WI: The XM-8 was Adopted By the US Military?

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?

 
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.

At this point the AR is a fully mature platform that does what it needs to do in a pretty reliable and usable package, until something changes which means that is no longer the case then we are likely to see then use M16/M4 rifles until the second half of the century.
 

Deleted member 1487

The HK416 adopted by the Marines as the M27 is effectively the same internal system without the 'sexy' outer form. So you'd have something like that years earlier, but functionally really not much different than the M4 Carbine, just a bit longer and more reliable than it was starting out.
 
I can only say this: YES. ALL MY YES.

I've always loved this gun, ever since I first found out about it years and years ago. It's such a shame it never got its day in the sun.
 
There are no real significant changes to any US military history after its development, because it’s not a significant enough improvement over the M4 to greatly effect US combat operations.
 
The XM8? A dressed up G36? The gun that the Bundeswehr is trying to run away from as fast as possible? That XM8?
 
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Gotta say, that integrated IR laser in the RCO is cool; no need for a separate PEQ box.
 
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FBKampfer

Banned
Yes that one, we would have had the same problems that the Germans have and found out much earlier

We had much of the same problem with the M4 and solved it with a heavy barrel.

Other options include a free floated barrel.

The problem with the G36 is being blown drastically out of proportion to the cost of fixing it and I can't for the life of me figure out why.


This problem has happened to just about every 1st or 2nd gen 5.56mm rifle near enough.
 

FBKampfer

Banned
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.
 
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.

No that's not what's happening. The issue is that the barrel's trunnion is polymer. There is no metallic connection between the barrel and the optic (bad!). As the polymer soaks up heat, such as when it's in the sun for a long time, the barrel's position in the trunnion changes and the POI shifts. Oh, also, they melt with hard enough use:

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Just a little bit of distortion there!
 
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?
 
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