What's become of the HK XM8?

[HoosierQ]

This was being touted a couple years ago as the US Military's next rifle...to be adopted...well...more or less by now. What has become of all that? Did FN beat them out with the SCAR and/or the 416 or whatever the piston AR thing is called?

Have you seen the movie "Four Brothers"? Looks like the bad guys have XM8 full autos.

 

[Hoppy590]

This was being touted a couple years ago as the US Military's next rifle

as the saying goes.

Only if you define "almost" as "never, ever, in a million years, no, not only no, hell no, HK can go to hell, go to hell and DIE!"

the XM8 was a POS. plastic trunnions melted, poorly designed, and only even got to be well known because of the HK fanboys and thier rainbow six games

the XM8 offered no advantages over the current M16/M4.

 

[HoosierQ]

Gee Hoppy, in future I would appreciate it if you said how you really feel...holding in like that isn't good for you.

So that was all then gun magazine crud huh? The think sure looked awkward.

 

[Gunnerpalace]

the XM8 offered no advantages over the current M16/M4.

Basically the cycle is some Senator complains and the army spends a few million research and says "the XM8 offered no advantages over the current M16/M4." and then 1 year passes and the cycle begins again.

 

[Hoppy590]

well the "Only if you define "almost" as..." bit is a reoccurring line on this forum.

the military was looking at it, and it did originate from the OICW system, so the army was looking at it. but it just wasnt up to par, and it just wasnt worth dumping the M16 over.

the OICW is that over grown rifle/grenade launcher/rangefinder/GPS/computer/ communications system... basically an Iphone that could blow **** up.

 

[Gunnerpalace]

Ah yes the OICW, I saw that in a Popular Mechanics magazine when I was a kid and my first thought was: "Wow what a stupid idea" Belongs in this case with the rest of the rejects.

 

[variablebinary]

XM8 was one big dumb idea of start to finish.

Putting the bolt hold open in the trigger guard was ignorant enough, but the fact that it didnt work with any equipment we currently have made no sense at all

No place for a VFG or ACOG? ***

 

[Gunnerpalace]

No place for a VFG or ACOG? ***

There is was not one on the M16 either. Current issue adds them after market. or troops put their own on, And If the army would have selected the XM8 they would have upper the specs just like with the M16.

 

[jerkface11]

I don't see why people can't realize that there is no current firearm that would provide a margin of improvement big enough to warrant replacing the M16 family with it.

 

[RP88]

that isn't gonna stop them from trying, though.

However all this "lol let's take M16 ergos and an AK long-stroke and bastardize them together and expect the gun to work better" is really stupid.

add a gas piston to M16, use PMags, problems solved. But, thats just too convenient for the military.

 

[sinistr]

most people do realize it,but it gives them something to endlessy talk about..45 vs.9mm,etc.nuggets of good info do pop up from time to time though.

 

[Hoppy590]

Putting the bolt hold open in the trigger guard was ignorant enough

putting the BHO in the trigger guard right next to the extended mag release.

NOT inner monkey compatable*

(inner monkey is the person we become when panicked. lack of fine motor skills, exaggerated movements, reliance on brute force and training)

 

[Jaws]

jerkface11

I don't see why people can't realize that there is no current firearm that would provide a margin of improvement big enough to warrant replacing the M16 family with it.

Well if the army wants the next gun to use M16 mags, to fire the same 5.56 round, to look exactly like the M4/M16 so they don't have to retrain the soldiers, and on, and on.....


The restrictions for the "next rifle" are made in such a way that is very hard for the new rifle to have a substantial advantage over the curent platform.

 

[Owen]

XM8 had one major issue. It was being deveoped with money from a program that had been killed by Congress.

The General in charge is super lucky he's not in prison. Instead he was fired.

 

[gvnwst]

Well, i see the other peoples awnsers, but i have my own theory.

What's become of the HK XM8?

Simply put, it melted.

 

[Gunnerpalace]

From what I see the M16 will be like the M2 and B52, around for a while, and will still be used even after it's replacement is adopted.

 

[Owen]

Simply put, it melted

It did that too. after that happened, somebody looked at the budget, and figured out they were spending money they weren't suppsoed to be spending.

 

[Gunnerpalace]

I have to multi-post but my question stands,

Has anyone seen a melted one or a picture of it?

 

[Owen]

military testing agencies don''t release technical data from tests like that. its against the law.

If you really want the info, you'd have to file a FOIA request.

 

[Pulse]

part of the XM8 program was fixing the Beta-C 100round mag drum.

from what i have heard, parts of the XM8 started to melt after 2 full Beta-C mags, that is 200 rounds in less then 30seconds.

there are not many firearms that could stand up to that kind of heatgeneration..

 

[gvnwst]

The M16 can. In the test i remember though, the gas tube got beaten so much that if failed after 286 rounds... It was suppossed to be 10 beta c mags in a row....

 

[jerkface11]

10 beta C's in a row? That's silly a whole squads worth of ammo? Get a SAW gunner.

 

[gvnwst]

It was a test, a bushmaster GP AR, a POF P-416, and a FN M16... Just to see what could be done i guess. And marketing.

 

[paintballdude902]

u gotta think of todays mentality if it aint broke dont fix it

the military caught alot of flack for adopting the 5.56 in the 60's so why screw with it unless there is something very big developed

i think we are gonna be with the m-16 in one way or the other for the next 30 years and even then it will be kept for special use like the m1 was originally (people that need a small but powerful rifle)

i think the us military would be better off replacing the uppers with a larger caliber piston upper and that would make alot of people happy and work better

but right now we honestly dont have the $$$ for that kinda stuff with the enonomy or we will drive the entire country into a depression


what we have " works" so why break it so lets just keep it and replace it when soe thing great enough comes along to rearsenal the entire military

the xm8 was great on paper but not so in real life where it had to stand up to high heat and rapid fire

as with alot of wildcat calibers whats great on paper isnt always great in real life

 

[mdao]

10 beta C's in a row? That's silly a whole squads worth of ammo? Get a SAW gunner.

The XM8 was supposed to replace the SAW too. There were four proposed variants that were supposed to serve as personal defense weapons, assault rifles, designated marksman rifles, and squad automatic weapons. Unsurprisingly, the proposed XM8 variants pretty much mirror the available variants for the G36 that the XM8 was based on.