would it be useful for a squad to have a 338 DMR.   a full size 338 MG is a drain on resources and the few rounds you have will be quickly used up.

but you could have a belt fed single shot DMR with a heavily recoiling barrel, which would be ideal against vehicles and cover. rifle would be about 7.5KG

any thoughts

Considering the weight, bulk, and complexity of a belt-fed .338 weapon...

...it seems to me a mag-fed rifle would be more sensible for a squad DMR.

what's the calibre of the regular rifle?

No

 338NM or LM is quite a hefty round that works best with rather long barrels ,in short barrels (sub 20 in) they are extremely concusive to the shooter. 

A decade or so ago i had an opportunity to shoot some short 338LM that were developed for use in Iraq as anti-VBIED guns to punch through basic armoring used  and was by far the most unpleasant shooting experience ever , not even 10 rds fired you could feel it in your jawbone and teeth

338 LM or NM are genuine 1600m capable rounds, wasted on any DMR , at least till smart sight makes the DMR shooter capable of actually hitting anything at long range.

DMR in 7.62 is good enough, the last ones we ordered in both 7.62 and 6.5Creedmoor for our SF we actually chose shorter barrels than previously used (firearms weight growth is still ongoing and you have to really aggressively watch it on every component ) 16 vs 20in long barrel is worth about 50m in effective range

what about pencil barrels? They seem to work well?

Same as per the OP:  "squad to have a 338 DMR"

stancrist said:

Same as per the OP:  "squad to have a 338 DMR"

yeah, my questions what everybody else is carrying. if it's 5.56, a 8.5mm DMR makes _marginally_ more sense then if they carry 6.8x51