Posted on 08/09/2004 9:25:13 PM PDT by Stoat
Edited on 08/09/2004 9:30:46 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
NEW YORK — U.S. soldiers have been waiting for a long time for weapons to replace current ones that rely on Vietnam-era technology. And the new weapons are right around the corner.
I think for the most part the XM-8 in unneccessary. But I believe it'll work well and it'll lack the change-over problems the M-16 had. The XM-8 seems like it'll run better out of the box than the M-16 did at least.
It's still a neat weapon.
X-Mmmmmm...looks good!
Great Post! I've often wondered about the next-gen infantry gear. Thanks.
Funny you right X-Mmmmmm. I read the headline as "X-M 8 is Gum of the future." Made me think of Calvin [of Calvin and Hobbes] and his "Chewing" Magazine.
Please everybody be sure to look at the video that's at the Fox site...it's truly "Mahvellous", showing heavy machine gun versions of this weapons system.
Kudos to the Fox reporter who does his report from the range and is shown shooting the shoulder rifle version. Wooo Hooo! We wouldn't likely see Lesley Stahl or Connie Chung doing that now would we? :-)
Although this weapon gets my blood pressure up, I fear that the current "assault weapons" ban, if extended, will prevent any private citizens from getting one.
Here's another tangible reason for doing whatever you can to insure it's defeat when it expires.
I heard the M-16s won't be demilitarized for public consumption. They'll just toss them or sell them to other nations.
What cartridge is it going to fire. From the video it appears to be one that is more "robust" than the 5.56. It has more apparent recoil in the video than the 5.56.
Probably not much of a point. The first M-16's that will be replaced most likely will be the most worn out and not worth anything. Newer M-16/M-4's will probably end up with the national guard and non front line parts of the military for years to come.
>>>>I fear that the current "assault weapons" ban, if extended, will prevent any private citizens from getting one. Here's another tangible reason for doing whatever you can to insure it's defeat when it expires.
At most the assault weapons ban will stop you from getting a semiauto version. Whether its renewed or not you can't get the xm-8 any more than you can get the military's M-16.
All we can hope for are the scraps, but of course the scraps are better than starving.
patent
?? I thought the M4 or something was their new gun?
HK's answer to the M16. Explains why they built that humongous plant in Smyrna, GA.
That looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Originally, it was chambered for the 5.56. I know they were considering refitting it for a new cartridge, the 6.8 mm.
Don't know if they ever followed through with it though.
The military is currently toying with switching to 6.8mm. It's already in use by some SF units.
The M-4 is still built on the M-16 platform. Also the XM-8 is as mentioned made by a different company.
"What cartridge is it going to fire. From the video it appears to be one that is more "robust" than the 5.56. It has more apparent recoil in the video than the 5.56"
I'm not an expert on this weapon, but I believe that it's an HK product. Their site is currently under construction (both the US and German sites) and so I can't answer in a definitive way.
However, this Chinese site shows the XM-8 as being 5.56x45 mm. The added recoil that you noticed could have been a result of the 20% weight reduction of this weapon over the M 16 that's mentioned in the Fox story. A lighter weapon is going to transfer more recoil to the shooter than a heavier one.
http://dboy.cpgl.net/USA/xm8/xm8.htm
This is an HK weapon? Nothing on it looks like it's interchangeable with anything but brand spanking new HK parts. No light rail, new, different magazines, no way to mount anything but that fancy new HK dot scope. Looks like HK has gotten themselves a smashing new government contract to design stuff so that no one else can contribute any add-ons.
Doesn't look like there's a rate selector switch on this one, but surely it's standard on the real deal.
All that's going to make the first civilian versions very expensive. That sucks.
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