Justinianus
Banned
From my, admittedly inexpert mind, the H&K XM-8 program looked really promising. It seems that one of the bigger reasons why it failed was due to politics. What would happen if the XM-8 was adopted by the Americans?
Yes that one, we would have had the same problems that the Germans have and found out much earlierThe XM8? A dressed up G36? The gun that the Bundeswehr is trying to run away from as fast as possible? That XM8?
Yes that one, we would have had the same problems that the Germans have and found out much earlier
If you ask the soldiers they will tell you that they have no problems with it.Yes that one, we would have had the same problems that the Germans have and found out much earlier
Broadly speaking they're not firing the rifles in enough sustained engagements to bring the issues out.If you ask the soldiers they will tell you that they have no problems with it.
Broadly speaking they're not firing the rifles in enough sustained engagements to bring the issues out.
The polymer hand guard is expanding and flexing with the heat of the barrel, and putting enough pressure on them to bring the impact point significantly off of zero to be problematic beyond 200m.
IIRC, a 3 mag dump is enough to induce the problem.
It is a legitimate problem, and one worth solving, but one with two very simple, straightforward, and relatively cheap solutions.
Were I the one making the final decision, I'd opt for a free floated barrel. Very much sustained fire and heat buildup in the reviever itself is going to become a problem (as it will in any infantry rifle), and beyond that no infantry rifle in the world is designed to provide sustained suppressive fire. So the goal is not to overcome that obstacle, but simply to eliminate the lower heat limit in the rifle barrel.
——————————————————The issue was that the US army keeps issuing requirements for new rifles and carbines then insists they have to be (pick a stupid percentage) 50%/60%/100% more reliable than the M16/M4. I really believe that until the US Army is forced to pick a round that is longer than can be accommodated in a AR mag well they will just soldier on.......
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What about .50” Beowulf?