Grendel as a Universal Infantry Cartridge

[stanc]

But the big army will never adopt anything like the SMKs, which have a plain lead core (and are far too expensive anyway). What they want is shown by the M855A1 EPR - a combination of a steel and copper core: they're working on an M80A1 along similar lines. These will be much longer than lead-cored bullets, and tracer versions will be longer still. They will also need a cannelure for belted MG use, further affecting the BC. Since a long effective range will be required to replace 7.62mm (800-1000m), this pushes the optimum calibre and case size upwards.

I agree that SMKs won't be adopted for general issue, because of the reasons you noted. However, even with the requirement for a "green" bullet in the general purpose round, for the near term at least, it seems likely they'll continue to use SMK loads for snipers.