PDWs...and other small arms.

[stanc]

I can imagine that this 6 X 49 Russkie cartridge could go through our ceramic body armor.

And what you have continually demonstrated the entire time on this forum is that every practical combination of bullet and cartridge probably has already been developed and tested. The ones that worked the best were the ones that became issued. Most likely that Russian 6 mm went through about everything but went through barrels faster so it wasn't put into production.

That does seem likely. Although there are other issues which could be contributing factors:

- Development began in the late 1980s, just before the Soviet Union collapsed. The resulting budget cutbacks could have caused the program to be dropped, just as the Germans cancelled adoption of the G11 caseless ammo rifle.

- In that time period, the standard body armor for US troops was the PASGT Kevlar vest, which is easily penetrated by ordinary ball ammo, especially the steel-core stuff the Russkis use.

But, if barrel wear is the determining factor, isn't that what quick-change barrels are for?

Design the new rifle like the Steyr AUG, and issue a spare barrel with every rifle. Problem solved.

[video=youtube;A3Gzn7XxBaQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Gzn7XxBaQ[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Gzn7XxBaQ

Thats why I get a kick out of guys who come on screaming about how much better a 6.5 Grendel is than X, Y or Z cartridge or combination of bullet and cartridge. I am sure a Grendel could be selected to replace the issued 5.56, providing the Grendel met what ever requirements were developed by DoD and did so by a great enough margin to warrant the billions it would cost. Same with that Russian 6 X 49. Or anything else for that matter.

Yup.