gatnerd said:

In terms of a less "overpowered" caliber, it would have been interesting had they pursued the 4.6x36 /HK36 more.

They did, but in a caseless form... the G11 was the "product improved" version of the HK36, with an even lighter round, a "less strange" magazine (still impractical because it was too long), and better full-auto stability.

If you want to revive the "micro caliber fever" of the 70s, you could reload a .17 WSM with a scaled-down "balle D", you will end with a 29 gr bullet with a C7 around 0.16 at a MV around 750 m/s.

"They did, but in a caseless form... the G11 was the "product improved" version of the HK36, with an even lighter round, a "less strange" magazine (still impractical because it was too long), and better full-auto stability."

Yes, its just it didn't work ;-) Of all the downsides to the G11, that ACR report is pretty damning - not only did it not improve hit probability at any distance, but it was markedly worse then a M16 with iron sights. 

Is there any indication of why both Germany and the US were so gung-ho on hyperburst? Had it worked well with test fixtures, and just not translated once put into the ACR trial with real guns? 

mpopenker said:

Micro-calibers are very prone to the water in the bore problem, and the smaller the bore, the more serious is that problem They also are very ineffective against improvised cover, such as walls, earth/sand berms et

Thats good to know. But the Germans did seem satisfied with the risk with the 4.73 for the G11, and I havent heard reports of the 4.6 MP7 having water logged bores? But perhaps thats because they've been deployed to the desert. 

Design was sound and the prototypes worked awesome. SAS was delighted with them

However, these were the years in which political management destroyed both CETME and Santa Barbara facilities. They calculated costs so badly that they have to cut corners like crazy. Both CETME L and AMELI were so poorly built because of such "savings" that had to be discarded just after some years.

We have heard a lot of terror stories of soldiers who had to go to missions with non-functional rifles, or with rifles that they knew that were going to fail after a couple of magazines. Talking about the magazines, they were specially crappy, the same than plastic furnitures...

Indeed nowadays CETME-L built by american companies work reliably. The problem was not the design at all. The same happened with the batchs for our Guardia Civil, of much better quality

what a sad and shameful end of our capabilites. And nobody went to jail because of that

In NGSW news, we may have a finalist picked in the coming months or so, with contracts expected to be issued by April. Its also alleged that the current geopolitical tensions may hasten the rifles adoption.

https://taskandpurpose.com/military-tech/army-next-generation-squad-weapon-m4-m249/?amp

The article also seems to re-confirm that the competition is now between SIG and TV for the 6.8, with Textron no longer mentioned. 

Thanks a lot for the fix.

Well, we had the M-14. Winchester and H&R knew how to make guns, so they didn't pay as close as attention as they should have. So a lot of problems with their rifles in the field. TRW, which also got a contract, had never made rifles before. So they carefully studied "how to make rifles", tested their machinery and assembly procedures. They produced the best M-14s. Sadly, the contract was cancelled before the new equipment was paid off.

Much better to put the 4.6 in a Sabot and launch with 1700ft lbs. Imagine a SAW in such a caliber

gatnerd said:

Its a shame they didnt take a closer look at the Austrians, who also used the MG3, and then protected it with 5.56 AUGs.  Cold War 1984 goes hot, Austria really had the best mix of anyone...

There is a very critical flaw with your "Cold War goes hot in 1984" premise:  The hypothetical hot war could just as easily have happened before 1984.

If you're going to argue that West Germany should have switched to 5.56mm rifles to be better equipped to fight the Soviet hordes pouring through the Fulda Gap, logic dictates that the caliber change should've been done ASAP after the adoption of 5.56mm by the United States.

The most logical choice for the West Germans is not the AUG, which was not an option until 1977.  It is the HK33, which was available a decade earlier.

"If you want to revive the "micro caliber fever" of the 70s, you could reload a .17 WSM with a scaled-down "balle D", you will end with a 29 gr bullet with a C7 around 0.16 at a MV around 750 m/s"

That could be pretty neat, similar to a modern version of the Interdynamics MKR:

5.7x28 can launch a 27gr @ 2400fps from a 4.75" barrel at 50kpsi, and the 4.6x30 DM11 31gr is 2360fps from a 7.1". Curious how either of those would do with the 29gr from a 14.5" barrel.