How could or should the 6.5 mm Grendel be improved?

[Tony Williams]

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article...-ammo.html

"Now Picatinny's EPR team is applying the [Enhanced Performance Round] technology to improve M80A1 7.62 mm ammunition that troops are scheduled to receive in 2014."

It looks like the standard for comparison of 6.5 Grendel will soon be 7.62 M80A1, not M80. Plan accordingly. :eek:

I doubt that this will make much difference since the new loading will almost certainly match the exterior ballistics of the M80, otherwise they'd have to change all of the MG sights. And it will weigh just as much, and recoil just as hard.

The only significant difference between M80 and M80A1 performance is likely to be in hard-target penetration (and possibly soft-target effectiveness), but that doesn't affect the ballistic comparisons since these don't take bullet construction into account.

It is bad news in one respect though - the more money the US Army pours into new loadings for 7.62mm and 5.56mm, the more resistant they're likely to be to a change in calibre.