.270 Winchester Kurz +P+

More numbers are starting to appear.

6.8x51mm / .277 Fury gets about the same muzzle velocity from a 16" barrel as .270 Winchester does from a 24" barrel with similar weight bullets.

I don't think that anyone has ever accused .270 Win as being anything but a traditional full-power cartridge.

I think it has a bit less kick than .30-06, but Marv thinks it's about the same.

Let's consider something:

Getting the same weight bullet to the same speed in 2/3 the distance is accelerating the bullet faster.

This is reflected in the 80k psi chamber pressure vs 65k in .270 WCF.

Agnes is 8.4 lb loaded with her scope.  Similar to the XM5 without ammo or optic.

The XM157 optic weighs... nobody fucking says!  Like it's a state secret.

They keep saying it's less than four different discrete units combined, but never actually say how much it weighs.

Less than those four things combined could still be a fair amount.

Let's start adding it up.

A 1-10 power Razor HD Gen III LPVO scope is 21.5 oz.

30mm q/d mount is 8.9 oz.

AN/PEQ-15 is 7.5 oz.

AN/PSQ-23 is 22.4 oz.

The barometer/aneometer can be as low as 5 oz. with batteries.

We have to come in lighter than 65.3 oz.  4.1 lb.

All they are saying is the XM157 is less than 4.1 lb.

It's dissembling.

Aside: It could be "less than" 5 lb. because Vortexx always shows that AN/PSQ-23 mounted on a bracket that mounts it to and above the scope and never just mounting it straight to the RAS like the AN/PEQ-5.

Anyone wanna bet that it's real close to 4 lb. and that's why they aren't saying it directly?  I will concede that getting all four items in one package will be handier and more likely to be used by the soldier.  If we can afford to issue enough of them.

Contract price per optic is around $10,500 including all the sundry extras, spares and support.  The LPVO it appears to be based on is $3,500 retail...  Plus plus plus...

The ammo is 20% lighter than a round of comparable power...  Is that 20% lighter than .270 Winchester or .270 WSM?  I did find that the gravel-belly Army requirements for the round were 6.8mm caliber and lighter than 7.62x51mm.

20% lighter than .270 Win is 0.0432 lb. per shot.  That's definitely lighter than 7.62 NATO, but still heavier than 5.56 NATO's 0.027 lb.

20 shots comes to 1.1 lb. in that PMAG looking magazine.  The exact same weight as 30 rounds of M855A1 in a PMAG...

S.L.A. Marshall is weeping.

Again, the fact that they aren't outright giving the numbers when the requirement is simply "lighter than M80 ball" means it's probably 0.055 lb. per round to M80's 0.056 lb.

So, at the end of the day, we're looking at the XM5, with XM157, loaded, being about 13 lb.  That assumes the 8.2 lb. for the rifle includes the pound of suppressor that's in every photo.

Here's what it will replace:

M4A1 (loaded with RAS) is 8.87 lb.

M68 CCO is 0.8 lb.

AN/PEQ-15 is 0.47 lb.

10.14 lb. but no laser range finder, weather station or suppressor.

11.14 lb. with a suppressor.

Where it starts to hurt is when we start lugging around ammo.

3 magazines (90 rounds) of 5.56 is 3.3 lb.  This is about the same volume as two magazines (40 rounds) of something 6.8x51mm even though those two magazines will be lighter at 2.2 lb.  Less than half the ammo in the same space for just 2/3 the weight!

This shit matters!

What's really aggravating about this entire exercise is that it's not the troops who're asking for a longer ranged, harder hitting rifle.

This is a top-down exercise from a retiring general.  If he shows up as an employee of SIG-Sauer in a few months, I think we know what happened here.

I'm starting to think that more cocaine moves through Germany than Columbia and it's all landing on hooker's asses and going up Pentagon noses.