The USMC is dumping the standard M855 NATO loading in 5.56 in favor of a 62 grain 5.56 SOST round. The SOST round is designed for superior terminal performance from barrels shorter than 14 inches, and was originally optimized for the FN SCAR.
Marine Corps upgrading their ammo
Good for them although I’ve heard that the forthcoming Lead Free Slug (LFS) variant of M855 is supposed to give superior performance to vanilla M855.
I thought the USMC were still almost exclusively using the M16 rather than the M4.
They COULD just upgrade to the SCAR-17, and they’d find the results VERY impressive.
I thought the USMC were still almost exclusively using the M16 rather than the M4.
They are. They’re mostly using a mix of m16a2s and a4s. They haven’t even adopted the adjustable buttstock yet.
It’s about time. M855 sucked out of shorter barrels.
I hope that means a lot of cheap surplus with good brass is about to hit the market!