[archy]

That 6.8mm at post 469.

I don't understand the big deal about coming up with one rifle design for all units and all purposes. H&K retooled just to make a few thousand 10mm subguns for the FBI. Let the USMC, for example, pick their own rifle. Let several rifle designs compete in the field, adn see which works best.

It looks like that's essentially what's going to happen. And there's a variation on the Robinson Arms M96 under evaluation too.

But the XM-8 looks to have been well-thought-out as a complete system, per following. And I don't see that big a difference between a 6.8x43mm and the 7mmx44mm EM-2 cartridge of the Enfield EM-2 of circa 1950. We could have had all these *modern* advantages half a century ago.

[Travis McGee]

We could have had all these *modern* advantages half a century ago.

Seems like we keep reinventing the wheel. But the materials have come a long way.

[Long Cut]

I'll take the third from the top! For a person to use as a range-shooter, camp gun, home defense, and general plinking, a longer barrel seems better. For a semiauto-only rifle, a short tube would be as much of a hinderance as a help.