stable RDX over the counter.