halfmoonclip
Member
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2011
- Messages
- 2,887
The November 22 NRA Shooting Illustrated has an article ("Determining the Drift", p 30) about a proposed service cartridge with more range and hitting power than the 5.56, styled the 6.8x51. Its claimed to have 2,830'sec with a 150 grain bullet. That sounded familiar, and a quick check of .308 ballistics shows any number of loads in that general vicinity.
The new round achieves that speed in a 16" barrel, though requiring an eye watering 80,000 psi to get there. The .308 needs a longer barrel for its numbers.
This feels like reinventing the wheel. We fired the M14 for familiarization in the long ago days when I wore a uniform. That arm was foisted on the army by the brown boot guys, who really wanted a box magazine Garand, instead of a Sturmgewehr 44 sort of intermediate rifle/cartridge, or even a modern .30 like the FAL. The '14 weighs10lbs, and our instructors told us we weren't apt to see one with its selector switch in place.
Now we're considering a 16" carbine, weight unknown, but certainly less than an M14? That 80,000 psi should launch a bullet rather abruptly, with equal and opposite recoil. The proposed cartridge is a hybrid steel/brass casing(costing $4 @) to contain that pressure, and rapid wear of components is a concern.
The picture I'm seeing is .308 ballistics in a lightweight carbine, firing expensive, hard kicking ammunition. Select fire??? This, now to be issued to women, as well as men?
What in hell is wrong with this picture?
Moon
The new round achieves that speed in a 16" barrel, though requiring an eye watering 80,000 psi to get there. The .308 needs a longer barrel for its numbers.
This feels like reinventing the wheel. We fired the M14 for familiarization in the long ago days when I wore a uniform. That arm was foisted on the army by the brown boot guys, who really wanted a box magazine Garand, instead of a Sturmgewehr 44 sort of intermediate rifle/cartridge, or even a modern .30 like the FAL. The '14 weighs10lbs, and our instructors told us we weren't apt to see one with its selector switch in place.
Now we're considering a 16" carbine, weight unknown, but certainly less than an M14? That 80,000 psi should launch a bullet rather abruptly, with equal and opposite recoil. The proposed cartridge is a hybrid steel/brass casing(costing $4 @) to contain that pressure, and rapid wear of components is a concern.
The picture I'm seeing is .308 ballistics in a lightweight carbine, firing expensive, hard kicking ammunition. Select fire??? This, now to be issued to women, as well as men?
What in hell is wrong with this picture?
Moon