XM8 Rifle

Strategy Page ^ | jan 31,2005 | A.N.Other

[murdocj]

You might be thinking XM29. That's pretty much dead in the water. They took the rifle part of the XM29 assault rifle/smart grenade launcher and turning it into the XM8.

Some funding for initial production was cut last year, but the program is far from dead. It probably wasn't ready to roll anyway. Improvements are still being worked into it.

I see that the pics above have been dropped.

Pics on my site at

http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/000905.html

and

http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/001308.html

among other posts.

[PureSolace]

[Nowhere Man]

I always wondered why they didn't make the 243 Winchester the new military round. Since it is a necked down 308 you would have plenty of brass and it is a 6mm so much more lethal then the 5.56.....

I thought the same thing, I wonder what it would have been like if we had adopted the .243 Winchester for the AR-10/AR-15/M-16 instead of the .223 Remington. .243 Winchester is approximatly 6mm which was suggested as a good medium round at one time. IIRC, the US Navy used a 6mm round, the 6mm Lee I think, in the 1890's as its main weapon.

[NorCalRepub]

yup.....love the .308 but that is the difference between a battle rifle and an assault rifle

[ijcr]

Video of the XM-8....You have to scroll down to the bottom.


http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/blackwater/videos.html

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[ijcr]

My military career began with the Lee Enfield No 4 and the Sten Gun Mk 5...then came the FAL and the Sterling SMG and as I was leaving the Army introduced that plastic crap the SA-80.

With the Lee Enfield we zeroed at 300 yds and fired from up to 600yds.The FAL was zeroed at 100yds and fired up to 300yds.

The SA-80 was zeroed at 25yds and fell apart at 100yds.Progress.

[USNBandit]

Is the XM29 the one with the 20mm spin fused grenade launcher with a G36 slung underneath? It looked cool, but not that soldier-proof. There are situations where simple is better.

[HP8753]

Is the XM29 the one with the 20mm spin fused grenade launcher with a G36 slung underneath

Looks like they took the Grenade Launcher part,Up'd it to 25 mm and are going to make it as a semi-auto grenade launcher.

XM25 Air-Burst Assault Weapon

[henderson field]

"...Lee Enfield..."
Same with the M1. It was not outside of possibility to hit a target the size of a man's head at 500 yards with iron sights with an M1.

[B-Chan]

"Brigadier General Benjamin Freakley". What a kickass name.

I wish I was a Brigadier General and was named Benjamin Freakley. I'd go to bed happy every night.

The only thing that could surpass the coolness of being "Brigadier General Benjamin Freakley" would be to have a cool middle name, too. Something like "Brigadier General Benjamin Unlimited Freakley". And then run for President.

Yeah, that would be sweet.

Go Freakley in 2008!

[USNBandit]

My 2 1/2 year old just saw the pictures of the XM8 and he wants one. (Chip off the old block alert)

[KoRn]

err

|\|0 P1($ 4 /|/|3 1111

[NorCalRepub]

a .270 is .277

[em2vn]

The XM8 isn't going anywhere because the X represents experimental. The M8 as has been reported in the shooting press is a 6.8mm, .270 caliber Remington.
From what I have read it is a go with the Army and is being used by some Spec Ops personal in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

The photos of the different versions of the XM-8 have disappeared. Strange.

They probably noticed that file was being called a lot, and have software denying it if another web site (like this one) calls it.

I put it on my ISP account's web address:

Here is a picture of my wife holding one (at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh last year):

[Screaming_Gerbil]

6.8 Remington SPC rocks. Waaaaaay better than 5.56mm...

The worst thing about this new rifle, or any new rifle, would be the lousy 5.56 round. We need the 6.8 SPC, or something better than the 5.56 these days, that is for sure.

[flashbunny]

all of which really means nothing.

The fact that H&K is taking on a 'partner' is the biggest sign of the future of the XM8 rifle.

If you had a line on the next US military rifle that would be produced in the hundreds of thousands, resulting in millions of dollars of revenue, would you want to share a piece of that huge pie with another company?

[connectthedots]

If you had a line on the next US military rifle that would be produced in the hundreds of thousands, resulting in millions of dollars of revenue, would you want to share a piece of that huge pie with another company?

US Army would not be comfortable with just a single source for such a weapons program.

[flashbunny]

That really has nothing to do with the fact that they are 'partnering' together, even it it was true. In peace time all that really matters beyond meeting the spec is that the weapons are made in a US plant. All beretta pistols come from beretta. Ruger just got a contract for 5,000 pistols (different type) and they're making all the pistols.

The XM8 doesn't seem to have as bright a future as many people wish to paint.