Don’t Call it a Comeback: Army Said to be Mulling the Return of the 7.62 Battle Rifle

By Tactical-Life

Get ready for the return of the battle rifle. Temporarily, that is. According to a story published on Soldier Systems, the U.S. Army is considering fielding a 7.62 NATO rifle in an interim capacity until it switches to one of the 6.5mm family of intermediate calibers sometime in the 2020s.

The reason for the change? Soldier Systems says Army troops feel as though they’re “in a street fight with a guy with longer arms.” As Popular Mechanics notes, that’s a reference to the 7.62x54R cartridge used by PK machine gun and Dragunov SVD sniper rifle. The former — which boasts an effective range of around 800 to 1,000 yards — is in use by the Taliban, as well as the Islamic State and most insurgent and terrorist organizations around the world. Meanwhile, the Army’s 5.56mm M4 and M249 SAW have an effective range of around 500 yards and 700 yards, respectively.

• RELATED STORY: Battle-Tested M14 Rifle Withstands the Test of Time

Looking for a more immediate way to plug this gap, Soldier Systems says the Army wants to “adopt the Battle Rifle to deal with a newly identified threat with what’s available now” before …Read the Rest

Source:: Tactical Life