Litehiker
Well-Known Member
Seems the military has found both their 5.56 and 7.62 cartridges are lacking in range lethality.
SO... General Dynamics has put forth their new reduced recoil medium machine gun (MMG) in - wait for it - .338 Norma mag. The norma mag seems to work better in belt fed guns than the .338 Lapua magnum. Plus now we have a huge overmatch for the Russian 7.62 x 54 MMG round that currently out distances our 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridge.
As well the Big Army is very closely looking at some type of 6.5 cartridge for their new assault rifle, well once they figure out WHAT assault rifle they want. It won't be an AR type, that much is known.
BTW, The AR type rifle has served far longer than any other US military rifle, far longer. And problems of it failing to fire from overheating in extended fire fights have actually led to US casualties in Afghanistan. Time for better. Time for piston operated assault rifles.
We may see fully polymer Cased Telescoped (CT) ammo, which has worked very well in tests. OR we may see hybrid polymer brass cases with brass at both ends and polymer in the middle. That's more likely for the .338 Norma magnum MG ammo if it gets off the ground with the Army and NATO. Lighter ammo weight and lower cost being the goals with polymer cases.
Anyway, the next 4 to 5 years will be very interesting to watch in this area.
SO... General Dynamics has put forth their new reduced recoil medium machine gun (MMG) in - wait for it - .338 Norma mag. The norma mag seems to work better in belt fed guns than the .338 Lapua magnum. Plus now we have a huge overmatch for the Russian 7.62 x 54 MMG round that currently out distances our 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridge.
As well the Big Army is very closely looking at some type of 6.5 cartridge for their new assault rifle, well once they figure out WHAT assault rifle they want. It won't be an AR type, that much is known.
BTW, The AR type rifle has served far longer than any other US military rifle, far longer. And problems of it failing to fire from overheating in extended fire fights have actually led to US casualties in Afghanistan. Time for better. Time for piston operated assault rifles.
We may see fully polymer Cased Telescoped (CT) ammo, which has worked very well in tests. OR we may see hybrid polymer brass cases with brass at both ends and polymer in the middle. That's more likely for the .338 Norma magnum MG ammo if it gets off the ground with the Army and NATO. Lighter ammo weight and lower cost being the goals with polymer cases.
Anyway, the next 4 to 5 years will be very interesting to watch in this area.