[schurmann]

“The US military has quietly re-adopted a scaled-down version of the M-14 using the .30 caliber round. ...”

Scaled down? In what dimensions?

One presumes they’re using 7.62 NATO, as the M14 never did chamber any more “original” 30 cal, neither the 30-40 nor the 30-06.

Various industry sources surmised that the frantic search for individual weapons with greater effective range began circa 2006. By then, the M14 was out of the NSN system and MIL STD parts were not to be found anywhere.

Modular style stock systems have been developed by enterprising US manufacturers, but they weigh far more than any original stock, and cost more than a basic rifle.

But then, no one has ever accused USN of system procurement that is either straightforward, speedy, efficient, or cheap. And when it comes to USSOCOM, no one will ever know what they’ve done, nor why (certainly not the average citizen). One hopes that the public does not react with an angry backlash, and that the effectiveness enhancements have been worth it.

[jmacusa]

The over-all length of the rifle is not what it originally was. The barrel length is shorter, I'm not sure how much, the stock has been made shorter and some variants have a folding stock. And yes you're correct it's the 7.62 round.The .45 caliber pistol is also made a quite come back. The need for the old reliable heavy caliber punch became evident in the ‘90s after Somalia when it was learned that the sand demons were chewing ‘’khat’’ or using amphetamines and one or two rounds of 5.56 did little more than just drill holes in them. The Navy uses the old standard M-14 and "Ma Deuce'' for shooting floating sea mines. Experience patrolling the Persian Gulf in the nineties, when Iran was causing trouble with their little ‘’dinghy-boat’’ navy taught a sharp lesson to the Navy that even though high tech is great, low tech weapons can wreck havoc.