NGSW goal is not to merely hit at 600 meters, it is to hit a target with enough energy to defeat body armor at such a distance.

Replace the ridiculous 'body armor defeat @ 600 m' to 'hit an unarmored target at 600 meters with lethal force' and you get very close to GPC.

As for the second part - how often do you HAVE to engage targets at 600 meters - I honestly don't know. My guesstimate is 'not often enough'.

Maybe something like 5.8x42 would be enough?

What if you resort to higher pressures, but not NGSW high?

renatohm said:

NGSW goal is not to merely hit at 600 meters, it is to hit a target with enough energy to defeat body armor at such a distance.

The question was not about terminal effects at 600 meters. 

The question was about the need to engage at 600 meters.

stancrist said:

The question was about the need to engage at 600 meters.

That I don't know.

Guardsman26 said:

I think you have missed my point about the logistics of 6.5x48 mm Creedmoor ammunition versus the logistics of 6.8x51 mm NGSW. I estimate that the latter system will cost 30-40% more than 6.5x48 mm Creedmoor. 10% would be significant, but anything above 20% will kill NGSW.

And that would be bad, how?  

stancrist said:

The question was not about terminal effects at 600 meters.  The question was about the need to engage at 600 meters.

The need for infantry to "engage" at 600 m (or up) is mostly a byproduct of the Rules of Engagement, but even with liberal RoE, the infantry needs to fix the enemy.

renatohm said:

What if you resort to higher pressures, but not NGSW high?

What barrel length are you comfortable with?

SIG's 6.8x51 mm pressure seems to be the price to pay for a 13" barrel instead of 19", or a 16" barrel instead of 22".

EmericD said:

       stancrist said: The question was not about terminal effects at 600 meters.  The question was about the need to engage at 600 meters.

The need for infantry to "engage" at 600 m (or up) is mostly a byproduct of the Rules of Engagement, but even with liberal RoE, the infantry needs to fix the enemy.

Okay, but I'm not seeing how that answers either of Nick's questions:

"How important is the need to engage enemy targets at 600 metres?"

"How often will we need to engage enemies at this range?"

At the 12:45 we have FA testing of the SPEAR at 50yd; actually looks very good in terms of controllability and burst accuracy at that distance.

YouTube

Sig MCX Spear - US Army NGSW - Disassembly, Live Fire & Discussion

InRange is entirely viewer supported:https://www.patreon.com/inrangeSpecial thanks to @illumined_arms for making this video possible! Please go check them o...

The 'flow-through' suppressor also seems to be working well; no gas to the shooters face, and pretty compact.