I tend to agree on the Stoner based rifles. One thing missing from the discussion is the impact that new sighting systems have had on the battlefield. Our soldiers are far more accurate and lethal today thanks to these sighting systems. This erases the need to carry as much ammunition into battle and that was one of the main reasons we selected the lighter 5.56mm round over the .308 and 30-06.
The 5.56mm is a decent round in the open, but in urban combat the disadvantages of the round in penetrating even light cover have been proven. In open desert and mountains the shorter range has also proven a disadvantage because the average soldier can score hits with the new sights far beyond the effective range of the 5.56mm. The heavier rounds are far more suitable for shooting at far distances. This issue is reviewed continually by men who base these opinions on experience.
We already have the round - the .308. There are already solid rifles and platforms available that use this round.
My mother-in-laws late Dad was in Korea and his Lt. would routinely chew him out at times when he could catch him carrying a light weight M1 Carbine. “Reynolds, get rid of that thing and get you a Garand right now” Yes sir! His Lt. didn’t think much of the light weight .30 caliber round, it didn’t offer enough penetration as the 30’06 of the Garand.
That being said my uncle carried an M1 Carbine through his entire tour in Korea, he was in the 24th and the first unit deployed as a speed bump in the initial Norks invasion in June 50. He had worked on the sear so that it would fire full auto. He liked the rifle and carried two 30 rd mags taped together for a quick change plus the usual 15 rd mags.
Another uncle carried an M1 Carbine in 3rd Army and liked the weapon well enough to buy one when he got out of the service for home protection and used it to protect his neighborhood during the Detroit riots in the 1960’s.
Another uncle who was a Normandy, preferred the heavier hitting Garand so to each his own.
I frankly would prefer a heavier round like the .308 in the G3 or FAL rifle series.
I have long been of the opinion that the “lighter ammo is good because we can carry more” is a rationalization invented to justify the weapon.
In earlier wars, Marines carried the heavier M1 Grande and would have enough ammo on hand to break human wave attacks and/or engage in battles that lasted from sun up to sun down and then kept right on going to sun up again.
As a Marine infantryman (peace time, fortunately for me) in the weapons company of a battalion, I carried the Dragon on one shoulder and rifle on the other’n. Wasn’t so hard a burden to carry that extra missile weight of weapon/ammo. I also carried the pig (M60) and that’s a fair bit heavier than the M16 but wasn’t in any way crippling.
Taking the entire pattern of what’s been going on for the last few decades, mostly by those outside the military pushing their views onto the military, with all the me-ism and I want-ism so popular now, in another generation I’d expect our troops to go to battle dressed in silk jammies with fluffy bunny slippers and a requirement for the issue weapon to be no heavier than a smart phone.