6.5 x 40 New AR varient

[stanc]

Uhhhh.....Don't you usually design the LMG first, then design the links that will work with whatever cartridge you decide you want to run in the gun? As I recall, past MG's have used some standard cartridge, then changed to whatever the cartridge was that the end user wanted. (I'll grant that sometimes the end user cartridge was predetermined, but regardless, the gun came first, then the link.)

I dunno, Bill. I've never designed a machine gun.

However, I would think that if a new machine gun was being designed from scratch, link development would be done at least in parallel, what with it being absolutely critical to gun operation.

As to a hypothetical 6.5 Grendel LMG, I'm inclined to think that development of a completely new weapon is unlikely. Since the cartridge was designed as an alternative to 5.56mm, I'd expect manufacturers like FN and HK to simply Grendelize their existing M249/Mk46 and MG4 machine guns. In which case, link development would still be of utmost importance.