On Afghan Walls: He’s not joking. They might be made with a mixture of portland cement and goat dung, but unless they’re hit right next to a corner, or at the top edge they’ll shrug off a shot from an AT4 or RPG-7, no problem. And at the same time they’re soft enough that you can walk up and pull chunks out with your hand. Weird tech, but very tough.

When 10th mountain made the switch, my groups were cut, literally in half as far as size. We also saw a significant increase in the marksmanship scores during rifle qualifications across the board. I am a huge fan of the new “green “round.

Where M855A1 shines is that it still fragments at much lower velocities, like close to 1600FPS. This is around the 600 yard mark for 12.5" to 14.5" barreled rifles. Old M855 minimum fragmenting velocities vary between 2700 to 2500 FPS, which out of an M4 doesnt get you very far.

I work for a body armor company, and tests M855A1 almost weekly. To give you an idea of my familiarity with this round, the thumbnail of this video (at the time of this comments posting) is actually showing M80A1 loaded in a magazine, the 7.62x51 version of this round. I have to say M855A1 (per the BATFE) IS considered an actual AP round while M855 is considered EP or MSC. To note, anything that punches through level III steel can be considered "AP", but for the sake of this conversation, Ill keep that to projectiles with a hardened steel insert that can punch through level III steel. I've seen M855A1 out of a 20" barrel punch through some RF2 (III+) plates with relative consistency while M855/M193 does not (again take note; RF2, NOT RF1, or NIJ level III, as M855 out of a 20" will punch through RF1/ NIJ III). There is an enhanced design of this projectile in the form of a kinetic "bump" that is similar to a tank sabot. The rear end of the projectile acts like a hammer while the hardened steel insert punches through a surface making sure there is a little extra umph when it gets through a hard surface like steel. I don't have any data the army has, nor any anti-personal stats of the round that you may have but don't want people to walk away from this video thinking M855A1 is over hyped. Its not. IF I had to cite my personal experience with this round, it's that its far more effective than standard MSC/ EP rounds (SS109 and M855), but not as effective as Teflon or tungsten carbide rounds. What's relevant to this conversation however is projectile availability. While Black tip SS190 (not to be confused with SS109) 5.56 is all but unobtanium, M855A1 falls off the back of the supply truck pretty often. No, I'm not at liberty to say what company I work for and what plates are defeated, but a simple search online will show this. Good info in this video from the perspective of a retired SF operator, but not exactly inline with my personal testing and others who have posted results online. Another (un)fun-fact about A1 is that you have to be careful of the steel penetrator that protrudes out of the front of the projectile. Because its not like normal M855, the exposed penetrator is susceptible to rust from (oxidization) sweat and water and if you keep rounds loaded in mags in humid environments for long periods of time, its likely you could end up with rust deformation and pitting of the projectile that could case an ogive flight path, deteriorating accuracy.

I used to work in bullet manufacturing for a specialty bullet company. We had several .mil type contracts for our bullets, including for Mk262 type 77gr OTM’s. I probably made millions of them. Mk262 is actually significantly cheaper to manufacture. It takes 1/3 of the steps to make and maybe 1/5 the amount of man hours to make compared to a polymer tip hunting bullet. The real advantage of the 77gr OTM is that it’s easy to keep it consistent in the manufacturing process. Weights stayed spot on to two tenths of a grain, and OAL stayed right around an inch. Because of the simplicity of the design, the bullet was easy to produce in great quantity with good quality.

The M107 155mm round out preformed the M855 and the M855A1 lol. Thank you for sharing your experience with M855A1

We hit a qulat wall with an AT-4 and it didn't even make a big enough hole to fit through. People hear "mud hut" and they think something made of paper.

As the state marksmanship coordinator for the national guard in my state we did some work with these rounds on a known distance range. Using our All Guard shooters (and other team shooters but I was mostly paying attention to our All Guard members) we saw a noticable improvement in groups fired at 300 yards, the only yard line we fired both rounds. If you discount the worst round of either 855 or 855A1 5 round groups the A1 was clearly superior. It was about 1 MOA better. Including the fliers it was still almost a half minute tighter over the 5 groups of 5 rounds. I think including the .8 MOA group of the M855, that you admitted was an aberration, skews your results. As for lethality it's my understanding that the fragmentation threshold for M855 is about 2600fps but that for the A1 it's about 1900fps. I can't confirm that from experience but maybe one day I'll get some test media and try it out. As for the mags, we got them in bulk in the guard about a year and a half ago. Can't say I've seen much of a difference in mags, assuming they are not damaged. Damaged mags are shit no matter the specifics. I'll see if I can find the notes from our informal tests on the KD range as my comments are from memory. I can say with confidence that we saw a noticable improvement in accuracy.

I don’t know if they are still loading it as hot as the original spec, but that stuff beat our M4s to death. My unit did a series of ranges in Alaska in 2017 and it took almost 10% of our rifles out of the fight over two weeks. We had so many broken bolt lugs, it was incredible. It made me want to buy an extra bolt and keep it with me.

Thanks for the first hand report on M855A1. We get so much political "Gas Lighting" from the military "Managers", that I don't have a lot of faith in what they have to say. I had heard that the Army had to reduce the chamber pressure of this round once it was issued. I know there is no way to measure that in the field, but have you heard that too? Regarding the 6.8x51 round, all the videos I see are guys shooting the low pressure "Practice Ammo" and not the full power 80,000 to 100,000 PSI "Combat Ammo". I imagine the reason for every rifle having a suppressor is the incredible report from such a high pressure round out of a 13" barrel. I was able to talk to the SIG development team and they weren't allowed to disclose any AP data, as the Army requested that they not discuss it. I did handle all the new weapons and the M5 is ridiculously long and heavy and for CQB, I would say it is less then ideal. Personally I think this rifle is going to be quietly dropped once it gets in the hands of the trigger pullers. The new 338 machine gun, which is lighter than the M240B and supposedly uses a shorter round than the 338 Lapua Mag, impressed me as the pressure was reasonable and it didn't require the new hybrid case. I could see this replacing the M240B in the Medium Machine Gun role. The 6.8x51 M250 is much lighter than the M249 and if chambered for the 7.62x51 round would be a great squad weapon that can use current ammo stocks and retain NATO compatibility, especially if the sound suppressor was optional. .

If M855A1 isn't such a big improvement on M855, why is it so hard for civilians to get their hands on M855A1? The exclusivity makes it seem like it's some miracle cartridge that the government wants to keep out of civvie hands.

M855A1 might see a longer service life in Big Army far beyond the adoption of 6.8mm because my gut feeling is that the higher-ups will hopefully understand (or maybe planned all along???) that NGSW is better suited to replace the .308 lineup and the 5.56mm SAW rather than the 5.56mm carbine. Edit: If I remember correctly, Jeff covered this in the Practical Accuracy NGSW vid (link's in the description).

Marine here, were issued mk262 when I was in Afghan, saw the aftermath of a combatant’s leg afterward and jeez, his whole calf was gone. Didn’t see that type of flesh damage with the army’s m855A1 in my experience

That was very informative. Those photos from your deployments are awesome. I'd have to agree with you. 1MOA is the gold standard for match grade accuracy. Great video.

One thing most people don't talk about is the flash suppressant in the powder. It works very well at night

Great video. In the Army Infantry. We were issued tan follower mags when i got in in 2012 and up till 2016, then they started issuing everyone Gen 3 PMAGs

I bought a can of Federal M193 5.56mm stripper clips in 2018 or 2019. A few months ago I got to that can, and I was at the range loading mags when I saw a single M855A1 round on one of the stripper clips. That round is on my wall shelf now lol.

Great work again Jeff. A complete work up on the SOST MOD1 would be greatly appreciated. I've been amazed with this round for a while now. I was lucky to get some of this ammo before the price went crazy and availability dried up. Be safe out there

was it worth 100 million dollars to the military? No. what was it worth 100 million of the US federal budget to keep a factory open in a congressional district and that individual elected to congress every single time? absolutely.

1sfg/7sfg maintainer here. When we had the a1 issued to us we saw a massive jump in bolt breakages. New and old bolts were subject to this.

This channel is so good...how good ? I actually watch through the advertisements to watch it...that's how good. Great analysis without all the BS....straight dope.

This will be good! ETA: Good summary. We didn't noticed any performance improvement over M855 when we used it for our deployment in 2017.

M16/ A1 also had 1:12 twist barrels which are perfect for M193. The longer twist rate plus the 20" barrel still stabilizes that round but requires less effort from the propellant to push the round through the rifling resulting in higher velocities.

One of the biggest issues (speaking as a current active duty armorer) is chamber and throat erosion, especially in the 249. If a 249 goes to the range, one of the barrels will almost certainly be deadlined because of the gouges that M855A1/M856A1 (tungsten tracer)

Now this is great info. Thanks!

Excellent info, thanks for the post!

Tactical Hive tested M193 out of 14" ,16" , 20" barrel's using 2" reems of paper, twelve inches in front of a steel target from ten yrs out. The 14" went through 4 reems hitting the steel target staying intact. The 16" went through 3.5 reems fragmenting into small pieces. The 20" went through 3 reems totally fragmentation turning into dust) . As Coach said " The hundred pound heads" knew what they were doing with maximum velocity in the shortest barrel too achieve the greatest damage without over penatration, the 16" barrel was the ticket=(The Vietnam era) Later on, Urban combat required a shorter 14" barrel fighting in buildings where walls were much thicker able to stop rounds passing through , the 14 inch became the new fighting weapon for close quarters combat= CQB.(Afghanistan era)

Thanks Jeff - that was really interesting. When I was in USMC ITR in 1970 we had those aluminum 20 round magazines and they were complete pieces of crap. They weren't all the same size - so the M-16A1's we had had an adjustment to the magazine latch. Once I was issued two magazines for training. The first was too fat and would not go in the weapon - so I had to adjust the magazine catch to fit it in. When I fired that magazine off - I put the next magazine in - and it was a skinny one - so the bolt going home drove the magazine right out of the weapon and into the dirt ... I was not happy but at least that happened in training. I never saw combat. My contribution to the Vietnam War was being a sentry in California. Of course, the Army does not have a good history on things like ammunition. The ammunition Custer's troops had did not have brass casings - they were copper. Which had been bought because it was cheaper. The end result of that was that if you fired the weapon to fast the weapon would heat up and the copper would swell tight against the chamber. The extractor would tear off the base of the round - instead of extracting it - leaving a copper coated chamber that you could not fit another round into. Troopers had to take the points of their knives and try to pry the copper out of their chambers in order to load another round. When the Army became aware of the problem - they stopped buying the copper cased rounds - but - they issued all the ones they'd paid for ... .

Great video and very informative. Good to hear first hand knowledge and not internet lore. Also, thanks for the mention.

Thanks, great deep dive. The practical application is the most reliable source. Side by side with what we know gives a great testimony.

Johnny’s reloading bench has an entire series based around the accuracy of m855a1 rounds

Thanks a ton for the info. Have come to truely enjoy ur channel.

One of the most experienced channel's I've found. Appreciate your opinions and experience. Now if only the government would take less than a decade to make changes and adjust fire based on guys like your feedback we'd be sittin pretty. Also, probably need a new Commander in Chief.

Great video, clear and concise like usual.

Thanks Jeff, great research.

Great video and great insight.

Excellent report. Thanks for your work, honest opinions and service to our Nation.

That Mark 262 performs very well out of my suppressed Centurion cold hammer forged CL'd barrel. I'm glad I stocked up on that stuff. 855A1 terminal performance seems to do prett well. Out of 14.5 barrels it I've seen it fragment in gel.

Thanks

Great video as always!

Thank you for all your info.

Thanks for the great videos !

That DIY high cut at 18:27 is a thing of beauty.

Really enjoy your channel. Including this video. Thank you sir.

That "bad mag" issue where the bullet goes into the feed ramps, is actually an out-of-spec upper. The barrel breech extends beyond the receiver, making a shelf for the bullet tip to catch under.

Very good amount if info packed into this video. Having not worn a uniform since 1990 and only having to deal with AR platforms from the civilian LE point of view since, I didn’t t even know about the 855A1 until may 2019 after reading something about the round. I’ve bought green tip but found that after shooting mostly 1-9 barrels since 2004, the 55 grain variants seemed to have sufficient accuracy potential. I’ve gotten as tight as .6 MOA with V-Max 55 grain and some Israeli surplus M193 I bought in 1992-93 was capable of knocking over 2x4 inch prairie dog silhouettes at 500M after aging gracefully in a can for 28 years. That out of a 14.5 P&N 1-9 barrel. I have never shot any of the MK262 but had understood that in addition to accuracy, it was found to have ballistic benefits in shorter barreled platforms. I also have a 16 inch 1-7 that I’ve used to get some fairly decent slightly over MOA groups with some 75 grain commercial, but really didn’t have enough ammo to say it should be my go to. My question is - with the Mk262 having superior accuracy benefits and a solid track record, why didn’t the Army simply adopt it in place of blowing money on development of the M855A1? (I know…. I know…..)

The accuracy test seemed incomplete in my opinion, having less strings of fire for the M855 and giving what was admitted a data outlier a hugely weighted impact on the average. It looked to me that with more strings you'd be seeing an average of one MOA improvement in accuracy for the M855A1, from about 3 MOA to about 2 MOA. I'd take that improvement any time. Just like yourself, I'd like to see some more standardized testing instead of the mystical verbiage of "match-like accuracy" and a few anecdotes from the army.

I was a small arms repairman and m855a1 killed barrels very quickly making them lose putting small dents in the back end of the barrel. But most of all it destroyed feed paws on SAWs like nobodies business

Great video. Would like to see u talk about the URGI upper. I think it was issued after u were already out tho. Thanks Jeff.

Great vid!!!

The 855a1 suspiciously arrived for us when the ana turncoats tried to take over BAF.

Nice video bro . Love these types of videos . I'm a small Arms geek for sure . Yeah I'd say that's some pretty bad ass shooting to get those groups at distance with M855 or M855A1 . Then again Colt SOCOMs can be insanely accurate. I know the 4 or 5 SOCOMs I own are definitely some good shooting barrels for being C.L.. Hell I used to use my Colt SOCOM that I chopped to 12.5" for 2Gun Matches because it was the most accurate barrel I owned at the time . This 5+ years ago . I picked up 10 rounds of M855A1 couple years ago . I'll probably never shoot them because I was told it would blow up my Colt M4s lol. I got them to be cool . This was before CV and those suckers were still $3 a round lol.. I saw some where that Okay Ind / Surefeed is stopping production. Surefeeds and Pmags are literally all I use . Questions .. Didn't regular Army boycott Pmags in 2010ish time period . I remeber reading an article about it years ago online but never knew if it was actually true..

I'm a year late to this one, but, from seeing our State's NG shooting team, and working the ranges with them, we definately saw tighter groups going from greentip to A1s. Some of these guys are National-level good shooters and I have seen/scored 5-shot groupings of sub-moa out to 400y. These are out of issued, but in great shape, M4a1s with 4x Elcans. As the EPR round starts to become affordable, and civilian use gets more widespread, be careful to use the 'improved' mag, or at least the new followers, that give the round a slight lift at the nose. It will help prevent the scouring effect on the feed ramps from that sharp point digging in. My personal 14.5" already shows a few scour marks, where the ramp meets the barrel, just from one old GI mag (tan follower) with 30 rds fired. Awesome round though...very flat shooting and fast.

For a general purpose ball ammo it’s great stuff. Big Army needed a more environmentally friendly round. They got their more environmentally friendly round but the guys pulling the trigger got something that’s more accurate and that is more lethal.

Former 10th group dude, here. Solid video, I concur with what you found. I would swap the barrels at 3" or greater.

3MOA at 100 is what even my most budget AR-15s(I'm talking del-ton, PSA, S&W builds) are capable of with standard 55gr plinking rounds.

I used a ton of M855 in training and deployed, and a good amount of M855A1 from several different AR type rifles, and both failed to impress me in accuracy, esp. as compared to MK262 or those 75 grain Hornady rounds that were around for awhile (love those). Definitely NOT "match like" accuracy. I was issued the LWRC M6 at a place I worked OCONUS, and our ammunition supply process was unpredictable- you never knew what you may get when forward deployed, so sometimes we would get MK 262, sometimes green tip. We were specifically told not to use the M855A1 round through those M6 guns. I also told our leadership if that was the case to not put it on our resupply pallets if they didn't want it getting used. I have noticed getting consistent yaw with the 75 grain Hornady rounds on pigs and deer. And I have never seen a jacketed 5.56 round NOT go through a standard vehicle door. And even 40mm HE wouldn't penetrate a afghan mud wall, and that has an explosive charge in it. And there sure is lots of body armor in circulation now- not to mention armored vehicles (thanks brandon). I do like the M193 as a general purpose round- accurate enough, mild to shoot, not hard on steel. I think I'll stick with my PMAGS. I noticed on many of the M4's in my unit, they would still be grouping good, but would fail chamber erosion. I never saw a shot out M4 barrel that PASSED chamber erosion testing.

I'm an old Vietnam vet and wondering how much ammo do troops carry on a day patrol nowdays? We carried several hundred rounds, but we stayed out in the bush for weeks and we didn't get reapplied everyday.

Great video, thanks

20:46 FYI those strikes aren't below the feed ramps....the infamous M4 feed ramps were scallops (ramps) that cut into the receiver itself to extend the ramp from the barrel extension. These extended ramps are obviously softer aluminum so that's why the steel tipped A1 was chewing them up. I do agree tho it was mostly magazine issues

Great video but we need the story behind the photo at 14:14 lol. Love the content!

I'd like to watch one video from you that is not negative about anything related to our military or major firearms and ammo manufacturers. But still fun to watch.

Jeff, outstanding review of the M885A1. My first experience with A1 was in 2013 in Afghanistan. Has anyone else witnessed corrosion and tip separation on the 855A1?

The ammo change was some REMF’s OER bullets point for the year, did nothing to change lethality from my experience. We switched the new “improved” round in 2010 towards end of our deployment. Saw no difference in terminal effect, only way we knocked anyone down with 556 was to hit CNS. Hips and heads were the only guarantee knock down we found, inside 100ish yards they tumbled and caused good effect. Past 300 you’re pissing in the wind, if you hit the guy they’d barely react , a through and through pin hole wound which would slow them down a bit but that’s it. We’d find blood trails and drag marks but find no bodies consistently, they were so doped up on pills they’d get away. Every time we got in a good fight we’d see multiple funerals for the next week, they’d police their brass and bodies throw them in wheelbarrows cover with grass leave the area. Our air support would report seeing an arm or leg dangling from the wheelbarrow but couldn’t get clearance to engage, they knew our ROE and would exploit them. We figured out real quick if we pinned them down with accurate fire and called in air/arty we had their asses, .50 and 40mm even had limited effect on the mud walls but made it easy for air to locate and eliminate them. Never used the Navy 77gr load but, 9mm will punch through car doors at handgun range, 556 at close range has “predictable” deflection at the right shot angles. Can’t give any info on its effectiveness against hard surfaces because I never encountered or tried them. If the enemy is wearing armor it’s time to shoot hips and heads anyhow and the most accurate round is what’s needed. M118 from our dm rifles was much more effectIve at stopping fights, nearly 3x more bullet weight than 556 green tip.

I’d rather see mk262 as the standard round. 855A1 eats up barrels.

The tan mags did make it to unit issue, my BN got sent to Germany in march and we got 500+ of them, I tried to get them to order Pmags but they didn't like listening to a E4 armorer

Glad to see they appear to have overcome the accuracy and "component separation" problems experienced during development.

Love your knowledge on this bullet! But one goal WAS met: Lead free.

m855a1 is all I use now. it's an incredible round.

In my 4 combat deployments to Afghanistan with 10th Mountain I only encountered 3 enemy combatants that were wearing some kind of body armor. 2 were outdated steel plates and one was a late 80s US issued flak vest. These dudes needed to be highly mobile in the valleys and mountains so there was rarely any body armor worn. That new round was a solution looking for a problem.

Just one small point I would like to make is that the new 6.8x51 cartridge for the NGSW is not “6.8 ARC”. It’s more commonly known as “.277 Fury”. Awesome video on a round unknown to a lot of shooters.

When we adopted the M17 and the M1152 Ball it has an exposed lead base. A concave base that exposes more lead than the old 882. As far as lead, they went literally backwards.

Very well done.

$100,000,000 to develop this round? holy crap you think anyone lined their pockets with some of that money 💰

As a civilian, I only use 55gr. and/or 77gr. bullets depending on the application.

I really love your channel.

Considering how much money we send to other countries that’s money well spent compared to the usual spending

I was an Instructor/Writer at Benning when this stuff was being tested at AMU. The retired General who was one of the project managers sold it like a used car. Reading the claims alone I didn’t need him hard selling it to know the truth.

I'm pleased M855a1 exist.

what I liked most about afghan mud houses were that you could shoot anywhere inside pretty safely, so you didn't have to worry about backdrop or over penetration so much

I’m so happy this isn’t one of those channels with silly gimmicks, stupid expressions, unnecessary hyperbole and horrific “comedy”.

Crazy how MK262 is the only obvious choice. Both big infantry’s should have adopted that and been done with it.

When I worked at the Pentagon, HQDA spent $1.4 million to decorate about 100 feet of hallway outside a general’s office. $100 million is a steal for something actually useful.

Thanks Jeff.

The image posted at ~22:38 where the nose of the round dug into the receiver appears to be a gun issue not a mag issue. You can clearly see the barrel extension is too far into the receiver. Appears to be an M4 notch/feed ramp on the barrel extension but hardly any M4 feedramp on the receiver. This is something you have to watch for when using M4 vs non M4 feed ramps on the receiver. That setup is literally asking for the rounds to cause issues there.

I carried a Mk18 with 77 gr mk262, got a hold of the M855A1 after arrival in Camp Brown and before moving to TK and other VSO camps between Cobra and TK. There was no noticeable shift from the zero I had with mk262 at 100 meters and could use the same holds all the way up to 400 meters to hit an ammo can. I say it was pretty accurate compared to M855 and decent compared to mk262.

We were still using M193 at my unit up until 1990.

My son was in Afghanistan around the same time as yourself at FOB Apache. He was part of the 819th Sapper Squad and they worked with "Triple Nickel." They did stuff. Sounds like you had a blast. :)

I love these videos

FWIW, I bought a box of green tip M855 and fired it at 100 yards from my AR-15 with a 20" bbl and 1in8 twist, which is quite accurate with handloads. My handloads of 52 grain match bullets generally shoot a bit less than 1" for 10 rounds on a good day. The green tip however was more like 2" for 5 round groups (limited ammo supply). Green tip velocity was about 3250 fps, 150 fps faster than my handloads.

In my experience, M193 outperforms M855 in terms of accuracy. Putting a bunch of different materials in a bullet doesn’t exactly improve consistency.

My experience over the past 10 or so years with it is it's no more accurate than the old green tip. Does is go through car doors well, yes however so did the old stuff. It's just ball ammo with spiffy marketing nothing more nothing less. For getting through the Kalat walls we found "pick and hammer"(.50 & 40mm) was the best way to get through it if you weren't running tow-2 BB.

I know some snipers early on when they had to use green tip would remove the paint just to make them a little more consistent and eek out a little bit better performance

My NG unit has those tan epm mags. When we were doing the riots in Minneapolis we got issued pmags also.

Started to see these in regular infantry in 2013. Me and a buddy put a lvl 3 steel plate at 25 and hit it with the epr rounds and it Swiss cheesed the plate. Went through and kept going. Edit: this was 2013 in Afghanistan not state side

Would you say the mk262 or the M855 was more lethal in combat as far as terminal effects? Great video, love the content! Looking forward to the next video

You'd think that make the jacket work like a sabot so when it hits the body it will separate and fragment for tissue damage and the penetrator to keep going.

Gotta buddy who tested weapons at FN. They started failing mil requirements for barrel life once they started tests with the m855a1. Take it for what it's worth, but the anecdotal evidence of several thousand weapons tested gave around a 35-40% decrease in barrel life. I personally have no use for it. Especially since the accuracy (in my shooting group) will be neglible on man sized targets and I'm not willing to sacrifice my barrels since I buy them.

I grew up shooting my grandfathers 1964 Colt SP1 AR-15 (Serial #191) he bought new in 1965. My father also had a 1972 Colt SP1 with a Colt 3.5X scope on the carry handle. I typically only shot with Irons however. All my AR’s are 20” Rifles, most with a Fixed stock, a couple with Collapsible. I have never had a single Jam or failure out of any 20” Rifle length gas system AR. If the DOD wants to improve the M4, it’s VERY simple. Don’t buy new rifles, buy new UPPERS. Specifically MID-LENGTH upper receivers (Possibly Free Floating) and a minimum 16” barrel. Or do what the Canadians did and compromise between Carbine and Rifle. Go back to the 20” barrel, and add Collapsible stocks. Drop the ‘Burst’ and go back to FA. I loathe(d) my M4. The TRASH Carbine length Gas system, chopped down barrel from 20” to a 14.5” (losing velocity) plus adding a heavier 62gr pill (More loss in Velocity). I was one of the Designated Marksmen in my Platoon and for a time i was issued a M4 that had a variable magnification scope and suppressor in an attempt to DMR the M4. (This was very brief). The Suppressor only made the M4 more stubborn and I typically wouldn’t use it. Some of ANA that ran with us had Fixed carry handle M16A3’s/M16A2’s. I wanted that rifle. Badly. And for a time I actually was able to carry one with an ACOG mounted on the carry handle in a DMR role. They didn’t have a rail system like the Marines and their M16A4’s but I made do and was happy to have a Rifle, and it was effective in my DMR role. I was eventually issued the Mk14 EBR 7.62 with what I think was a Leupold 3.5-10X or 12X scope. The perfect DMR rifle at that time. Will always love it.

I don't know why they don't take the new SIG case technology with the steel bottom and the brass case and apply it to the 5.56x45 essentially raising the pressure's and maybe using a heavier projectile to achieve faster fps and longer range I would hope.. Just saying