Jarheads new rifle - H&K

5.56mm

“I could kit out every grunt in the Marine Corps with the coolest sh*t head-to-toe for $100 million,” Neller said. “And I intend to do that.”

Who cares about the gun, this guy ^^^^^^^^ sounds like someone I want on my side! Cool gun by the way.

Not even a serious option to change right now for a rifleman/infantryman.

Logistics needs to supply all of them and they have to have compatibility with the NATO and allied forces.

5.56 is the universal option at this point.

For an infantryman, the number and weight of rounds is important.

100 rounds of 5.56 is about 2.7 pounds.

100 rounds of 7.62, the only other viable option, is 5.25 pounds.

So for the same amount of weight on the back, they can carry twice as many rounds of 5.56 as 7.62.

A sniper or designated marksman is a whole different issue than guys out on patrol needing to haul as much ammo as possible.

One other factor for the logistics guys, a bullet that uses half as much brass, lead, copper, and powder allows for production of twice as many rounds in a time of war when commodities and supplies may be stretched thin.

Soldiers win battles, logistics can lose a war.

Like Gen. Neller's thinking, nice rifle.

Hope Leupold will build to the level of quality they are capable of.

Plenty of souls have been snatched with 5.56

Not even a serious option to change right now for a rifleman/infantryman.

Logistics needs to supply all of them and they have to have compatibility with the NATO and allied forces.

5.56 is the universal option at this point.

For an infantryman, the number and weight of rounds is important.

100 rounds of 5.56 is about 2.7 pounds.

100 rounds of 7.62, the only other viable option, is 5.25 pounds.

So for the same amount of weight on the back, they can carry twice as many rounds of 5.56 as 7.62.

A sniper or designated marksman is a whole different issue than guys out on patrol needing to haul as much ammo as possible.

One other factor for the logistics guys, a bullet that uses half as much brass, lead, copper, and powder allows for production of twice as many rounds in a time of war when commodities and supplies may be stretched thin.

Soldiers win battles, logistics can lose a war.

Like Gen. Neller's thinking, nice rifle.

Hope Leupold will build to the level of quality they are capable of.

5.56 would be much more effective with bullets specifically designed to create as much damage as possible, not something that is yaw dependent.

Give them 77 grain bonded tip bullet with a high BC.

Not disagreeing with you about ballistics.

But, changing ammo for all of NATO and allied armies is a monumentally huge task. It can happen, but takes a lot of political buy-in and will be led by the Army. They are working on it. Seems like the new Commander-in-Chief is pretty good at kicking bureaucratic butts to get things moving. Would not be surprising to see a change on the horizon sooner rather than later, unless the swamp creatures drag him down.

I walked almost 2000 kilometers my last deployment on combat patrols and dismounted route clearance. The last thing I cared about with all that BS gear on was how much my ammo weighed. With all the SAPI plates, smoke grenades, GPS, combat groin protector/armor, weapon, IOTV body armor, ACH, mine detector, heavy azz packs on our backs to protect against RCIEDs, the list goes on. I wouldn’t have had an issue carrying a few extra pounds of ammo in something like 6.8 SPC. Hell my SAW gunner carried 600 rounds on every patrol in his pack. I’d sacrifice the light weight of 5.56 for something that would punch a little bigger hole.

In brief, the M27 is a fine weapon that undoubtedly provides an improvement in capability versus existing USMC small arms. It is also, however, already a dated system representing a decade-old state of the art that has been surpassed by more refined commercial improvements to the AR-15 family, which includes the M4 Carbine and M16A4 Rifle. The M27 itself is also not the best host candidate for upgrade, since it is fundamentally hampered by its gas system design. Since the M27’s selection, off-the-shelf or otherwise non-developmental solutions have arisen which leverage both existing M4 and M16A4 receivers and the commercial market to provide potentially equal or greater capability at lower cost and weight. Implementing these improved solutions instead of a fleet-wide adoption of the M27 would also expand the number of avenues of procurement for the Marine Corps, speeding delivery of much needed upgraded weapons to Marines at the front. In short, an M4/M16A4 upgrade program would provide a more capable, lighter, and cheaper solution that is quicker and easier to procure, and which wouldn’t tie the Corps to any one company for its future rifle needs.

If this isn't the time to switch over to the 6.5 Grendel, when is the time?

If this isn't the time to switch over to the 6.5 Grendel, when is the time?

I've had customers that are combat veterans. Several have told me of the enemy "fanning" themselves when hit with a 5.56mm at 300+ yards. They don't go down, and stop fighting. Guess where those SOBs fight from? Go back in the annals of "American Rifleman" and look at the article "Taking back the half mile". The 5.56mm is not effective at 400+ yards. They revamped the designated marksman program and pulled M-14's out of storage. Test fired, and scoped the best ones.

Give those Marines, and soldiers 6.5 Grendels and see an improvement of the number of dead and wounded enemy.

Interesting article.

http://www.shootingtimes.com/ammo/6-5mm-grendel-the-round-the-military-ought-to-have/

I can't find what a loaded cartridge of 6.5 Grendel weighs. I'm curious.
What did you tote, ten 30 round mags of 5.56mm?

Interesting article.

http://www.shootingtimes.com/ammo/6-5mm-grendel-the-round-the-military-ought-to-have/

I can't find what a loaded cartridge of 6.5 Grendel weighs. I'm curious.
What did you tote, ten 30 round mags of 5.56mm?

I get that you're loaded down. Heck, just going out on an all day hunt, in Terrel county, I carry 10 pounds of water.

Tonight I am going to weigh a loaded 5.56mm, and a loaded 6.5 Grendel. Multiply by 300 rounds, and see what the weight increase is, in pounds.

It was 8-10 from what I remember. You still have two carry 2 mortar rounds, 40 mm grenades, and hand grenades. Weight does matter very much. Very few of us went to the mountain warfare training center to learn about shooting at different elevations, so we didn't have much success at longer ranges. In Iraq, the fighting was done in the street instead of wide open spaces. A bigger round would've mean more muzzle jump. I'd rather have quick follow up shots.

M-14's were an Army program, and even then I rarely saw them. Maybe 1 or 2 on base.

We walked up to 20 kilometers a day 1 or 2 more pounds wouldn’t have hurt a thing. We already had mine detectors, full kit, grenades, extra ammo, 3 heavy azz packs that jammed radio waves, other devices to find command wire that lead to IEDs, and the list goes on. Litterally after the first couple weeks of carrying all that crap we got use to it for the most part so 2 extra pounds wouldn’t have made a lick of difference.

I don't think you carried three packs (of all that gear) at once. A couple more pounds does add up and hurt your agility. However, the equivalent 7.62 rounds would add almost 9 lbs. That figure doesn't account for the weight of the magazines; so you can probably add another 1-2 lbs on top of that. We both hiked up mountains that were steep enough to reach out and touch the side of. I know how taxing it is, and how every ounce does matter.

I find when people talk about the latest hot rod round to replace the 5.56, they leave out the human factor. It is only an academic comparison. The 6.5 weighs a few grams more than 5.56.

M14 scout should do the trick if the 556 isnt enough round for you however an HK416 would be the best and most reliable AR rifle we could hand our boys in combat so I think it is a superior choice. Heckler&Koch make high quality products and that is a step in the right direction for sure. I heard of this several years ago I hope it hasnt taken this long to get it done.

"Kevlar underwear with inserts"...while I suppose the frank and beans would appreciate it when called for I sure don't think that sounds very comfortable at all...

5.56mm, with a 69 gr bullet = 193.7 gr

193.7 gr X 210 rounds = 40,677 gr.

40,677 gr ÷ 7000 = 5.811 pounds of ammo

6.5 Grendel with a 130 gr bullet = 275 gr.

275 gr X 210 rounds = 57,750 gr.

57,750 gr ÷ 7000 = 6.81 pounds of ammo

G.I. mag weighs 3.96 oz. or .2475 pound.

.2475 pound X 7 mags = 1.733 pounds

But you can only get 25 rounds of Grendel in it, and nobody wants to carry LESS ammo than they were. So lets go 8 mags, and 25 rounds times 8, so 1.98 pounds of mags.

25 rounds X 8 = 200 rounds

200 rounds × 227 gr = 6.49 pounds of ammo

200 rounds 6.5 Grendel and 8 mags:
8.47 pounds

210 rounds 5.56mm and 7 mags:
7.54 pounds


Sapper,
You willing to carry one more pound of loaded mags?