Flash in the Pan?
The USMC has now doubled-down on its choice of the H&K 416 rifle (M27) in conventional 5.56×45 caliber over the Army’s new SIG rifle, optics, and caliber, the M7 (now the M8) in the new high-pressure 6.8×51 caliber (277 Fury). The Marines have re-ordered additional copies of the tralatitious M27, rather than switching-over (neither gradually nor suddenly) to the M8.
The M7/M8 rifle, as well as the 6.8×51 cartridge, apparently have few friends (and getting fewer), and ever fewer enthusiasts. None of our NATO Allies, nor any other national armed force, has expressed the slightest interest!
Of course, many careers are dependent on the success of SIG’s new rifle and cartridge, but “enthusiastic acceptance” obviously continues to elude it, and may forever!
An inbound epochal shooting-war may be necessary to settle this issue and the future of SIG’s rifle. Shooting-wars are not good environments for such evaluations, but they represent the only legitimate one!
We probably won’t have long to wait!
/John
