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News flash: Soldier of Fortune this month reports that the 6.8mm cartridge has been approved for use by Spec-Ops types, and is currently used in a rebarreled M-4 carbine mod. Reportedly, the round is VERY popular with the snakeaters, as those shot with it tend to stay that way. The article was the first of a two-part series on the round, and mentioned that the bullet itself was based on the .270 Winchester, while the case was derived from the Remington .30. no data on powder or primers, sorry, that was classified still.

The bullet is a .276. See the circa-1950 British EM-2, or the American post-WWI .276 Pedersen, from circa 1925, the same period that gave us the M1911A1 modifications to Browning's M1911 pistol and the 1927 boattailed 172-grain national match bullet loading for the .30-06 cartridge. Thank you, General Hatcher....

All in all, a positive development, as such "special-purpose" rounds have a way of becoming standard issue after a while. Must be why the XM-8, at last word, is designed to be easily convertible to this 6.8mm. We might begin this century with an all-new rifle AND cartridge in place, only a few years late.

Like the 7x57mm bolt-action Mauser we COULD have adopted folowing the Spanish-American War, so successful that it remained in Spanish service until the 1970s, and still labours on in some backwater policia and Guardia Civil weapons racks. And then we might not have bothered with the M1 Garand....

We might begin this century with an all-new rifle and the cartridge we could have adopted in 1903, or at least a shortened version thereof...or in 1930...or 1950.

The more things change...

I read once (actually, in many books and articles) that the US Army's cartridge and weapon choices this century has always been heavily influenced, perhaps too much so, by long-range competetive marksmen rather than by actual grunts. Considering the .30-06/.308 dynasty, this seems plausible enough.

I've always agreed with you that we should have commenced development of an intermediate-sized cartridge and rifle following WWII (perhaps even preceeding it). I recall reading that an Army colonel, Renee R. Studler (what a name!) was the man who stood directly in the path of such efforts, to the point of forcing NATO to accept the .308 cartridge AND the Army to reneg on its promise to adopt the FN-FAL rifle. You probably know more than I about that story.

From what little I can glean at this time, it seems that the 6.8mm was designed by the grunts who'll actually USE it, and not in some lab or by some advanced hobbyist on a controlled, clean, and safe range. Better late, then, than never.

Wasn't it Churchill who once said words to the effect that, "Sooner or later, the Americans do the right thing.".

Well, we can hope that those who still believe that an infantryman should be able to engage targets at 500-1000 yards with his rifle (artillery and air support do that, along with the .50s) will not be given as much influence as they have in the past.

I like accurate rifles; I just think that having one capable of 1000 yard accuracy is a little much for the average troop. Not every driver needs a 'Vette, either.