This is the only entry in the Army's competition to use a bullpup configuration and it has other unique features, such as a recoiling barrel assembly.
By Joseph Trevithick October 17, 2019
Posted on 10/23/2019 3:03:45 PM PDT by jazusamo
Brig. Gen. Dave Hodne: 'Those impossibilities are on the floor here today'
U.S. Army leaders are one step closer to deciding on a supplier for its Next Generation Squad Weapon system after a who’s who in weapons makers unveiled their progress.
The 2019 Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting impressed officials with prototype 6.8mm rifles and automatic rifles by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems inc., Textron Systems, and Sig Sauer Inc.
Each company is vying for the opportunity to replace the 5.56mm M4A1 carbine and the M249 squad automatic weapon used in combat units.
Military leaders essentially want a weapon that boasts the firepower — and range — of a machine gun with the precision of a rifle.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Sounds like a good compromise. 5.56 has proven inadequate, and the 7.62 NATO round is almost uncontrollable in a light enough rifle.
I’ve had a wildcat caliber 260 AAR (6.5mm w/necked down 7mm case w/40 degree shoulder) for over 50 years.
It’s deadly accurate with 100gr bullets and not shabby with 120gr.
I’d think so, along with other commercial rifles.
With the right bullets and a long enough barrel, the 5.56 is excellent at penetration.
It’s less the weight and more the design of the system.
Yes, but the heavier bullets have other problems too, and the really long barrel they need doesn’t work with modern airmobile battle. And the 5.56 is too small to be really effective with new projectile types, like the Raufoss rounds.
Must be that new fully semiautomatic silenced ghost ammunition.
Can I test this for Elk season?
The U.S. tax payer can’t afford Sig. Lol
Fact is later/latest 556 rounds like the Mk318, the Mk 262, the M855A1 and a few others are vast improvements over the SS109 bullet/M855 round.
The biggest problem I see with all this 6.8 interest is that the platform ( the AR15 base) is not really adequate to eat a biger round that actually produces significant increases in both trajectory and terminal energy.
As it stand, the 6.8 from a 14.5 or even 20 inch barrel does not show any improvement in flatness of trajectory, equating to less hit probability with improving the marksman generally. Range is important. The current 6.8 SPC (115 grn FMJ)can do better than the 556 M855A1 (65 grn hybrid ) at the muzzle, but it loses at 500m, both energy trajectory and penetration. Actually, the M855A1 beats the 762x51 M80 147 grn ball, however, that too has been upgraded ( M80EPR).
This new effort hopes to mate hybrid cased rounds ( steel base, brass or maybe even polymer body, improved design bullet like the M855A!/M80 EPR) and improved propellants.
The telescopic or caseless - no, I doubt we will be going there in this effort- since the 60s, this has been a dead end.
Currently, the 556 nato round runs at 55k psi ( EvAP or SAAMI method) 63.5k psi CIP/NATO methods ( actually, both the same, just measured at different locations/methods)), but the M855A1 is loaded to approximately 68k PSI, exceeding both test spec methods for max pressures. The short barreled M4s loose performance due to the short barrel ( 14.5inches) but certainly exceeds the M855 levels. The result of this higher pressure is increased wear of both barrel and bolt/carrier group.
Propellant technology and metallurgy has not advanced enough to realize much improvement at present. Until then, the 6.8 effort is an R&D dollar dump, as we have seen with about 6 other small arms efforts in the last 20 year.
The AR15 platform is too small to see a cartridge that improves significantly on current weapon/ammo, the AR10 too big for what is asked, maybe the “”, shooting an intermediate round (okay, if has to be 6.8/277, fine), but perhaps around a 47mm case, with a 6.8 case head ( 25 rounds in a 556 30 round mag instead of 20 round in an M110/AR10 mag) that pushed a better bullet than the 115grn 6.8 ( I like the 6.5 130 grain family at about 2900 fps from a 18 inch bbl personally).
Of course, all this would require a new platform, and that would cost billions. Whilst the AR15 base is already on hand....
We shall see.
The 5.56 round is totally effective. No changes will be adopted. In the end Stoner will win again.
Interesting, Thanks.
I don’t like bullpups. They don’t have a shoulder thing that goes up.
Just replace the barrel, bolt, and magazine and your ready to go.
Bullpup reloads suck. That’s how that retard with the Tavor got smoked the cops in Louisiana. He got off 30 rounds then dicked around for 2 minutes trying to reload and got burned down.
“556 sucks against modern armor”
Well, that’s a given, seeing that level 3 defeats everything up to the and including the 762x51 M80 ball, and level four stops 762x63 ( 30/06) AP.
So, basically unless you want to go to a greater than 30/06 round for general use, NOTHING small arms wise defeats modern Level 3 or 4 hard armor. Been that way since around 1928.
On the other hand, a man wearing a modern body armor ensemble (L3A soft supplemented with L3 or 4 plates, whether steel or ceramic/HDPE) is a formidable opponent. Thankfully, we do not encounter such kitted threats; however, in the event of a modern opponent, indeed, men will still be wounded and killed by small arms, but precision will replace suppressive fires.
The 6.5x50 is about what I like. It just needs to be in a smaller bodied case, with modern design to not require complex feed systems/magazines ( less body taper) but capable of pushing that 6.5 120-130 grain hybrid bullet great soft tissue and better armor/material penetration than a simple ball round to around 2900 fps from a mid sized rifle.
Stoner isn’t winning when you go subsonic and suppressed. Look at what the Marines are doing, with starting to issue suppressors on increasingly wider bases and moving to the IAR on a similar basis.
This round is not 6.8 SPC.
More like unpracticed reloads suck. There’s some very quick Tavor users in Israel and they’ve posted YouTube videos. They’re no slower than your average Army grunt at mag changes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.