Army might have found its new rifle in Colorado Springs garage

Gazette ^ | Sep 30, 2018 | Tom Roeder

[Viking2002]

A cyclic rate of 250 RPS would require belt-feeding in a battlefield environment to be even worth the bother, and the cooling requirements for those barrels would be unbelievable. If the military can overcome those two issues alone, it would be one helluva vehicle-mounted weapon. But for individual troop use, it would be a wedding night one-and-done, unless the Reticulans gave us some snazzy new alien tech we don’t know about. </sarc>

[dsc]

“It seems like 20 or 30 round magazines and soft recoil should count for a lot.”

Well, it looks like everyone agrees with you, since no military seems to be adopting a 30.06 battle rifle.

Perhaps you don’t need a round that can knock down an elk, but I really like the 30.06. If I were on the battlefield, I think I’d prefer to be firing at the enemy with a round like that, rather than a .223. Your mileage may vary.

[imardmd1]

Love the M1. Carried it four years, The M1 Carbine is not even close to an M4, but it was a good truck driver’s pal, back in the day. I sold mine a few years ago to a friend. Still good for a pickup truck driver, good in any state. Hope someday to be able to afford or build a modern short 5.6mm rifle to replace it. Still have my M1, keeping it for posterity. With ammo.

[buwaya]

I can’t see 500 yards, without a scope.

I can barely see 200 yards.

[Charles Martel]

The Carbine had reliability problems that were mostly caused by flimsy magazines. The troops that figured out that problem learned to swap out their mags for new ones at every opportunity and the reliability improved a lot. Also, the M1 Carbine was a lot like the Garand in that it didn't like to be run "dry" - you had to keep the action lubricated. The guys who learned the carbine's quirks tended to have a high opinion of it.

I can see why the small, light carbine was popular with the Filipinos and the Marines fighting in heavy jungle terrain; most combat there was a lot closer than in Europe - and well within the cartridge's effective range.

[gundog]

Never gonna happen.

[yarddog]

Daddy served in Europe and was in actual combat. He may have been impressed with the Garand’s accuracy. He was truly an extraordinary shot particularly off hand.

He qualified expert with the rifle but that is selling him short. He was actually the best shot I have ever known. I remember when I was only 6, he would tap a nail into a tree and get back maybe 30 feet and drive it into the tree every time. He used a model 513 Remington .22 rifle.

He brought home a Luger from WWII. He sold it to his Cousin. At Daddy’s funeral I asked him if he still had it and he did not. He did tell me an interesting story which I knew was true.

Shortly after he bought it, he complained to Daddy that it was not very accurate. My Father then took it and put 8 shots into one hole. I don’t think he told me the distance but he certainly was impressed.

[wally_bert]

Probably not.

[Charles Martel]

If it’s not gas operated, what cycles the ammunition through the chamber?

Good question. It hope it's not some sort of electrical solenoid that kicks the "magazine" over another notch after the on-board computer counts off four rounds fired (but I think it may be something like that).

[Openurmind]

Just like bitcoin... Worthless without electricity.

[dsc]

“I can’t see 500 yards, without a scope.”

I wasn’t thinking about us geezers. Infantry is a young man’s game.

[Charles Martel]

My dad was in France (briefly), Belgium and Germany during the war, so he used the Garand enough to be impressed, too. I think all he brought home was a German bayonet - his rotation points were still low at the end of the war so he stayed in Germany as part of the occupation forces. It was probably tougher to sneak home battlefield trophies at the time his deployment ended.

My uncles, though, rotated stateside earlier and brought home quite a few Mausers and Lugers. Every gun cabinet in the family had WWII hardware on display.

[imardmd1]

The 200 yard 10 point bullseye for the M1 is about 6 or 7 inches, IIRC.

[wastedyears]

The military industrial complex won’t like this one bit.

[wastedyears]

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.

Our future Space Marines can use it.

[Bommer]

Although designed as a rifle, I can see this technology being used in a bigger gun mounted in aircraft. It’s practicality could be used for snipers, depending on how accurate it is. Starts here, and evolves into higher energy weapons

[vortec94]

You ever heard of NovX .223 ammo. Saw it once in Nat’l Rifleman and can’t find it anywhere. 4100fps from a 21” barrel.

[M Kehoe]

Good morning.

“NovX”

No I haven’t. Are you sure of 4100 fps?

5.56mm

[Carriage Hill]

Going nowhere.

[old-ager]

I wish the guy well in making his work pay off, but electronic ignition affords no advantage.

And how do you feed it, at 250 rounds/second?

Something is wierd about this story.

Incremental improvements make a lot more sense, such as lighter materials, better sighting systems, better ballistics, better terminal performance in small rounds.