gatnerd said:

Mr. T (MrT4) said: The issue is often any backwards compatibility. If it needs to fit SR25 ,AR10 etc it limits box size to 60's magwell , if it doesnt need compatitiblty its just a question of sizing the magwell to make poly mags work

Well thats whats weird here: The MCX and then the NGSW SPEAR were designed with a magwell sized for polymer mags, as thats all they've ever been used with until the development of this steel mag.

What is weird?  The Spear mag well was designed for polymer mags which were the same size as the original metal mags developed for the AR10.

The situation is not like that of the LWRC Six8, which needed an enlarged mag well to accommodate the polymer mag sized specifically for 6.8 SPC.

Just so you know adept isn't exactly reputable...

They've went by like 4 names in 3 years.

Also their steel helmets do not ship with the pads the helmet was tested with instead substituting made in China cheap as hell pads and a very dodgy suspension system.

Long story, don't ask...

Ah that’s a bummer. 
 

Im still curious how it will perform in Buffmans testing. If it stops M993 at 3000-3100fps as claimed that would be very impressive.

Previousky we’ve seen M993 stopped at 2850fps, but penetrating when faster against the sturdy RMA plates.

Australia working on a 6.8. Cartridge described as a '6.8x51 high pressure conventional case.'

https://soldiersystems.net/2022/10/04/land-forces-22-thales-6-8-x-51mm-prototypes/

A rather lovely AUG type rifle but with more 21st century rails and new charging handle configuration:

And an obligatory AR10 type rifle option:

“Working”.

It'll be interesting to see if this goes anywhere.

The Australians might be the most anti-Chinese group around, giving some legs to any attempted military firearms upgrade programs (whether the 6.8Wundermagnum is one set aside for now), but they're also not the types to dump money into the army either.

Regardless the UberAUG mockup is a fairly sweet looking sci-fi blaster.

A few years ago I was invited to visit Steyr's Austrian HQ to give a presentation on various small-arms issues (followed by burning through some ammo, of course!). I mentioned that rather than producing yet another conventional 5.56mm carbine in the RS556, it might have been better to put the development money into a scaled-up AUG, initially in 7.62x51. The reasoning being that many armies were interested in adding 7.62mm rifles to the squad, and it would be a valuable sales point to be able to offer matching 5.56mm and 7.62mm rifles of similar design and handling (as FN did with the SCAR), simplifying training etc.

(I suspect that part of the reason the Kiwis dropped the AUG in favour of the LMT carbine may have been that they already had the 7.62 mm LMT DMW in service).

autogun said:

I suspect that part of the reason the Kiwis dropped the AUG in favour of the LMT carbine may have been that they already had the 7.62 mm LMT DMW in service

That seems very plausible.  As you observed, there is some logic in having the marksman rifle be of similar design and handling as the standard individual weapon.

On the other hand, some armies apparently think it doesn't really matter enough to go to the trouble and expense of replacing the IW with one similar to the DMR.  

stancrist said:

On the other hand, some armies apparently think it doesn't really matter enough to go to the trouble and expense of replacing the IW with one similar to the DMR.  

Well, the British Army has been waiting (for what seems like forever) for the development of a new US Army rifle before acquiring any new IW, so they keep on tweaking the old SA80....