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The things that matter in life.
The things that matter in life.
Saturday, April 23, 2022
THE DAILY FUDD: E201: (BIG UPDATE 2) "New military 6.8x51mm round in process of adoption -- Civilian bolt available, and semi-auto planned."
A new official caliber, of course, will impact 2A civilian Militia preparations. (At least it should, unless one is a libertarian or a fool... Remember, not all fools are libertarians.) The civilian analog is apparently the .277 SIG FURY, currently available in the SIG CROSS, a bolt-action "military-style" rifle. A semi-auto version of the SIG MXC SPEAR in the caliber is also planned.
Funny from this fudd's perspective, though, is how many people invested in the 6.8x43mm SPC caliber, who now find themselves 8 millimeters short and NOT in possession of a military-caliber arm. May these people learn a lesson about departing from common and standard calibers.
Nonetheless, TDF 17 discussed the coming time when, under Heller, government arms will outclass and be inaccessible to civilians. It's possible this new round may mark the start of this. (NOTE: This seems less likely than before, but it is something to follow.)
CAVEAT: Things are still in development, and the 5.56mm and 7.62mm will likely remain in heavy U.S. and NATO use for years to come. It reminds yours truly of seeing a vast amount of .30 Carbine stockpiled by "survivalists" (the '80s term for preppers), despite its effective replacement by 5.56mm two decades before. But again, we shall see.
The video below shows the typical libertarian/individualist fail of many in the 2A civilian Militia. It is almost entirely a discussion of relative effectiveness of 5.56, 7.62, and this new 6.8. But it gives a launching point for discussing the real issue this change would raise for American civilians.
MY COMMENT: Relative effectiveness is not the big issue in this. All three rounds are effective. Issue is interoperability with and use of military stocks by the 2A civilian Militia. In that vein, recall that decades after 7.62mm NATO was adopted, and then 5.56mm, there were still Guard units using M1 Garands in .30-06. Very likely that reserve components, which are the units in closest proximity to domestic civilians, may be using hand-me-down 5.56 and 7.62 for a long time. Ditto State guards and law enforcement.
And this all presumes the caliber shift actually happens. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. In WW2, the Italians saw their 6.5mm as insufficient, and sought to go to a 7.35mm. But the exigencies of war made the transition largely untenable, and 6.5mm remained the common round for them. (Of course, they should have gone 7.92mm Mauser for interoperability with their closest allies, but they had the same lack of big-picture vision too many 2A practitioners still have.) A major war or military action, foreign or domestic, could have the same effect on the U.S. and allies. So it is obviously too early to dump your 5.56 and 7.62 "collections" for this particular 6.8.(And as for those who invested heavy with one of the other 6.8s: This will teach you to turn from the standards.)That said, again presuming this transition proceeds, it is quite advisable for 2A civilian Militia, particularly veterans and those of good health and capable in that regard of such service, to eventually acquire 6.8x51mm capability.If such a one insists on doing that now, Sig offers the CROSS, a bolt-action in the caliber at MSRP of well under $2000. Bolts are hardly ideal in a Militia situation, but they are not useless, and the price is approaching a reasonable range. Such an arm would fit the baseline Militia function. And should a Federalist 46 situation arise, a civilian so armed would be prepared show up at the local muster in line with the latest caliber.
