Phaedrus/69
Member
Well, I guess I just figured the Army was kicking the tires like they always do but apparently the Sig MCX Spear in .277 Fury will be the next infantry rifle. I'm a bit flummoxed by this. Of all the entries it seemed like Sig was the least innovative but maybe that's what they want? Certainly Sig has the capacity to make enough guns, and they're big enough to have good lawyers and lobbyists. Supposedly one of the big goals was to give the infantry a rifle that performed well against body armor but I'm not sure how that will work out. Does the 140gr .277 pill out-penetrate M2 "Black Tip" out of an ought-six? Just looking at the math & states specs I don't see it defeating modern Level IV reliably much less the new NIJ-spec that's coming. Even if it does, won't new armor be designed to defeat this round within six months to a years? Color me skeptical.
On paper it's impressive and a bit scary! They're supposedly getting 3,100 fps out of a 13.5" barrel! But chamber pressure is a smokin' 80,000 cup! I think that was why they're using a three-piece casing with a stainless steel head and rim. Ultimately though there's no free lunch; how will thing not chew up barrels? It sounds like they expect barrel life to be about 1/3 that of an M4. With high-tech SS-case ammo and a rifle made by SIG I expect this to be the most expensive small arms system in military history.
And this sucker is a pig! IIRC the base carbine weight is around 8.5 lbs? Add all the crap the military typically does (eg. white/IR/DBall, RDS, switches, etc) and this thing will make the M1 Garand seem svelte!
The standard mags look to be 20 rounds with a 25 round mag being really large. For all intents and purposes this thing is a proprietary AR10, with heavy rifles, heavy mags and heavy ammo. IIRC the present load-out is 210 rounds (7 x 30/rnd mags), so will the new standard be 140 rounds of heavier ammo?
Maybe this thing will revolutionize warfare as we know it but am I the only one that feels like the US Army is trying to roll the clock back to 1950?
On paper it's impressive and a bit scary! They're supposedly getting 3,100 fps out of a 13.5" barrel! But chamber pressure is a smokin' 80,000 cup! I think that was why they're using a three-piece casing with a stainless steel head and rim. Ultimately though there's no free lunch; how will thing not chew up barrels? It sounds like they expect barrel life to be about 1/3 that of an M4. With high-tech SS-case ammo and a rifle made by SIG I expect this to be the most expensive small arms system in military history.
And this sucker is a pig! IIRC the base carbine weight is around 8.5 lbs? Add all the crap the military typically does (eg. white/IR/DBall, RDS, switches, etc) and this thing will make the M1 Garand seem svelte!
The standard mags look to be 20 rounds with a 25 round mag being really large. For all intents and purposes this thing is a proprietary AR10, with heavy rifles, heavy mags and heavy ammo. IIRC the present load-out is 210 rounds (7 x 30/rnd mags), so will the new standard be 140 rounds of heavier ammo?
Maybe this thing will revolutionize warfare as we know it but am I the only one that feels like the US Army is trying to roll the clock back to 1950?