Army might have found its new rifle in Colorado Springs garage

Gazette ^ | Sep 30, 2018 | Tom Roeder

[Hugin]

“four 6 mm barrels cut side by side within one steel block”

There’s a reason side by side double barrel shotguns have been largely replaced by over/under guns. The recoil tends to pull the gun to one side. Granted a rifle has a lot less recoil, but then you are shooting at much greater range with a much smaller “pattern” (single projectile). Bound to throw the barrel off target.

[butlerweave]

For today’s young soldiers you need a weapon that looks like game pad or joystick ,LOL

[EQAndyBuzz]

Oh my!

[Hugin]

Upon looking at the picture it seems the writer doesn’t know the difference between “side by side” and over/under. Therefore my previous comment is moot.

[Reverend Wright]

250 rounds per second ?

Who is going to carry the ammo for this thing ?

More overcomplicated, catastrophic failure prone high tech BS !

Fail !

[Wonder Warthog]

"Side mount magazine - extremely doubtful I could tolerate that."

Why?? What is wrong with side mount?? It would seem to me that side mount would be superior when firing from a prone position.

[ltc8k6]

We have pics of 4 round blocks amd pics of 5 round blocks.

Which is it?

How do you get the media to print an advertisement for your product like that?

[RandallFlagg]

The Army is studying Grier’s gun

I hope there was a proper background check done before the transfer of possession.
Thanks for that, you stupid elected Colorado democrats in 2013....

[ltc8k6]

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2018/01/jeremy-s/forward-defense-munitions-l5-caseless-ammo-5-bore-rifle/

There it’s a 5 bore rifle.

[AlaskaErik]

Enemy: one battlefield EMP, “ We win ! “

EMP was my first thought once I read the article. That needs to be addressed before the army even looks at it.

[BruceS]

That’s the shotgun feature of this sniper-shot, machine-assault gun that can send four bullets simultaneously whizzing toward an enemy at more than 2,500 mph.

Why would I want to fire 4 bullets at the same time toward the same target? If the weapon is accurate and the rounds are powerful enough, then I have just wasted 3 bullets.

New ammunition blocks fired by electromagnetic actuators that could theoretically give the weapon a firing rate of 250 rounds per second.

Unless a soldier has an ammo truck following him, this is stupid. Ammo takes up space and is heavy. Running out of ammo in a few seconds doesn't seem practical.

FWIW, I am a retired Army officer.

[Red Badger]

Belts are side mount...................

[ASOC]

When this new wonderwaepon can beat this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzfm4pYhIyY

call me, eh?

[Charles Martel]

This is an innovative design. Electronic ignition instead of mechanical. Single or “shotgun” multi-shot rounds. The ability to function when one of the 4 bores is jammed. Interesting stuff.

From the photo of the cartridge block/breechblock in the article, it's not clear whether this will use electronic priming (which Remington tried a while back) or simply electronically-controlled mechanical strikers and conventional primers. Essentially, this design combines the breechblock and pre-loaded magazine into one piece, feeding from the side in stacks of four rounds.

John Moses Browning's dad actually designed something similar, the "harmonica rifle":

Pretty sophisticated for its day - the breechblock was moved forward by a cam, forming a gas seal (more or less) against the breech end of the barrel.

[Malsua]

2,500 mph.

Equates to 3666.667 Feet per second.

It means it's a barrel burner if there is little or no cooling between rounds, which is something somewhat important for a battle rifle. Of course if the threat is eliminated quickly due to overwhelming firepower, then I guess barrel life doesn't matter much.

[OSHA]

Upon looking at the picture it seems the writer doesn’t know the difference between “side by side” and over/under. Therefore my previous comment is moot.

Maybe the writer is from the hood. Then it is a side by side.

[buwaya]

Funny thing is, this thing seems mechanically simpler than even an AR.

No locking lugs, no gas system, no sear or other trigger components (replaced by a switch), fewer springs.

Much of this replaced by electronics, but the cost of electronic components/implementation of such a simplistic sort is in the kiddie-toy category.

Downside is ammo bulk and maybe mechanical issues with moving ammo blocks in a magazine, vs individual rounds.

Ammo cost may be on par with current brass cases; it certainly wouldn’t be in small volumes. This will have to be a matter of manufacturing engineering.

[buwaya]

“Why would I want to fire 4 bullets at the same time toward the same target? If the weapon is accurate and the rounds are powerful enough, then I have just wasted 3 bullets.”

Suppression. Hit probability. There is more than one target in the zone. The one-shot vs full auto argument was won long ago, for the battlefield.

And this thing apparently can still fire single shots and regular automatic fire at regular automatic firing rates.

[NormsRevenge]

Gimme a lighter BAR and I’m in.. This thing will eat ammo like popcorn at the next Trump debate. I like the 2500 mph velocity burst thingy tho.

[FrankR]

How many “batteries” would a soldier need to take on a one-week excursion, in this “electronic” gun?