New gun for the army

[lasersailor184]

  The Xm8 is a g36.  The plastic shell is just modified a little.

[Saurdaukar]

Will it be capable of accepting M16 magazines?

[GRUNHERZ]

Is that guy in the videos firing blanks when he is shooting one handed on full auto or is the recoil and muzzle cxlimb really that low on this weapon or is he one really bad mofo?

[flakbait]

Yeah, it'll take current M-16 mags. H&K was working on the OICW with a modified G-36 in 5.56 under a 20mm gun, but the Pentagon decided against them as primary manufacturer. Since they already have the G-36 mag adaptor designed, it would be a snap to add it to this rifle. Hopefully the US will finally get a rifle that's designed with modern equipment pre-installed. That M4 with an optical sight costs nearly double what a stock, export-model, G-36 runs.

Even if it stays 5.56 caliber it'll still be a better rifle than the M4. Though I must admit, I prefer a heavier round if I'll be shooting at people. The 5.56 is fine as a poodle-shooter, but as a people-shooter it stinks.

Hey mauser? Got any more info on the 6.8x43 round?



-----------------------
Flakbait [Delta6]
Delta Six's Flight School
Put the P-61B in Aces High

[mauser]

Hi flakbait

There is a lot of info here:

http://64.177.53.248/ubb/Forum78/HTML/000512.html

and here:

http://64.177.53.248/ubb/Forum78/HTML/000619.html

Dr.  Roberts is a wound ballistician and is involved in the development of the 6.8x43 mm round.  In a nutshell it is meant to increase the lethality of shorter barrelled weapons which are hamstrung by the 5.56mm rounds velocity dependency.  More lethal (better terminal ballistics) than 5.56, but lighter and less recoil than 7.62.  As you can see on the first page, uppers have been developed for the M-4/M16 to make it a fairly easy switch.  They were supposed to be able to use standard 5.56mm mags for the new round with a new follower, but someone from another board tested it out and the new rounds had problems fitting, thus I think one of the manufacturers involved will be offering new mag bodies.  

If you want more links, I can point you to other boards, but I think the info on Tactical Forums is the best you can get publicly.  They have a very high signal to noise ratio.

As for XM-8, here is another thread on TF which discusses it:

http://64.177.53.248/ubb/Forum66/HTML/000264.html

It gives you a good idea of the two sides for and against the XM-8.  There's the side that says it doesn't do anything significantly better than the M-4, and the side that is very gee whiz about it.  

mauser

P.S.  About the cost of the XM-8, I think MiniD is right... something was fishy about the costs on that graphic, but I forgot where I read about it.

[lasersailor184]

During ww2, there were a bunch of countries expirementing with a 6.5mm caliber round.



For some wierd reason, they all got whooped.  Bad.


Coincidence?  I think not.

[mauser]

Forgot about this great article, by the well known Mr. Tony Williams:

http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/Assault.htm

Touches on history of service cartridges and also current developments including the XM-8 and 6.8mm rounds mentioned here.  

mauser

[Gman]

Do some research on the 6.8 Uppers most of the Specops community are using in Iraq/Afghanistan right now.  This round combined with the new BMT (blended metal) ammunition MAY end up postphoning the HK rifle, as the current 5.56 magazines can be easily modified for 6.8, and all the modular crap all the shooters are hanging on their weapons will still work.

November 17, 2003: For the last two years, Special Forces troops have been testing a 6.8mm M-16 and M-4 weapons. The purpose of this is to provide an assault rifle round that has better accuracy and penetration at longer ranges, and does more damage to people and material (like walls or doors) at short ranges. The 6.8mm round (6.8x43mm long) was selected because it allows an M-16 to be adapted to the new cartridge with minimal effort (new barrel and a few adjustments.) Existing 6.8mm cartridges are longer than the M-16 round (5.56x45), thus the special 43mm long 6.8mm (.27 caliber) cartridge being used in the tests. But the 6.8mm round is fatter than the 5.56 round, so the 30 round M-16 magazine only holds 25 6.8mm rounds. There is also talk that the 6.8 round has enough heft to work as a "whisper round" (a low velocity, slower than the speed of sound bullet that can be fired from a silenced rifle and makes very little noise.) Special Forces like this sort of thing, as it makes it easier to achieve surprise and not be detected. Note that, 70 years ago, when the U.S. Army was developing a new rifle (the semiautomatic M-1 Garand), the designer suggested using a 7mm round. He was overruled by generals who believed (wrongly, as it turned out) that a lighter round would not be successful on the battlefield. One rifle that lost out to the M-1 design proposed using a 5.56x45 round. So there is a sense of déjà vu to all this.

Behold, the first public information on the 6.8 Remington Special Purpose Cartridge. Remington and the Special Forces community have been working on this one for a while, and Barrett (manufacturer of the stupendous M82A1 .50 caliber sniper rifle) was the first out of the gate with a replacement upper for the new cartridge.

[Mini D]

Barrett's web site sucks.

MiniD

[GRUNHERZ]

I bet it was made by mr balck as a sniper web expuuuurriment..

http://www.barrettrifles.com/

[Mini D]

Yikes... $2400 for that upper receiver.

MiniD

[_Schadenfreude_]

Can you imagine cleaning that thing...

[Otto]

I saw a Rifle.   Where's the new gun?  The Pentagon canceled the 'Crusader'