When I went back in time to 1914 and briefed General Pershing and the War Department on this new thousand yard rifle he and they were very pleased.

As usual, Coch is level headed and practical in his analysis. Great job,

I did my military service using 7.62x51. They were deadly to carry. In a contact situation however, that bullet went right through trees making "cover" more difficult to find. When we moved to 5.56, it was great to carry more ammo but the hitting power was always viewed as "iffy" by the old school. A modern 6.8 is probably the best compromise particularly with the higher chamber pressures achievable these days. Whether the Sig is the weapon, I dont know. I think the power rail could be significantly redesigned to make it less bulky. What I do like is that it is not a bullpup as the magazine changes when you are flattened as low as you can go with rounds overhead, I guess I just grew up getting to absolutely love the FN style 7.62

This is one of the few takes that understands this new system. M4s aren’t gonna get retired. They will still have their use mission dependent. The M5 brings back the battle rifle capability. More important new systems imo are the new light machine gun and sniper rifles.

I've been told troops will train with low pressure rounds and fight with high pressure rounds. I hope not. I remember the lecture we received about the infamous Newhall shootout that left four California Highway Patrol officers dead. It was partly blamed on their training, which included the use of low pressure 38 Special loads on the range and high pressure 357 Magnum loads in a real gunfight.

"Tack hammer, framing hammer, and sledge hammer." I wish the generals and admirals could grasp this concept.

I work at FN America and love my job and what I do. The only thing I had a problem was when they put a gun system in the hat for the replacement. They put the SCAR HAMMER, and that's like a 20 year old system and I knew they would not get picked. But we still make damn good weapons! And that's good enough for me! Love the break down!

The move to the M16, 5.56. Was highly driven, by caused by the draftee army, and their two year service life. With the high percentage of inductees never having fired anything, they were terribly recoil sensitive, and there was not enough time in their 9-months of training to train the recoil sensitivity out of them. Thus the move from the 7.62 to the 5.56. With an all volunteer military, there is time to train the recoil sensitivity out. And since most recruits are coming from more rural areas, they don’t have as many issues with recoil.

As an ex Infantryman what I always wanted was a rifle that weighs more, holds less, has heavier ammo and has enormous recoil. Well done big Army. Well done.

In my opinion the Army needs more than one rifle. Fighting ridgeline to ridgeline in Korea this makes sense urban combat perhaps the AR makes more sense.

This guy is awesome. So down to earth, and shares some great thoughts and experiences. Well done 👍

Replacement for battle rifles ("the Army does not even have") but not for the M4 platform, makes more sense.

I think Big Army looked at what USMC did with the M27 and is trying to backdoor this to replace all .308 battle rifles (Mk.17, M110E1, whatever M14s are left) and eventually .308 GPMGs (M240L, Mk.48s, whatever M60s are left). I guarantee the M4/AR-15/HK416 will be around in inventory until some seriously revolutionary change in firearms technology comes about.

Very interesting to hear feed back from someone who got a hell of a lot more training than the usual line grunt or Three gunner. Your feed back is amazing and frankly is helping me check myself in how I portray some things in a project I am working on.

First off... Thank you for your service. I like when our military makes technological advances. Bringing new platforms with new cartridges is definitely going to have barriers for success. Let's hope it doesn’t go to waste... Thanks for your perception on this topic..

I personally feel like there is a connection to DARPA’s Exacto program and the reason they are switching to 6.8 and polymer shell casings. In that scenario it is not apples to oranges at all. Our military has been developing weapons in a much quieter way recently and we should keep it that way.

Thanks Coch, always enjoy the way you deliver the info, here in OZ we are still on the 5.56 wagon. But I wouldn't be surprised to hear that our SF chaps are using it, cheers

Very informative and well purposed explanation regarding where this weapon fits in our fighting tool box. Well done as usual … your military experience is so valuable in this discussion 👍

I really enjoyed your well articulated yet soft spoken and deeply knowledgeable analysis. Family friendly so even my kids could watch. Subscribed to your channel.

When I was going through gunsmithing school one of my master smiths pointed out we haven't really had any leaps in firearms technology for awhile. In terms of operating systems we haven't really seen anything majorly new for about a century till recently. (I think the Lago Alien counts as something new, even if it's using similar principles as what came before. There's some other interesting recent innovation too, but that's very recent and this was 2014.) Where we've seen innovation in terms of bang sticks specifically has been material. The WWSD rifle's probably an ideal embodiment of just what we can do with modern material sciences that simple wasn't possible 50 odd... or even 10 or 20 odd! Years ago. The other place our class determined we'd see a lot of innovation besides manufacturing techniques, was ammunition. Sig's new round, the 7.5 FK BRNO round, and numerous others appear to be proving that little bit of noodling and discussion out.

I like when Coch explains things, so that I can understand them

I got to shoot the XM-5 at the SIG event in Phoenix. Very impressive. Un-zeroed, I was hitting steel out to 600yd, with a pretty heavy crosswind. Less recoil than my AR-10, very quick to re-acquire a target. I just wish they had the new optic, XM-157.

I always look forward to the videos from Coch. His years of experience shine through and he presents his thoughts on things quite well. But this time I was derailed… what a WATCH COLLECTION🙌🏼

Best sense explanation I’ve heard. Thank you sir

One thing you're missing in this analysis is that it's paired up with a special optic that will mark all targets, rangefind, compute ballistics. This gives every user competent with it the accuracy to make that round very useful. I think you'll see more a DMR role like soviet doctrine, but it makes sense to stay with intermediate cartridge for most people.

We predated the British EM2 280 with the Garand in .276 Pederson but MacArthur nixed that because of all the 30/06 Ammunition left over from WWI. The British also had a .276 cartridge even earlier this one in their Pattern 1913 Enfield with ballistics similar to the 7x57 Mauser and now we are back to the future with a 277 caliber rifle which I think is great

Love your content, You've become one of my favorite channels to watch. Keep doing what you do best, you're awesome!!

Great VDO - Thank you.

I can see the XM5 Spear filling a niche, as a platoon "heavy hitter", a sniper support weapon (spotters rifle with an LPOV), and a SASS replacement/supplement.

Weapons R&D Mil Contractor here: I was relieved to hear your opinion! I had this take when NGSW closed because I was familiar with the MCX Rattler getting favorable reviews in combat. My personal take is that it will be a family of firearms (MCX Rattler using .300 blk, M5 and M250 using 6.8, MG 338 using .338 Norma Mag [I get it, only two in that ‘family’ are MCX, but keep reading]) but also a family of cartridges. There is a distinct design effort put into the M5 and M250 that gives them function at a range of chamber pressures. The 6.8 hybrid is not just an 80k bullet- it can be loaded from 60k to 120k psi. It would make sense to have the 60-80k carts primarily for the M5 and the 80-120k carts for the M250. This would only be a problem if either weapon would malfunction under adverse chamber pressures, but both are designed to function normally from 60-120k psi, so in a pinch you can throw the LMG rounds into your battle rifle and vice versa. More evidenced by the implementation of the M157 fire control package that will issue with both of these systems.

Just came across your channel. First of thank you for your service. Also just want to say thanks for sharing some of the wisdom and knowledge you no doubt spent years learning.

Thank you for your clear and thoughtful presentation on the XM5

Hi Coch, thanks for a very well-thought out video. In particular, I like your "toolbox" approach. Instead of relying on a high spec/high risk new rifle platform, maybe a re-evaluation of the various roles of squad members could help solve some of the problems. Why have all squad members blaze away expensive, heavy ammo at a distant target, when one dedicated DMR (properly armed) could do that job, while the rest do the normal stuff? Incidentally, FN have a new product called the Evolys platform to replace the venerable SAW, and it comes with interchangeable barrels (5,56 & 7,62mm) so roles can be adapted prior to the mission, for best effect. It is super light, and belt fed.

Thank you for your service Coch . That was a great explanation of the use or uses of this new platform .I was thinking they went with this new battle rifle because of the larger more effective round , I've heard stories of our heroes putting 5 or 6 or more accurate shots on the enemy with the 5.56 round and that enemy is still in the fight because the enemy was drugged up in Iraq and Afghanistan .

Wud love to see more content like this from u man honestly Love the way u break it down an explain it so i get it Awsome video

Coch, thank you for an honest evaluation of the XM 5. Your one hell of a teacher for us want to be operators!

I appreciate your knowledge and your perspective on this new and very interesting rifle. You definitely filled in the blanks I had questions about. I am stillconcerned about how hard this cartridge is going to be on the rifle and will the military up its maintenance schedule for this rifle pro actively, rather than when the rifles are already worn out and risk of catastrophic failure is high.

The round itself is for sure one of the biggest changes along with the computerized optic.

Thank You for your Service..

I always love it when these specops guys are quite humble and soft-spoken in person. I’m sure not all specops guys are like this, but it is common

One of THE BEST discourses on small arms technology I ever heard. The importance of platform types (or "families" if you will) as an assurance to provide some form of standardisation for the soldier was a point WELL stated. I LOVE the FN-FAL but I must concede that the arguments in favor of the AR series platform (from battle rifle/AR10, to Assault Rifle/AR15 to the 9mm submachine guns built around AR chasis were impossible to argue against.

Hey Coch, thanks for a great video as always. One point I think you'd find value in talking about in the future (once you have data or experience with it) would be the integration of the m5 with the m250 in squads and platoons. I think it was Ian from FW who pointed out that Army tries to select weapon systems that share a caliber between rifle and LMG. With the 250 firing the .277 fury, I think we're looking at providing volume of fire from machine gunners who can now reach out accurately over really long distances and with much greater AP and suppressive power than the m249. I totally agree with the concerns about the appropriateness of either of these platforms for urban or CQB environments, it'll certainly be interesting to see what doctrinal and equipment adjustments are made there as the Army prepares for near-peer conflicts. Personally, I'm always a big fan of Peter Zeihan's geopolitical analysis, so I think our next major geopolitical focus should be the security and stabilization of Mexico and Central America, and I think those are the battlefields our equipment should be tailored towards.

I love how soft spoken and chill you are. Very good breakdown.

I learned something today. Thanks for the video!

Feels like we're just inching our way to another military era where we drop plated body armor if we're gonna make penetration the meta. I'm sure other militaries are completely fine with an intermediate cartridge on its worst day winding someone for a few minutes, and more likely at the very least incapacitating them. They'll save themselves 10 pounds just adopting advanced soft armor so long as it's not gonna make a difference either way, while fielding more ammo than we can. You could make a more intermediate cartridge that would weigh less and still unload a bucket load of fps onto someone's plates.

Love anything from Mark! Would really love to see a knife video by him.

The first sensible analysis ive seen , well done chap .

Awesome video Would love to see you do some stuff like in the team room channel where you could interview old seals and talk about their awesome stories Thanks and keep up the good work

A lot of the guys you see, in videos, who are struggling with the recoil - they may not have tip-top form, but they're still experienced shooters and are fairly strong guys. If they're struggling, how will more average soldiers do?

Love your videos. Looking forward to seeing more on this.

Your analytics are very well rounded and presented.

Most intelligent info that I have heard yet on the XM5 .... thank you!

it is a battle rifle,its a ar10 based rifle in a 6.8x51 vs the 7.62x51

You summed it up right at the end. “If you know how to shoot.” This gun seems well suited for operators, Rangers and well trained infantry (Army and Marines). Not so sure its a good idea to be adopted by everyone else. Although they’re probably not going to use it as much so maybe it doesn’t really matter.

Best talk on this new rifle I have seen as of yet - liked and sub

Those mp5s and those shorts and moustaches...those guys were hardcore, very 80s

Interesting, I hadn't got the similarities to the FAL and EM2 projects in intermediate calibre but you're right this is a call back to that concept. I trained on the L1A1 or SLR for a few weeks before we switched to the SA80, I ended up on the GPMG in the 1st Gulf War so my take on this is, the guys will learn how to use it effectively with enough rounds in training. Soldiers are adaptable. Is it the right weapon for room clearing and fighting in urban areas, probably not. The military will have to come up with another option there.

I love this take on this. Like he says, not everyone in the platoon will likely have this. You can still have half the guys with 5.56 rifles and maybe some rattlers for door kickers but to have even one person with the spear is a big advantage given it’s capability especially once they put those vortex futuristic weapon scopes on em.

Thanks sir for this video, very good explain.

Thank You for all you done.

Thank you for your thoughts. Besides the M4/XM5 discussion, at least there will be a significant improvement in the light machine gun fire in every squad. Giving them the suppressor, long-range high-penetration bullet, new optic, and retaining the ability to go with a minimum of 50 rd. pouches and compatibility with belts over the base M249 should be a pretty good bump. It's reported they also requested a conversion kit for the M240 to use the new 6.8 round, and that's where it gets a little bit fuzzy to me. Where would the M240 have an advantage over the proposed M250 if it merely adopted the same round? I guess barrel-swapping capability and that should be about it? If they follow through with the plan to implement the XM5 to all or most riflemen, then I believe they should design a 30-rd. magazine and offset the extra weight plus reduced magazines carried by any given squad (in the US Army at least) with their automated robotic mule program. The current program carries up to 1,100 pounds and is being trialed by the 101st. They just released a request for bids on an "increment 2" model which should enhance the carrying capacity and also allow for the integration of offensive modules such as a remotely controlled machine gun or grenade launcher. Perhaps that is the actual plan since the request for a new variant and many more units (quantity) comes only a couple months after increasing the average riflemen's individual kit considerably. If they do it properly, I assume a squad heading out on patrol or out in the field, in general, could utilize the new robotic mules by storing most of their long-term supplies on and in that thing, allowing for each rifleman to carry the same ~8 extra magazines or whatever the average is for 5.56, despite using the heavier 6.8.

I feel that General Dynamics' polymer cartridge can achieve the ideal effect of lower the weight and still deliver the punch that they are looking for. The trade off of heavier round vs punch would not have been a factor with polymer cartridge. I think that's a big difference and has been a topic of intense discussion among others. Good video, love the different point of view. Here's hoping you get a unit soon to test/play with so you can let us know more feedback from the hands on.

Excellent Summary. Cheers 🍻

Informative. Love your relaxed style.

I've always been concerned about the ballistic differences between the M 14 and M 16. I appreciate your professionalism and delivery of your informed opinion 👍.

The new optic is probably the most intriguing part of this new weapon system. It supposedly can laze the target, measure wind speed, and adjust the optic automatically for range and windage. If true, that will make a lot of average shooters much better at range. The high-pressure round is also likely to have an absurd amount of muzzle energy that might give it penetration beyond just body armor. I'm only speculating, but I imagine this gun is at least trying to be a true game-changer in many respects.

Thanks Coch always like to hear you talk !

Bravo, Little Brother! I LOVE the fact that You used the proper nomenclature for the rifle designation! Good video.

One thing that I'm curious about is what could have been achieved had the 5.56 or something more beefier, like the 6.5 Grendel, 6.8 SPC or the 6 ARC, been done with the steel base to increase pressures to what SIG uses in their 6.8x51 ammo.

The great thing about the sig ecosystem is that you can fill a lot of roles with a single manual of arms. 9mm mpx, 556/300 mcx, 762/6.5/277 spear

Man is it awesome to hear the term "Battle Rifle". Will come back to watch the rest because hearing just the first descriptors he is using is highly motivatind.

Desde Argentina Buenos, ciudad de. Mar del plata, felicitaciones!!!son los mejor de lo mejor 👍👍👏👏👏👏👏

I envision the 6.8×51mm to be used far more in the belt-fed role--ground, wheeled or air---than as a simple grunt rifle. I see that cartridge replacing the 7.62 NATO in this role, but not supplanting the 5.56 for some time.

I think the M5 is awesome. It has its place and for special operators it is another tool in the tool box. I thought it was the best DMR maybe ever. I can understand the military wanting to roll this out as a near peer conflict is always coming closer. The M4 will also be around a long time, maybe as long as the M5 or longer. Supply depos, tankers, cooks, truckers can all make use of the M4. As a civilian I would love the M5 for hunting either long distance or larger game. The ammo you can always down load depending on your game, especially as full brass cases will be available.

Interesting on your information. Great information. Thank you very much for your video.

Thanks so much, helpful info

Hands down best assessment I've seen. My argument has been the same, that procurement numbers don't match a full replacement of the m4 and that it will be rolled into use depending on the situation. And depending on the situation it has some fantastic capabilities that currently aren't offered. First time coming across your channel, definitely subscribing.

Two things: The weight. Per Ian over at Forgotten Weapons, the fully-kitted M5 (meaning loaded mag, suppressor & Vortex NGSW optic) will weigh about 14 pounds. That’s more than 30% heavier than the fully-kitted M4 I humped down range. Combat troops already carry far more weight than is healthy. 2nd: The available specs for the new round definitively show it will not defeat NIJ level four armor (I’m happy to demonstrate the math on this in a following comment should someone wish me to). Here are the conditions in which a variant MIGHT be capable of defeating lvl four armor: The XM1184 round is actually as rumored on forums: if rumors are accurate, it has a tungsten penetrator. The military has access to a variant round producing significantly greater than the 80,000 psi chamber pressure currently documented. Some combination of the above. However: based on all current official information available without a clearance, even the hybrid-cased 6.8x51 will absolutely not defeat lvl four armor despite producing 80,000 psi chamber pressure.

Awesome breakdown Coch!

Great analysis Coch.

6mm ARC cartridge seems to give high velocity, long range, and good accuracy. The 6mm can use existing 5.56 magazines as well. Foot pounds of energy is very similar to a .308 cartridge at similar distances. What is your thoughts on this change?

The plastic concept bullet for me was the right way too go. I think We live in a world were radical thinking is way too scary and nostalgia is an easy way too feel safe in the future not just weapons but in all things. Now the new gun is picked I think the trial gun program should never stop running this will keep the army getting new ideas all the time and get units too use the good trial guns as needed and if one is amazing and out performs all the others then ur golden .world war one and two from drawing board too production was super fast.so testing should never stop keeps u ahead of the rest even if u never use said guns right the cost is small if u make small amounts.

Thank you sir for protecting me and my family over the years of your service to our great country. 👍👍

Very nice input.

XM5 for DMR role maybe, M4 has more compacity, agility and simplicity. M4 will still remain a better platform for overall combat. I'd rather have a lighter platform, with more ammo compacity.

*PRAISE ME* Frogman!

Had to subscribe. Haven’t watched a video that had me tuned in for the whole video in a while like this one did.

Well-balanced preliminary review. Good food for the thoughts - kudos!

Sounds like the US Army is going to the 1 shot, 1 kill methodology. That’s fine for a sniper/DMR role. As a general purpose rifle, I would think adopting the MCX in 6mm ARC would make more sense. Lighter than the M5, yet more powerful than 5.56 with similar ammo capacity.

I think the recoil you see interwebz warriors dealing with depends a lot on what kind of ammo they are using. "Normal" pressure civilian loads or the hot army stuff. On a different note, I think great compromise was missed with the .264USA.

Excellent analysis!

Great stuff, well thought out

Great analysis. One of the things that concerned me was how the generals in the press conference were saying how it was so much more powerful than the 5.56 round, but never mentioned the 7.62 NATO, which this is much closer to. That has me worried this could be a nice weapon, but a bureaucratic failure to get what was initially envisioned. I agree the M4 platform still has a place, but I wonder what job the 5.56 really has now. You gave the example of being in an open area against an opponent with armor as kind of the ideal use for the M5, so on the other end of the spectrum, a close urban area against an unarmored opponent. In that scenario, wouldn't something like the .300 Blackout be better than the 5.56?

My biggest gripe with the design is that it copied the charging handle and forward assist inspite of the left side charging handle. I know why they did but pick one option and go with it. The caliber seems very interesting though, if you get a chance to shoot it keep in mind the current commerical ammo is not true mil spec.

As a retired operator I carried many different weapons just depends on situation in desert I liked an AK 47 in woodland I went m16a2

Awesome breakdown!

When do you think was the earliest that someone tried a pistol grip on the M-14? I’ve fired one that without the pistol grip, but not one with it. I did get to hold one with the pistol grip… and like most every rifle with that feature it felt so natural & controllable that it makes me wonder why they didn’t go with that from the beginning. I’m left wondering how far back it was when they introduced that option. Thanks for another interesting video!

As far as I can tell this rifle is being billed as the new infantry rifle, thus it will replace the M4 in infantry units. This is the type of rifle I personally love, and would truly have loved this weapon and especially the cartridge in the mountains of Afghanistan. Yes it is heavy, but hell my SPR weighed almost 12 pounds fully kitted out, and my MK48s were 17 pounds or so. this rifle would've given my platoon significant overmatch on that deployment. now, on my 3 Iraq tours things may be looked at differently, however we operated out of vehicles often, and having the added penetration against barriers in an urban environment would've been quite usefull indeed. Hell, one of my guys on my 2nd tour put an eotech on his m14 EBR while in Baghdad because it was such a great weapn for use against barriers and he didn't see the need for magnified optics. It worked. I am curious though how this all pans out, especially in this age of smaller more petetit infantryman, er infantrywomen, uh infantrypersons? Regarldess, its a rad weapon, and new weapons and tech is good, but will it go the path of the M14?

Respect my fellow Vet Great explanation and pov. As a disabled Vet and platoon leader I loved the idea of having mixed firearms on the platoon like you said. Have a few proficient marksman running the new platform, the rest with the M4 for mobility with a M249 etc...

Good presentation and assessment 👍