Discussion on new military cartridge. Interesting but I don't now enough about it to comment. What We Know About The 6.8×51 | 277 SIG Fury [UPDATED] .277 Fury (6.8x51): Details, Ballistics, & Is the M4 Dead? After all the talk, sounds like they need to upgrade the 556 as the "peer group" armies, China and Russia, have body armor that stops too many of the rounds and lets the soldier survive. New round will either plow thru or at 2500 foot pounds cause so much blunt force damage that it will be effective in stopping the enemy.
I've read a lot about this cartridge, and it all sounds really good. I guess one downside is that the manufacturing process is much more elaborate, and I think it is also proprietary. This is not good for civilians as will keep costs at a maximum. Besides the fact, Sig has always been overpriced...
Last I read the ballistics went something like 3000 FPS with a 135 grain boat tail projectile from a 16" barrel. The cartridge is mostly plastic or polymer but has a stainless steel head. It generates something on the order of 80,000 PSI average chamber pressure. As @Bandit99 was saying, very expensive and more than likely not reloadable. I would imagine civilian versions of the ammunition would become available with an all brass case loaded to lower pressures (and presumably lower velocities).
Interesting but with only 2 USA manufactures and SIG holding the rights close along with at this point high $$$$ I will stay with 5.56/223 and 7.62 rounds. The key to other manufactures is: "SIG Sauer’s proprietary shell case technology" .277 SIG FURY/6.8x51mm - Everything You Need to Know Caliber .277 Fury | Reloading Data
Once again, the Army chasing something they already have, the mighty 7.62X51, but hey, lets change it up and make it cost 5 times more, and when we find our troops are NOT proficient, we go back to the Baby Squirrel Cartridge! I bang my head against the bricks everytime some jack ass decided what's best for the men doing the fighting, instead of ASKING them what they need! What's worse, dropping the ball and allowing politicians to make policy and all that, NO, that's not how it's supposed to work! Everything was great right up through WW-II, the M-1 Garand was state of the art and the cartridge nearly unstoppable! Forget those that said it was too damn powerful, there is a reason it was made as powerful as it was in the first place, Dumbass's! Time and tech have given us better weapons, but the cartridge hasn't really changed all that much, 7.62 was supposed to equal the mighty .30 U.S. 1906, but falls well short when you really look closely, which is how we ended up with .300 Win Mag! Dummies changed things yet again, and it still compromised what was originally perfection! In many ways the Germans had even better in the 7X57 Mauser, all the ballistic advantages in a slightly more compact cartridge. This is how we ended up with 7mm Rem Mag, and once again, a compromise on perfection! I really wish the Military would stop fucking around, go back to 7.62X51 and call it good, start focusing on the rifle platforms and improving line troops marksmanship proficiency and stop making excuses!
So, basically .270 Winchester in a slightly shorter case, that's just STUPID, why not neck down 7.62X51 to 6.5 MM and call it good, Oh Yea, we already have that, it's the nearly forgotten legendary 6.5X55 Swede, been killing what needs killing these last 126 years, and it's still king of the hot 6.5's! All the best ballistics, none of the recoil, what more could you wish! Want more punch, 7X57 Mauser got it right nearly as far back as the Swedes!
The poor man’s version of this rifle and cartridge, a Savage 110 chambered for the 7mm Remington Magnum.
Does anyone remember the HK G11touted as the future of small arms using caseless ammo? We Got Our Hands on an HK G11, the Space-Age Rifle That Never Was
A DAMN fine choice too! Not that many folks really "Get" the 7mm Mag cartridge, seeing it as ether an over blown .270, or a quicker .30/06, not realizing just how damn good it actually is! Forget .300 win mag, the hot 7 is where it's at! I'm a hard core, never going to change .30/06 guy, bang for the buck, it don't get better no matter how you slice it, but for a modern cartridge, if I were not married to the big .30, I would be all over the big 7! Fav cartridge of all, for an all around ONE rifle battery, .375 Holland & Holland, nothing else can do what that bad boy can, but few can really use it or justify having it! This is where the mighty .30/06 comes into its own, a sledge hammer for just about anything you need to wack!
We are set up for 7.62-----30-06, 7.62x51 & 300 win mag being older I don't envision adopting a new cal. $79.99 for 20 rounds...$79.99 buys a lot of powder and primers.. 277 SIG FURY, 150GR, HYBRID ELITE BONDED POLYMER TIPPED 277 SIG FURY, 150GR, HYBRID ELITE BONDED POLYMER TIPPED Elite Bonded Polymer Tipped Ammunition Availability: In Stock Price $79.99
If the civilian market wants a .277 cartridge for deer or whatever, the .270 Win has been around since the beginning of time. Want something close on an AR-10 platform? .260 Remington (6.5 MM) If the military wants a round that will penetrate body armor at 500 yards, one would imagine the 7.62 x 51 with a tungsten core would do just fine. They could adjust the bullet weight if they wanted higher velocities. As the point is well made here, there are so many commercial, current and ex-military cartridges available it calls into question the need for a whole new design. It's almost as if the Army has too much money, so they keep re-inventing the wheel.
Guess I am an old timer, never found rounds I liked better than the 30-06, the 45 ACP, 12 gauge shotgun and 22 long rifle. The 556 is a good training round, but it really isn't the best for anything. Too big for small game and too little for big game. Body armor limits its effectiveness and it really isn't a stopping round. 9 mm is even worse as a pistol round. Funny but all 4 are over 100 years old and still hard to beat. 30-06 is a full powered round and can be reloaded many times if you use it in one rifle and don't full resize it. Anneal the case mouth and reload it even more times. If I had to choose one rifle for survival, would pick the old Springfield 03 in 30-06 and an old Lee hand reloader, cast bullets and an old powder. Been doing it for 70 years so I know it works and if had to use the WW1 rifle, with care would work another 70 years. Hit a deer with that round and it falls. Even if someone has body armor, a couple of 45's is going to give him some blunt force trauma, and rabbits and such and 22's go hand in hand. 12 gauge with slug or buckshot will do a number on larger game or close in for people, and with the right shot, all the game birds.
6.5x55 generally need a long action to function (I love that round) .260rem is the 6.5 based on a 308 case and may well be my next rifle. With modern powered projectiles etc it would make more sense than almost options. That said I am firmly in the 7,62x51 camp as it’s known to work !! Tooling and arms abound.
Different cartridges used by the US over time. Here is a short newsreel from the early 1940's that shows how the I imagine the 303 ammo was made for WW2. Same system was used for 30-06 in uS,No details, but some idea of scale of manufacture. Was a massive combination of machinery and human skills. Seems to be Brit. Lots simpler than a divided case with a lock ring as well. And the hi tech from the War between the States. Could be drafted if missing fingers, but not if missing teeth as had to "bite" open the paper cartridges. Were the high tech in their day. No pun intended, with mine ball and paper cartridges, could use rifled barrels and fire about 6 aimed rounds a minute vs the old unaimed musket fire used in earlier wars.
With 300 win mag the barrel life is around 1,500 to 2,000 shots. With the hot 7mm it's more like 900 shots. That's why I don't have either one. The 30-06 has a barrel life over 5,000 up to 10,000 shots depending on ammo, cleaning, how fast you shoot it.
