Army rifle replacement program canceled before it takes off

LTC Marc King - I carried the M14 in basic, always loved that rifle. There was some discussion of going to the 6.5 for the new rifle. I'm not sure I agree with that as a combat round. The 7.62x51 is a proven combat round as is the 7.62x39. While the Japanese did have a 6.5 in WWII, it wasn't quite what some were proposing.

There are variants of the M16 platform that shoot 7.62x51, but it is a whole new rifle with new magazines not quite a simple parts swap.

My thoughts are that we already have the M14 in warehouses, why expend hundreds of thousands of dollars on designing and testing a new system when we have one in moth balls.

LTC (Join to see) - I'm not sure that we have these in a warehouse. We provided these to many countries around the word as part of our aid packages but I am on board with the idea that it is the 7.62 round that should be the objective round and identifying a new platform for its application.

Back to the future? Why does the military have a desire to use a single type of weapon, from this discussion, it is apparent to this Navy guy that there should be different types available to be used depending on the field of combat.

MCPO Roger Collins - I couldn't agree more. Use the correct tool for the job at hand.