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There's a 6.5mm cartridge in the works (overall length not more than the 5.56mm cartridge, but made from a shortened 7.62 case, fires a 100-grain bullet with a long ogive)that, if reports can be believed, is the answer to these problems. Watch for it in the future (might not be adopted by the U.S. military, but civilians are taking to it....)

The Japanese Model 97 Arisaka was 6.5 mm. The .30-06 trumped it every time. A .30-06 with standard AP could penetrate a palm tree and kill the man behind it. The 6.5mm used by both the Italians and the IJA was underpowered, and lacked the cross-sectional area to rip parts off, which is the function of a rifle. Hit a man with one round of .30-06, he is going down. Hit him with several, like from a M1919 Browning, or a BAR, and he will be separated into several steaming parts.

The M-1 carbine was too hot for a pistol round, and too wussy for a rifle. Little girls and the Army liked it though... Recoil being such a major factor for beanie wearing metrosexuals...

It's the 6.5 mm Grendel, and I've been following its development a bit, since I'm an amateur shooting and reloading enthusiast. It looks like an ideal compromise between power and size. It's based on the 6 mm PPC, which is a champion's target round. With low-drag bullets, it's supposedly capable of 1000 ft-lbs of energy out to 1000 yards. 1000 ft-lbs is generally considered to be the energy required for efficient kills on deer, which happen to be human-sized. I imagine it is a lot more efficient than the .223 in short barrels, too, since it is a shorter, fatter cartridge.

From a web site on the subject, http://www.competitionshooting.com/pages/708565/:

"The 6.5 PPC is able to equal or exceed the ballistic performance of the 7.62 NATO / .308 in terms of retained velocity, trajectory and wind deflection while operating with 50% less recoil. (6.5 PPC 123 grain @ 2750 fps = 7 lbs vs. 7.62 NATO 185 grain @ 2500 fps = 14 lbs: Reference- 5.56 NATO 77 grain @ 2850 fps = 4 lbs) ".

It will be interesting to see where they go with this. A relatively small increase in weight gives a very large increase in power over the .223 with this cartridge.

In reference to the 6.5 Grendel, the cartridge is based on the PPC family of cartridges with a case length of 1.505 inches. Operating within a magazine length loading restriction of 2.255 inches, the cartridge can be loaded with a wide range of bullets from 80 to 144 grains.

As far as military consideration of the cartridge, various elements of the military have seen test rifles demonstrated out to 1,000 yards over the past 6 months. It would be fair to say that they have been impressed with the demonstrations. However, it will be 2004 before production rifles and ammunition are able to be presented to the military for formal evaluation, consideration and application for their mission uses. Therefore, it would be premature for any party to form any conclusions as to a military role for the 6.5 Grendel.

For civilian use, the rifle has excellent capabilities for competition (highpower and benchrest), hunting (deer, antelope, wild hogs, sheep) as well as people who just want a highly accurate cartridge for casual target shooting. In addition, the cartridge has outstanding properties for law enforcement use.