#260
[NRA 2019] Super Light Suppressors, New Stiletto Pro and XVL2 From Surefire
Surefire brought two new suppressors for release at NRA 2019. Both are built entirely of Titanium. This has cut the weight nearly in half compared to the weight of their predecessors. Both suppressors were designed for use with bolt action rifles and use Surefire’s quick detach mount system. While not designed for heavy cadences of fire, the titanium cans were surprisingly light.
Army Chief of Staff Milley Says Next Rifle Will Have Much More Range, Be More Accurate Than M4 Carbine
At an AUSA breakfast conference yesterday, US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley gave us a hint at exactly what the US Army’s next rifle could look like, and the focus was on extended range capability. The rifle, Milley said, will give a 10x improvement in capability through the type of ammunition, optics, and degree of chamber pressure specific to it, with the aim of providing the soldier a weapon with much more accuracy and range than the current M4 Carbine. Milley also clarified that the term “10x” was not intended to be a precise measurement of the capability growth, but rather a term indicating significant improvement. The new rifle will come as part of an effort that also includes new artillery, tanks, aircraft, and virtual reality training facilities, Milley said.
CTTSO Releases Solicitation for .264 USA Rifles, Carbines, PDWs
The Army Marksmanship Unit’s .264 USA – a medium-sized 6.5mm round in-between the 6.5mm Grendel and 6.5mm Creedmoor in size – is not yet dead, it seems. The round, about which little had been heard in official channels for a couple of years, is the subject-in-part of a new solicitation released by the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office’s Technical Support Working Group (CTTSO TSWG). The Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) describes a need for a Lightweight Intermediate Caliber Cartridge (LICC) and an “Individual Weapon System (IWS), designed to “overmatch” targets out to 800 meters. The specifications for the new weapon are quire ambitious, with a threshold velocity requirement of 2,650 ft/s with a 108gr bullet, and an objective requirement of 2,750 ft/s with the same, both from an 11.5″ barrel!
US Army's NGSAR to Be Chambered for 6.8mm MAGNUM Round?
Is the US Army pushing for a new high-powered 6.Xmm caliber with their new NGSAR program? Recently, the listing for the NGSAR industry day in December was updated with a document describing in part the agenda of the second conference. Scheduled for 9:45 in the morning in the document is a 15 minute long presentation on “Ammunition Data – Surrogate Projectile and Specs”, presented by Todd Townsend, David Charowsky, and Mark Minisi. Minisi’s name may not be well-known, but it will be familiar to astute students of recent wound ballistics literature: It was Minisi who developed the finite element analysis-based tissue damage model, which has been refined over the past decade at ARDEC through PM Maneuver Ammunition Systems (PM-MAS). Mr. Townsend is also likely representing PM-MAS, now under the leadership of Colonel Hector Gonzalez.
7.62mm Lightweight Machine Gun Unveiled by Knight's Armament Company [AUSA 2017]
On the heels of the re-naming of their Stoner LMG as the Lightweight Assault Machine Gun (LAMG), Knight’s Armament company has introduced a scaled-up version of the same weapon in the 7.62x51mm caliber, with provision for other calibers should they be requested. The new machine gun is patterned after the Stoner LMG/LAMG, and features the same short top cover and fixed receiver rail of its smaller cousin. The other components, such as the barrel, feed tray, etc, are all scaled up to fit the larger caliber, resulting in a heavier unloaded weight of approximately 12.5lbs – still far, far lighter than an M240 or other traditional Western 7.62mm belt fed machine guns. According to KAC representatives, the new weapon does not yet have an official name, but “Medium Assault Machine Gun sounds as good as anything.”
New Super Night Owl Suppressor from Geissele at Modern Day Marine 2017
Gun accessory manufacturer Geissele has revealed its first ever production suppressor. The new can, called the “Super Night Owl”, was revealed at the Modern Day Marine 2017 industry demonstration. Soldier Systems Daily broke the story with a teaser post, and a single image:
Geissele Introduces VSASS Semiautomatic Sniper Rifle at Modern Day Marine 2017
Geissele has taken the step from manufacturing accessories, to making the guns themselves: The company released its new VSASS semiautomatic sniper rifle system at the Modern Day Marine 2017 industry demonstration. News of the new rifle was first broken by Soldier Systems Daily, via an article available at this link. The VSASS (which stands for Very-long-range Semi-Automatic Sniper System) is a Stoner-type direct gas impingement system built from the ground up by Geissele, utilizing very few off-the-shelf components. It sports a number of refinements, including an extended length barrel extension, hardened steel cam pin raceway, cobalt alloy cam pin, and other improvements to the operating group. Many internal surfaces are coated in the durable solid lubricant by Nano Composite Coatings, which appears to be owned by Bill Geissele. The VSASS uses SR-25 magazines, as well as Geissele’s SSA-E trigger. It weighs 12.3 pounds unloaded and without optic, according to the Soldier Systems article, with variants chambered for .260 Remington, 6.5 Creedmoor, and 7.62x51mm NATO.