05-17-2011, 08:09 AM
stanc Wrote:Biggest obstacles I can see are:
1. Getting terminal effects test data to show that the intermediate caliber truly is good enough. It seems that nobody has both the desire and the ability to do such testing.
2. Demonstrating the improved ballistic performance of the new caliber, probably via surrogate rounds like (downloaded) .260 Rem and/or 7mm-08, fired in, for instance, modified M60 machine gun and AR-10 DM rifle.
ARDEC has recently done their study on small arms calibres which concluded that 6.5mm and 7mm are better than 5.56mm and 7.62mm (using similar bullet types) but I don't know if that involved any actual testing or was just a desk exercise.
Unfortunately, I have heard that the powers-that-be were alarmed by the enthusiastic reaction to ARDEC's findings and are now sitting very hard on the report and refusing to talk about it...that kind of attitude is, I believe, the biggest hurdle of all.