The 5.56 varmint stomper has come a long way though, and is very accurate now out to 5-600 meters in the new rifles. Problem is the little pill sometimes don't hurt real bad people real good. All too often, they can still shoot back after a 5.56 hit or two, instead of lying there like good little Muslims.
OTOH, changing calibers is one long and expensive PIA. And exactly how many caliber switcheroo kits is a grunt supposed to carry, anyway?
Unless theyre way behind enema lines they are unlikely to carry a conversion kit.
I’d like to see what kind of 7.62x39 magazines theyve come up with for the SCAR. Its hard to make that caliber work reliably in an AR size carbine.
The ammo supply chain is the reason.
We have tens of millions of 5.56mm rounds in variuos inventory locations.
Replacing/substituting that ammo means doubling the inventory for a considerable period, as weapons are switched out.
The rifles themselves would be the easy change.
New weapons are depot-level mods to the M-16/M-4 (and SAW?) to support the new caliber.
Personally, the 5.56mm caliber if fine.
Hits count.
Whenever I hear a guy say, “I pumped a full mag into him and he didn’t go down”, I think: “You missed.”
I really doubt the SCAR will be used in a modular role any more than the M-4. Nobody’s gonna carry a spare barrel. However, being able to switch out a barrel would be great for maintenance purposes. Should eliminate depot-level requirements.
I can see the more rounds per pound issue though.
I took my M-1 garand out of the safe yesterday and was out of breath carrying it upstairs...not being young anymore I have an excuse, but still, you hike all day with an 11 lb weapon, and I can see you wanting to dump it for a 7 lb weapon with the ability to carry a whole bunch of extra ammo.