Sir:
I’ve been a member of a survival retreat group for about a year. A member told me to contact you. I am finally going to purchase a rifle (not for hunting). I read where the [U.S.] military is really unhappy with the 5.56 and the possibility of changing to the 6.8mm Remington. I like the idea of something larger than the 5.56mm and smaller than the 7.62mm. Is it possible the military will make this change and how soon? I am only going to buy one rifle. What are the disadvantages of buying the 6.8mm? Sincerely, – R.S.
JWR Replies: If the economy were to hold together, and ifthe new 6.8mm round were to eventually gain long term civilian market popularity, then it someday might be a viable option. Otherwise, no, I do not recommend it, since supporting your firearms battery logistics could be troublesome at best, or perhaps even a complete “show stopper” in a worst case. If you have huge budget, you might want to buy both 5.56mm and 6.8mm upper receiver/barrel assemblies to mate with your AR [1] lower and several thousand rounds of each type of ammo. Otherwise, I would skip the small calibers all together and get a battle rifle that is chambered in a real sure stopping and versatile caliber: .308 Winchester. (Parenthetically, I’m amazed how many letters I get from readers who say that they wouldn’t use a .223 for hunting 150 pound deer, but they are willing to trust their lives to .233 for hunting 200 pound armed men. I fail to see the logic there.) For .308 battle rifles, I prefer FAL [2]s and L1A1 [3]s, since they use inexpensive magazines and have clean (non-fouling) adjustable piston-operated gas systems. But if one of your key goals is light weight, then get an AR-10 [4]. (Although the latter do require more frequent and thorough cleaning.) If you do decide to get an AR-10, then make sure that it is one of the brands such as American Spirit or Bushmaster that accept commonplace (and inexpensive) FAL magazines rather than unique (and expensive) OEM [5] magazines. (The Armalite and DPMS brand AR-10s use proprietary magazine designs. Those are usually very expensive modified M14 [6] magazines. Avoid AR-10 from such makers!)