Russia’s 5.45x39mm round doesn’t have an advantage over the 5.56. They adopted a bullpup rifle design that looked very sci-fi, but they’ve more recently started moving to something more conventional, the QBZ-191. They moved from 7.62x39mm to their own proprietary 5.8x42mm round, which has a numbers edge over 5.56. Russia hasn’t made any significant changes to their rifle systems since 1974, but China is a different story. What Are Near-Peer Forces Using? Will The New Round Have An Advantage? With big adversaries and small insurgent forces both outperforming it, the M4 was definitely overdue for replacement. To wring more performance out of it would require changes to the laws of physics, and as we know those laws aren’t easily amended. Improved rounds helped make the M4 and other 5.56x45mm weapons more capable, but the military found they had bascially reached the physical limitations of the platform. Still, while they’ve shown how poorly trained and equipped they are, they may yet learn lessons, improve, and become a significant threat again in coming years.Įven against poor insurgents, though, the M4 rifle was starting to show its limitations. We’re talking about China.īefore their poor performance was exposed for all the world to see in Ukraine, we would have been talking more seriously about Russia in the same way. In other words, we’re not talking about fighting insurgents and goat herders. For those unfamiliar with the term, a “near peer” adversary is a country with a large industrial base and military capabilities close(ish) to that of the United States. Burris, the Army’s Soldier Lethality Cross-Team Director, said their goal was to achieve a “clear, decisive, and sustainable overmatch against our near-peer adversaries.” He said that’s “more urgent and relevant today than at any time in recent history.”
5.8X42MM VS 5.56X45 UPGRADE
But, why is the military going for such a big upgrade now?ĭuring the press briefing, Brigadier General Larry Q. The Vortex product can send and receive data both with a soldier’s augmented reality (IVAS) system and with other soldiers’s gear and even military aircraft. On top of that, there’s the new XM157 self-adjusting optic the Army chose to go with the XM5 rifles. 308 Winchester rounds, allowing soldiers to carry more of it than they could if they were using a traditional magnum rifle. Hunters and long-range aficionados using magnum ammo won’t find that velocity number inconceivable, but it’s a lot more impressive when you consider that it’s coming from a 16-inch barrel and the cartridges fit into a standard AR-10 magazine. The round’s 80,000 psi pressure can push a 135-grain bullet to velocities of 3,000 feet per second. The XM5 (a variant of the SIG MCX) and the XM250 machine gun run the recently-developed 277 SIG FURY hybrid steel/brass cartridge. HPs are nice, but I'd take a CZ-75 or CZ-S101 (or whatever it's called) over a Hi-Power any day.Įdit: Oh, and what do you mean by 40mm length restriction? Maybe I'm misinterpreting, but the 5.56 is 45mm long and the 6.8 is 43mm long, if I recall correctly.In yesterday’s press conference announcing SIG SAUER’s victory in the Next Generation Squad Weapon competition, Army officials said America’s likely future adversaries were a key factor in the final choice. Not the least of which is, from what I hear, Bill Alexander being a dick when it comes to other people chambering "his" caliber.Īnyway, back on topic. Of course, there's a relatively small difference in lethality, which is where the other factors come into play. And there's more to determining lethality than just bullet weight and velocity, otherwise we'd all be using FMJ. Everything's a compromise with guns, after all. I'm not saying the 6.5 isn't a good round, but for most civilian use, the 6.8 fits the niche a little better. Namely, a round that's near-identical to the 5.56 as far as length goes (lessens the amount of shit you have to replace), good terminal ballistics up to 300-500 yards, hi-capacity (negligible difference here), blah blah blah. The 6.8 was developed by people who tried all sorts of different calibers for their "need," including the 6.5 Grendel, and didn't find what they wanted in any of them. If you're looking for a bullet that's still almost as good at 700 yards as it is at 350 or 400, then the Grendel's what you want.
Terminal ballistics are a different matter.Īs for the 6.5 > 6.8 bullshit. Meaning if you're just killing paper, the 5.56 works almost exactly the same as a 6.8. From what I understand, the 6.8 and 5.56 have trajectories similar enough that any minute differences can be all but entirely dismissed.
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