I consider the project a failure, since it's not chambered in 8mm Lebel.

More seriously, there was an experiment in the 20s with Model 8s chambered in .30 Remington. Browning couldn't get it reliable enough, or powerful enough, for the US Army.

Stumbled across this:

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2023/02/06/potd-xm7-rifle-xm-157-fire-control/

Notable for 2 reasons.

1. Theres at least some thought to possibly using the rifle unsuppressed

2. Wayyyyyy more important: Steel Mags for NGSW seems confirmed. All photos shown with steel mags, which a few months ago SSD had reported SIG was developing.

If so thats full M14 life...

Does anyone know if the stock has any recoil-absorbing properties?  

gatnerd said:

Notable for 2 3 reasons.

3.  First time it's been seen used by a female soldier.  

nincomp said:

Does anyone know if the stock has any recoil-absorbing properties

Not thats been revealed; probably not as the rifle would be pogo sticking under rapid fire.

Those sort of spring / hydraulic buffers in the stock seem better suited to grenade launchers and shotguns.

An older video from Ian that I'm surprised I missed that gives a very nice deep dive and field strip of the NGSW, and also explains how its able to handle 80kpsi.

YouTube

SIG M5 Spear Deep Dive: Is This a Good US Army Rifle?

https://utreon.com/c/forgottenweapons/http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeaponshttp://www.floatplane.com/channel/ForgottenWeaponsCool Forgotten Weapons merch! ...

80kpsi discussion begins 23:42.

How it works:

1. Gas port / piston hole placement and size determines ammount of gas force sent to the bolt, not the pressure of the cartridge. So port is simply tailored for 80kpsi.

2. Barrel is a thicker profile, especially around the chamber, but not unusually thick. Looks similar to the SOCOM profile of the M4A1 but scaled up to AR10.

3. Bolt geometry. This was the most interesting to me. 

I assumed the bolt would be massive, but its actually a bit smaller then the bolt on the AR10:

However the length of the lugs is ~2x longer, which Ian believes is more important for the bolt strength vis a vis the higher pressure:

Came across this:

How is this not better than the M4?

It's just a meme I came across while looking for more NGSW content. 

Design wise, the only real downside is weight. Otherwise it's basically an ambidextrous, folding stock piston AR.