US Army says goodbye to the M4 / SAW, hello SIG Next Gen. weapons

[blue2golf]

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army announced the award of a 10-year firm-fixed-price follow-on production contract to Sig Sauer, Inc for the manufacture and delivery of two Next Generation Squad Weapon variations (the XM5 Rifle and the XM250 Automatic Rifle) and the 6.8 Common Cartridge Family of Ammunition.

This award was made following a rigorous 27-month prototyping and evaluation effort that included numerous technical tests and Soldier touch points of three competing prototype systems....


army link

 

[blue2golf]

The Firearm Blog weighs in:

We, here at TFB, have been closely following the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program since it began back in 2018. Today, it has been announced that SIG Sauer have won the contract to provide both the NGSW-Rifle and NGSW-Automatic Rifle....

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2022/04/19/sig-sauer-wins-ngsw/

 

[DadSmith]

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army announced the award of a 10-year firm-fixed-price follow-on production contract to Sig Sauer, Inc for the manufacture and delivery of two Next Generation Squad Weapon variations (the XM5 Rifle and the XM250 Automatic Rifle) and the 6.8 Common Cartridge Family of Ammunition.

This award was made following a rigorous 27-month prototyping and evaluation effort that included numerous technical tests and Soldier touch points of three competing prototype systems....


army link

6.8 SPC? Or a slightly different cartridge?

 

[blue2golf]

6.8 SPC? Or a slightly different cartridge?

Per TFB:

US Army’s new 6.8mm round will be based on a hybrid metallic case, not the polymer-based design developed by True Velocity.

Sounds like a round unique to Army requirements.

 

[Route 45]

Great. What am I supposed to do with all of this 5.56 squirrel ammo I have laying around?

 

[DadSmith]

Per TFB:

US Army’s new 6.8mm round will be based on a hybrid metallic case, not the polymer-based design developed by True Velocity.

Sounds like a round unique to Army requirements.

I'd love to see the specs. Says it's better than the 7.62x51mm so I'm very interested in what they came up with.

 

[blue2golf]

Great. What am I supposed to do with all of this 5.56 squirrel ammo I have laying around?

It'll be some decades before 5.56 dries up, way past my lifetime anyways (I'm 52).

That AR will still be lethal too (hell, my 1936 7.92mm Mauser still is) I won't be getting rid of any of them.

 

[KokomoDave]

Great. What am I supposed to do with all of this 5.56 squirrel ammo I have laying around?

Shoot it?

 

[223 Gunner]

I'm hoping more 5.56 gets dumped on the market, maybe then the price will come down.

 

[BigMoose]

I'd love to see the specs. Says it's better than the 7.62x51mm so I'm very interested in what they came up with.

6.8 x 51 based on the.277 FURY

So everyone with the AR15 type platform.. well your screwed. BRING ON THE AR FIRE SALES.....


Welcome back to the Battle Rifle generation.. in some ways. We are going back to the original Garand chambering. 276 Pedersen.

It should not be long before we see AR-10s in this caliber though, and it should be fairly trivial to convert anything capable of using the 308 7.62 Nato cartridge. The M240 and the Minigun are already being planned to be moved over. So that they don't need to change over things like the vehicle mounted machine guns to a new gun. Got an AR-15 pattern? Welcome to a dead end.

Time will tell if the USMC will follow suit...

 

[BigMoose]

Well at least if the firearm can handle the high pressures of the cartridge. 80,000psi

AR10 owners should be able to get by with a new upper and buffer I suspect.
Bolt guns will likely be golden if someone wants one in this caliber.

Anything, we will see. The M240 and Minigun will be transitioned over to the new cartridge. A lot of the pressure is taken up by the stainless steel base.. so manufactures of various 308win/7.62nato firearms will need to look at their firearm in a case by case basis to see if it will handle the new cartridge.

 

[DadSmith]

I read that it shoots a 135gr bullet at 3,000fps.
Couldn't a 6.5 Creedmoor handle that with a much more accurate platform?
Or is that velocity from a 16" barrel?

 

[BigMoose]

I read that it shoots a 135gr bullet at 3,000fps.
Couldn't a 6.5 Creedmoor handle that with a much more accurate platform?
Or is that velocity from a 16" barrel?

The issue is brass, The material has a hard limit. 65,000psi, any more then that and it does bad stuff like start to flow in the chamber.

This is why the 6.8x51/277 Fury needs that stainless steel base to deal with the 80,000 psi..

It outdoes the creedmoor, because Sig fundamentaly changed the basic rules they have to play by.

 

[Creedmoor]

6.8 x 51 based on the.277 FURY

So everyone with the AR15 type platform.. well your screwed. BRING ON THE AR FIRE SALES.....


Welcome back to the Battle Rifle generation.. in some ways. We are going back to the original Garand chambering. 276 Pedersen.

It should not be long before we see AR-10s in this caliber though, and it should be fairly trivial to convert anything capable of using the 308 7.62 Nato cartridge. The M240 and the Minigun are already being planned to be moved over. So that they don't need to change over things like the vehicle mounted machine guns to a new gun. Got an AR-15 pattern? Welcome to a dead end.

Time will tell if the USMC will follow suit...

Marine Corps dumped the saw a few years back, except some in spec ops.
The 240 and the die
They are slowing shifting over to the HK 27. They dont have the budget the other branches have.

 

[rosejm]

I, for one, am ready for our new surplus firearms influx.

How long until I can buy a M249 from the CMP?

 

[BigMoose]

I, for one, am ready for our new surplus firearms influx.

How long until I can buy a M249 from the CMP?

Ironic you said that. The CMP once sold some surplus 5.56 belts in the SAW plastic drums.

But I wouldn't expect parts kits. lol, we can wish.

Think about all those AR parts...

 

[indyblue]

Great. What am I supposed to do with all of this 5.56 squirrel ammo I have laying around?

Donate it to me of course.

Pretty sexy though and I'll bet a joy to shoot.
I'm for anything that gives our soldiers an edge

 

[BigMoose]

Donate it to me of course.

Pretty sexy though and I'll bet a joy to shoot.
I'm for anything that gives our soldiers an edge
View attachment 196032

That is now the M250 machine gun, the rifle is called the M5 rifle.

 

[BigMoose]

Also, anyone in the classified selling ARs, you must discount them 40% account them now being an obsolete weapons system

 

[Lee11b]

I was a SAW gunner for 2 years, before I got promoted. Belt fed 5.56mm was easy to control and could literally mow the lawn.....wonder if they'll give me one as a memento???....... heck I'll even pay the shipping if they throw in a couple 100,000 rounds of "worthless" surplus ammo.....on second thought.....they could give me a rack of 6.....so I'd have spare parts.....and maybe a box or two of barrels......SAWs are great at heating up barrels......was capable of almost 1600 rounds per minute, but the barrels couldn't take it.....to be young again......