jabberwalkie09 said:
attila006 said:
No, not 6.8 SPC. Its a 6.8 caliber projectile speced by the Army to go 3400 fps to pierce Level IV body armor out to 600 meters, but Textron didn't come close to that, they just took their previous Textron 6.5 LSAT and CT caribine and rechambered to use the Army's 6.8 tungsten AP bullet. So 130 grain at about 2900 fps, so far less capable than what the Army wants this to do.
This sounds a lot like .277 wolverine.
I'm not sure why we need to go to another round while we have mk262 and whatever mod we're on now and mk318 for 5.56 which from what I've read work much better than M855. Nor will they eat up rifles like the exposed penetrator for m855a1 will.
The M855A1 issue was fixed with new mags with new followers and feed lips.
MK262 was good for accuracy and effects on flesh, not good at all for barrier penetration. MK318 was good at barrier penetration and external ballistics on flesh, but didn't have very good accuracy. M855A1 is the way to go for future small arms. Lethal, accuracy. A bit hot, but the newer lots are better.
The 6.8 CT push is about General Milley's grand desire to nullify Level IV plates, worn by Russian SOF. The Army designed a few new bullets, one in 7.62 and one in 6.8, which are basically the M855A1 bullet but wider, and instead of a hardened steel penetrator it has tungsten. The problem is they don't have any firearms to shoot them in. About two years ago, Milley was about to drop a ton of money to buy a fleet of 7.62 NATO battle rifles to use the new bullet, to be issued to troops in Eastern Europe or other theaters that enemy might be wearing body armor. Previously, the 5.56 M995 AP round is only good for Lvl III out to about 100 meters max, and the 7.62 M993 is only good for a bit more. Neither work very good at all against Lvl IV at anything besides very close range. But Milley's push to get 7.62 NATO rifles failed. So getting a totally new Next Generation Squad Weapon was the next plan.
With that came the requirement that vendors submit a rifle in a cartridge they designed that had to be 6.8 caliber (to use the AP round), the cartridge had to weigh a certain amount making it either cased telescoped (CT), or a hybrid of brass/polymer. Further it had to have limited recoil, great accuracy, be lightweight, and in order to defeat Level IV plates out to 600 meters, it needed to travel at 3,300-3,400 fps. Four vendors were asked in early 2019 to submit weapons for that, which would then be tested before a winner selected.
Then last week Milley skipped all that, took the existing guns that Textron already produced in 6.5 CT that the Army had been playing with for years, that had been rechambered in 6.8, and placed an order for 100,000. Even though its generally untested, doesn't meet most of the earlier requirements (heavy carbine, low magazine capacity, ammo isn't fast enough for long range AP effects).
But Milley is about to retire in a few months and this is his Black Beret, so he wants it gift wrapped with a bow tie to the new Chief of Staff, so he rushed it all in the hopes that his successor wont tank the project. because that is what POS generals do...