gatnerd said:

The HK 416's march across Europe looks unstoppable.

Well using Luxembourg military as an argument for that seems far fetched... since they have a strength of less than 1000 personel.

The march of HK is not unstoppable because of the 416 but because they are basically the only one left. The 416 is just the product they are currently selling. If HK would be selling a bullpub version of the G36 currently this would be marching across Europe.

HK BTW is now trying to introduce the HK 433 into the marked as a 416 replacement. The 433 is specifically designed to replace the 416 and has some improvements and solutions that adress common critizism of the 416.

JPeelen said:

From a German point of view, it is the AR15 march that is unstoppable.

Not really. The HK416 really is a AR18 that pretends to be an AR15.

Its also pure chance. The 433 was not picked by the German army in favor of the 416 due to some technicallities and the main argument that "we know the 416" since it has been in use by our SF. Who will most likely transition to the 433 once they used up their current stock of 416 based rifles. After all the 433 has been designed to their specs and to adress their wishes for improvement.
It again just a case of the bureaucracy screwing up.

gatnerd said:

I wouldn't be surprised if we see Britain replace their L85 with the HK 416 at some point.

Currently the L85 get an upgrade by HK. So it will be in service for some more years. When the L85 replacement will become a thing in 5 or so years HK will be selling the next generation of their products. So the chance that the UK will transition to the 416 are rather slim unless they hurry.

The thing of most interest from the video posted in the NGSW thread was that the XM7 bare gun is 2 oz lighter than the MR556 with 16"bbl - the configuration that matches the M27. This was quite unexpected. The takeaway probably should be that the M27 is excessively heavy, but still the XM7 is not as much of an increase in weight as I and probably others expected.

schnuersi said:

Not really. The HK416 really is a AR18 that pretends to be an AR15.

I figure HK got experience on AR18 style systems while working on the L85 and decided to use it as their basis for future weapons.

So the 416 is the revenge of the AR18 and the L85 on the AR15. 

DavidPawley said:

2 oz lighter than the MR556 with 16"bbl

The MR556 is insanely heavy at 8.6lb. I think it's probably the heaviest 16" 5.56 rifle in the world by a major manufacturer.

https://hk-usa.com/hk-models/mr556a1/

It's about 0.7-0.8lbs heavier than the M27/416 16", which is itself closer in weight to the 7.62 SCAR than M4.

FM-15 2: 6lbs

LE6920: 6.29LBS

M4A1 FN: 6.36LBS

S+T BR18 14.5”: 6.39bs

M4A2 416 barrel: 6.5lbs

KAK SR15 Mod 2: 6.55lbs

LWRC IC DI: 6.6lbs

KelTec RDB: 6.7lbs

ARX 100: 6.8LBS

T91 16”: 6.99lbs

ST BR18 20”: 7.05lbs

Thales F90: 7.17lbs

SCAR 16S: 7.25lbs

LWRC IC-A5: 7.3lbs

ACR: 7.3lbs

Arsenal SLR-106: 7.3lbs

CZ Bren 2 MS: 7.3lbs

DavidPawley said:

The thing of most interest from the video posted in the NGSW thread was that the XM7 bare gun is 2 oz lighter than the MR556 with 16"bbl... This was quite unexpected. The takeaway probably should be that...the XM7 is not as much of an increase in weight as I and probably others expected.

Erroneous comparison = Erroneous conclusion. 

FYI, the US Army does not use the MR556 rifle.

schnuersi said:

It again just a case of the bureaucracy screwing up.

Exactly.

Jeff (Jefffar) said:

I figure HK got experience on AR18 style systems while working on the L85 and decided to use it as their basis for future weapons.

Nope they used their experience on AR18 type short stroke gas systems gaine during the developement of the G36 wich is basically an AR18 in plastic clothing and with G3/MP3 ergonomics.

Jeff (Jefffar) said:

So the 416 is the revenge of the AR18 and the L85 on the AR15.

The 416 is just what the US marked, only marked where reasonable profits could be made from the mid '90 to '10, wanted. They then started to sell it everywhere. The thing is allmost all governmental agencies buy COTS these days. The 416 is the very definition of COTS. Its also tested by most major players and agencies, qualified and combat prooven. It basically sells itself. So HK did the sensible thing and dropped allmost all other products except for those that are actively selling and/or in a running procurement program.

gatnerd said:

The MR556 is insanely heavy at 8.6lb. I think it's probably the heaviest 16" 5.56 rifle in the world by a major manufacturer.

Since this is a civillian configuration it hardly matters for military procurement programs.

BTW HK deliberately increased the weight of some 416 and especially 417 versions because of (governmental agency) customer request. There are steel uppers available for example. These besides offering improved wear and tear resistance have better harmoics for improved accuracy and lower feld recoil by increasing weapon weight.

Sometimes heavier is better.