re: Army Chooses Sig 6.8 mm Next Gen to replace the M4 carbine and M249 Squad Auto

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Terrible choice, shitty new round, pressure is way too high. This will be a boondoggle

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The claim by Sig is that the shell casing compensates for the extra pressure. If true, the design objectives make sense, as they want a single body armor penetrating cartridge for a combat carbine, a full Squad Auto, and a mid range sniper rifle. So the cartridge can interchange for 3 applications. Obviously, the need for a long range sniper cartridge like 50BMG still exists but this move changes the need for multiple cartridges down to 2. Also, it adds the ability of the combat carbine to be a mid range sniper rifle.

There are trade offs because the 6.8x51 will weigh more and take up more space/volume than the 6.5x45. So the soldier will not carry as many rounds as the old platform. Fewer rounds but more lethal rounds. You gotta admit, it is easy to carry a lot of 6.5x45 rounds.