FN America Delivers Guns Chambered In 6.5mm LICC For U.S. Military Testing

[AZ_HighCountry]

Since this is closely related, next couple posts will be in this thread. First up, yo can only shake your head:

Sig Sauer's M7 Rifle For The Army Is Now Lighter After Controversy

Excessive weight was among the lengthy criticisms of the M7 that an Army captain put forward earlier this year, prompting controversy.

www.twz.com

First, am not understanding why this wasn't considered during the early trials? Ounces add up. Patting themselves on the back now is bizarre.

It's still bulky as hell.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Meanwhile, over in the SOCOM world:

New Rifles Chambered In 6.5mm Creedmoor Heading To U.S. Special Operations Armories

The new Mid-Range Gas Gun-Assault will give U.S. special operators a rifle option for greater reach, accuracy, and ballistic performance.

www.twz.com

Geissele has a similar rifle already in use. The difference being the Geissele variant features a 20" barrel vs. 14.5" on the LMT model.

I would be interested to know how the 6.5 performs from a 14.5" barrel. I'd like to build an upper with that barrel size. However, my usual sources only offer a 16" as the shortest option. Knowing that the round, when Emary and DeMille designed it, was optimized for a 22" barrel, cutting 7.5" off is quite an impact on velocity.

Still, the 6.5 is an outstanding choice overall.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Updating the thread with the following article read on TWZ last night:

Inside SOCOM's Search For New Machine Guns, Rifles And Ammo

Lt. Col. Alan Wood, SOCOM's Program Manager for Lethality, offers some exclusive insights into the future of SOCOM small arms.

www.twz.com

One thing for certain; it does not appear the 5.56mm round or platform will be going away anytime soon.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Interestingly, I was part of a conversation yesterday regarding the new hyper-velocity round for the .223. Indications are it will be a composite case similar to what is being used for the military version of the 6.8 round. This round will not be available commercially.

 

[Waz]

Ah the FN, a mighty name indeed. Love the FNAR, this must be good.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Ah the FN, a mighty name indeed. Love the FNAR, this must be good.

View attachment 198677

I can't. I just can't.

Then again, there are others who likely did.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Bump time:

Multi-Caliber MK24 to Replace SCAR-H For SOCOM​

An Official Journal Of The NRA | Multi-Caliber MK24 to Replace SCAR-H For SOCOM

U.S. Special Forces will soon be replacing their 7.62-NATO-chambered SCAR-Hs with a new, barrel-swapping MK24 Mid-Range Gas Gun-Assault (MRGGA) gun capable of running either 7.62 NATO or 6.5 Creedmoor.

www.americanrifleman.org

When I'm at Camp Perry, will see if I can talk with some of the AMU guys about this. Given it is for SOCOM, they may not be able to say a lot. The question I have is what will the teams be giving up in terms of performance over distance by going with a 14.5" barrel. Will they run this primarily suppressed?