Oh mama… this would be fun. Totally out classes anything our enemies have available if they can make it happen.
The polymer case requirement is interesting. That could really drive the technology forward.
As far as the USMC pursuing a new, innovative weapons system…well I’m frankly in shock. I got out 3 years ago and never even got issued an M4.
Really interesting idea, but it almost feels like too little too late. I mean unless we plan on staying in Afghanistan… indefinitely?
PKM and dishka are a really problem though.
How many rounds until the barrel is shot out at its stated 1900m MER?
I guess if you have a donkey youd rather carry it around than a mk 13.
I totally screwed up by not getting a job in the military industrial complex , after my military service.
If your not actually fighting a war it sure is a money maker for all involved, never out of work, always
hawking another system that a 50 year old Soviet system can easily shame.
Polymer cased ammunition is useless. They’ve tested it many times and every time they get the same results. It doesn’t work.
The weight savings are great. Picking up a 200 round box of 7.62 poly vs. 7.62 brass, there’s a definite difference. But if you can’t make it work, the weight savings is pointless.
With the current tech we have polymer cased ammo for rifles and even to an extent pistols isn’t what I would term viable. Would I say that it shouldn’t be continued to be evolved? No. I think it may have merit, but someone needs to come up with a means to make it work as good or better than brass or steel cased ammo in all conditions. Until then, I just see it as a novelty more than a solution. And yes, I am aware of companies marking the stuff, I am also aware of more than a few times with polymer cased ammo having more than its fair share of issues, and definitely disadvantages.
All of that said. And hear me out here. This is looking at current rounds where we are attempting to replace a brass or steel casing with polymer. I think that is a means to failure with current polymer tech, or if not, probably cost prohibitive without some sort of advancements. What I would think could be viable, and this could be the case with the .338NM since I am not familiar with the round exactly and thought it was initially .338LM, would again possibly be viable would be a round designed from the ground up to use a polymer casing. The down side obviously is it is now a new round in inventory, which they are considering doing, and it being designed from the ground up as a polymer cased round I am not sure how much lighter it would be if it was designed to solve current issues with polymer ammo, like bursting cases, or other issues, like I don’t know becoming brittle over time(new polymers possibly solving this), possibly melting to a hot chamber depending on polymer used, and who knows what else. The new round would also have to show that it was a definite improvement over current ammo as well. Possible dead end in ammo development, but we won’t know until we try I suppose.
.338NM is .338 Norma Magnum…