I was just wondering if there is a some what equivalent round already out there but we paid for the development of a (small arm) round that isn't available to us. It was a thought rattling in my head. I'm not trying to pick an argument or trolling (or whatever it's called). It's an honest question that is stuck in my craw.
Equivalent rounds readily available to us of the public? 7mm Remington Magnum, 7mm Weatherby Magnum, .270 Weatherby Magnum, .270 Winchester Short Magnum, 7mm Winchester Short Magnum, 7mm Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum, 6.8 Westerner, .264 Winchester Magnum, 7mm PRC, 6.5mm PRC. OK, I stretched "readily available" on a couple of those, but the point stands that the performance of the new Army cartridge isn't anything even particularly special in the world of high-powered rifles.
I have many questions and a few concerns about the Army's hot-rod 6.8x51mm. Mostly concerning the 80,000 psi operating pressure and how well that is going to work in various extreme temperature environments. Especially with the minimal case taper, which is good for bolt thrust, and bad for feeding and extraction. It's almost as though the Army hasn't learned from the issues they've run into trying to pump up the volume of their newest environmentally friend M855A1 5.56mm round. Lots of pressure that works great for developing performance in clean, neat, controlled environments looks less great in dirty, dusty, hot, worn-out and neglected environments.
I also have concerns about how well average shooters will be able to utilize all of that performance, given that there are people who worry about the recoil of standard 5.56mm firearms. I distinctly recall watching a video of a blogger getting to try out an early .277 Fury rifle, and his reaction to the recoil was definitely a surprised "oh wow, I wasn't prepared for that!"
