Shooters claimed that lighter rounds lacked “stopping power,” an elusive metric for determining a round’s effectiveness.īut advocates pushed for a lighter round that would add more shots and give a greater volume of fire. The Army adopted the M16A1 in 1967 to replace the 7.62 mm M14 rifle.Ĭontroversy centered around the performance of lighter rounds when compared with heavier rounds. It was a shift that stopped the use of the heavier .30-caliber family ammunition common among ground combat troops beginning in World War I.ĭeveloped in the late 1950s by Eugene Stoner, the M16 rifle was first fielded by the Air Force. The caliber was used within small game hunting circles and was a major departure for small arms. The historyįrom its inception, the 5.56 mm round and the M16 service rifle were controversial. Combinations of bullet, powder and cartridge configuration and small items on the weapon could be adjusted as the Army fits the ammo and weapon together in the manufacturing. The final weapon design and ammunition features are still being refined.ĭue to federal contracting rules, Army entities such as Program Executive Office Soldier andĪrmy Futures Command were restricted from detailed contact with the vendors during prototype selection, said Bridgett Siter, CFT-SL spokeswoman. “The effects achieved by the NGSW system on first round hits would likely take our current weapons multiple rounds to achieve,” Siter wrote. The system delivers, “probability of incapacitation (overmatch) against the full array of target sets the Close Combat Force will encounter in current and future Large Scale Combat Operations,” Bridget Siter, CFT-SL spokeswoman told Marine Corps Times.
Sig Sauer PEO Soldier/Army Jacki Belker/Staffĭetailed data of the round’s performance in testing are classified, according to responses to media queries.
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