Army Awards SIG NGSW Contract

[Fess]

Been following this with some interest, always something new for me to learn.
But Fess in your last comment you mention same barrel lengths - barrel for barrel... which theoretically would be nice but in the field I imagine it's more about performance of weapon for weapon, right?

Yes. The post was getting confusing so I stopped adding numbers, but you are right, the Russian weapons tend to have longer barrels. For example, the PKP has a 25.9" barrel and a PKM has a 23.8" barrel. The M240b has a 24.8" barrel and the M240L has a 21.7" barrel. There are different models of the SVD, with barrels ranging from 24.4" to 21.7. The US has trended towards shorter barrels over time, with the M110 at 20". If I remember correctly, Britain and New Zealand have some 7.65x51 DMR rifles with 16" barrels.
The NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association) presentation link show a "threat range" graph. The PKP is listed at 1500m while the M240 is listed as 1100 meters. The biggest difference is with 5.56x45 weapons vs 7.62x54R ones, of course. The "threat range" of M4's is listed at 500m and the M249 at 800m whereas the SVDS is listed at 1000m and the PKP, again at 1500m.

You have been on firearms forums long enough to know that it is hard to get concrete numbers on the effective range of various weapons, and the presentation argues that the US forces are significantly outranged by weapons that it commonly faces. The TFB article claims, "not so much, if the US troops have a m240."