It's interesting that the "special" DoD group fast-tracked a caliber change to fit within the size envelope of the AR15, whereas Big Army is trying to supersize their small arms upgrade plan with NGSW, 338 Norma machine guns, etc. Seeing as how the new SIG NGSW high-pressure round is named 6.8x51, the weight savings come almost entirely from the bimetal case vs using a smaller round than 7.62NATO.
Barrett makes 30 round steel 6.8SPC mags, so I wonder if DoD tested these and found them unreliable or whatever -- using 6.8SPC mags for 6.5 Grendel can be hit-or-miss for sure. Also interesting that Barrett is providing REC7 DI rifles with 18" Proof CF barrels -- so trying to save weight while at the same time giving more barrel to the round for acceptable threshold MV (probably for barrier defeat).
Lots of interesting info coming out about the DoD use of this round.
Barrett makes 30 round steel 6.8SPC mags, so I wonder if DoD tested these and found them unreliable or whatever -- using 6.8SPC mags for 6.5 Grendel can be hit-or-miss for sure. Also interesting that Barrett is providing REC7 DI rifles with 18" Proof CF barrels -- so trying to save weight while at the same time giving more barrel to the round for acceptable threshold MV (probably for barrier defeat).
Lots of interesting info coming out about the DoD use of this round.