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Military considering a 6.8 mm
Story here, albeit written by someone whose knowledge of ballistics is limited.
It'd be nice to have a military cartridge designed for military needs (say a good amount of taper, to ease extraction) rather than just upgrade a varmint hunting round, as we did the last time. Considering that this round may be around, like the 5.56, for fifty years, some serious design work ought to be done.
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“Unlike the civilian .22 round”
Really? .22lr if my civi round and 5.56 is a semi-half automatic poison assault round, huh?
"6.8 mm" is almost certainly referring to either 6.8 SPC or a cartridge starting out with that bullet diameter, which is the same as venerable 1925 .270 Winchester. Per Wikipedia, it's actually 7.0 mm, while the 7 mm Remington Magnum is actually 7.2 mm. In the AR-15 form factor, "6.8 mm" was picked as a compromise between maximum damage (goes up with diameter) and long range, where "6.5 mm" dominates (again, per Wikipedia the 6.5x55mm Swedish and other "6.5mm" rounds are actually 6.71 mm). And of course because we in the US have .270 as a well established bullet type.
As per Wikipedia: same issues that exist with the present 5.56 exist with the 6.8 SPC cartridge outside an urban environment.
also: I found it odd the article boasted long-range .270 bullet accuracy. Serious shooters know the 270 isn't noted for its fine accuracy.
The 6.8 spc just doesn't do for the longer ranges needed in a place like Afghanistan. While some bolt redesign work is needed to get it to mil spec, a 6.5 Grendel-like design (which flies nearly identically to a 7.62x51) would be a better pick ballistically.
Grendel sails better than the 7.62 NATO. Much higher BCs in the 120-130gr bullets, still supersonic out to maybe 1100m, still more than 500ft-lbs of energy out to 1300m. But USArmy seesm determined to move to non-metallic-cased ammunition in their next service rifle and squad automatic weapon, and that seems to be inconsistent with the accuracy and reliability the Army needs from them.
Also am not sure the taper of the cartridge case bears much on reliable feeding. Shoulder, maybe.
Weird. Oddball bullet diameter when 6.5mm, 7mm, and 30-cal bullets highly developed and around for decades in proven cartridges. ..No "new & improve" here, folks.