Posted on 06/12/2013 5:51:38 PM PDT by re_tail20
The House Armed Services Committee voted unanimously on an amendment to the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act that would require the Army to finish phase III of the Individual Carbine competition. The competition would determine if, and what rifle may replace the M4 in service today.
The Individual Carbine competition began over five years ago and has pitted offerings from top-tier companies against each other to find out if newer carbines perform better than whats in use currently, including Colt, FNH, Heckler & Koch, KAC and Remington.
In 2012 the Army began phase II of the competition, having narrowed their selections down to the the Adcor Defense BEAR Elite, the Beretta ARX-160, and the Colt Enhanced M4, FN FNAC, the Heckler & Koch HK416A5 and the Remington ACR, to see if they outperformed the M4A1.
Earlier this year, however, the program was audited by the Defense Department, which determined that the costs of the final trials were inconsistent with the existing M4 upgrade Product Improvement Program (PIP) and found that the Army, which is already facing cutbacks, should push the $49 million set aside for phase III back upstream for other uses.
In May, the Army issued a statement that they in consideration of the audit that they would suspend further evaluation of replacement rifles. The program was suspended, not to see further trials.
(Excerpt) Read more at guns.com ...
Oh, for crying out loud. The Army should replace the colt uppers with their new gas piston system and a roller cam option from POF, and that would be it, no more controversies about the M16.
The German Belgian stuff is overengineered and expensive.
Indeed. SIG 716 for the Army, one can only dream.
That being said, I am sure we could tweak the 223 to go 100 grains and high pressure. It would be very close in performance to regular 7.62
I’m a fan of the 7.62 cartridge, too. But the US military ain’t going back to it for a standard weapon. Ain’t gonna happen, no way, no how. It would require the retooling of the entire logistical train and that would cost billions and billions of dollars.
But with the proper projectile the 5.56 can be quite effective out to 500 yards or so. An “open tip” 62 grain bullet with a solid base of some kind is a proven, effective man stopper. I’d prefer it we said screw the GC and started issuing soft point ammo, but that ain’t gonna happen either.
Fortunately us civilian types aren’t bound by the GC’s, so it’s soft point and hollow point projectiles for Clan Luker’s M4geries.
“That being said, I am sure we could tweak the 223 to go 100 grains and high pressure”
While you might be able to load a 100 grain projectile into a 5.56 mm case there wold be so little room for propellant you’d never achieve enough velocity to make a effective cartridge. I load 55 grain soft points into 5.56 brass and 24 grains of powder darn near fills the entire case. That give me about 2900 fps or so if memory serves.
The only way to “tweak” that case for a 100 grain bullet would be to lengthen it. Then you’d have to redesign the entire gun.
I did not think of that.
I thought that if burn time was reduced and higher pressure used, we might squeeze out more energy out of the powder burn and more efficiency during the bullet travel time through the barrel. Thus short barrels would require higher pressure but to detriment in handling. Loading a 50Cal can be done dangerously this way if not enough powder is in the chamber because the powder lays flat with a huge surface exposed to the primer spark, making for extremely quick but low energy high power/pressure burns.
I think the Swedes had it close to figured out long ago with the 6.5mm x 55 Swedish Mauser.
I had heard about a 5.56 blackout? round that had the same ballistic footprint as a 7.62 but have not been able to find any for sale.
It’s .300 Blackout.
Maximum effective range with the naked eye is 300 meters. I really liked the M14E2. It had a bipod and a pistol grip. I recall it had a maximum effective range with the naked eye of 720 meters. Put a scope on it and you can shoot effectively beyond a half mile.
That is it 300 blackout.....have you been able to try this round out...do the claims ring true.....gotta be way more expensive than a 7.62 X 39
which weapon would
Sonny Crockett and/or Harry Callahan prefer?
Hey, I’ve heard about this wonderful new rifle they’re developing; it’s powerful as all get-out and a tack driver out to literally hundreds of yards.
It’s called the M1 Garand, and it wins wars.
Agreed, in a way. The Army could do this right now, at sequester prices. Just buy 400,000 tops of, say, the HK 416 or the Colt Advanced Piston, place them on, no need for retraining time (however short that would be), and presto, instant reliability.
BFL
If it works why try to “fix” it?
If it doesn’t work, why the hell do we use it?
Five years to select the best weapon?? Are they kidding.
My guess is a dozen FReepers could come up with the best rifle in one weekend if the Army supplied the ammo and beer...and chainsaws.
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