Why no .277 FURY SIG 716i?

[somethingwolfpack]

I am pretty sure this is a something SIG will drop on the horizon, but it absolutely blows my mind that Sig USA hasn't released a Sig 716i in .277 Fury yet.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you are probably aware of the Army adopting the 6.8x51mm round aka .277 Fury. It is a 135 grain round using a necked down 7.62x51 case as its parent cartridge in its low pressure form. In the binary case round, it produces 20% higher pressure than its traditional all brass cartridge. Yea, sure it wares out riffling like a trucker wears out underwear the day after taco Tuesday, but the on paper performance isn't anything to scoff at.
Yes ammo is in short supply - BUT - Sig has already released a Sig Cross in .277 Fury. Why not give the market a Sig 716i in .277 Fury!? Or as I will call it the "Sig Spear Lite"
If you haven't heard my praise yet; I think the Sig 716i is the MOST feature rich 308 rifle in its price tag. Could it be better? Heck yea, but at a price of sub $1500 (I picked up mine for a little over $1200 after tax) you get a cold hammer forged barrel, mostly ambi lower, HUGE flared magwell, a 416 pattern anti rotation tab on the full length mlok handguard, a *longer-than-rifle-length-gastube* (which makes sense for the pressures of 308), tapered muzzle, flatwire buffer tube with a heavier than standard buffer weight, and a chromed carrier and gas key with a mp/hp tested bolt. When you compare that to the other AR-308 pattern rifle in its price range from Stag, Armalite, Aero, etc it makes a damn good argument to buy one.
I think for the consumer that wants a 6.8 cartridge to match the military issued round, while not investing in the MCX Spear, a 716i makes a ton of sense, would make sig a metric crap ton of money and consumers would want it!
Sure, knowing Sig it will probably have 16 undocumented generations in 2 years but, IMHO, a lot of European based manufacturers view the US market as a side market to over charge in *cough* H&K *cough* but Sig has closed its German doors. It IS an American company now, employing countless Americans - even if it has a Kraut name. Based purely on that, I am will to put my money where my mouth is, if only I saw the product hit the floor already!

 

[Prudii]

Because 277 is a big nothing burger. It exists for civilian sale only for marketing purposes. So SIG could tell the gov that ammo supply wouldn't be an issie because anyone with standard equipment can make it. Also "Look its a proven round! We're already selling it too civilians."

The xm5 has made it the same distance down the replacement pipeline as the xm8 did and look where that ended up. Sig won the contest however the Army has no obligation to actually replace their current arms.

Not saying it wont replace the M16 family but I don't think it will. The XM5 was borne out of a desire to have a rifle with long range and better armor penetration capability. Those goals were achieved but at the cost of significantly increased weight and significantly decreased ammo capacity.

In some alternate universe Col. Studler got taken out back and had some sense beat into him. In that universe its 2022 and everyone is still happy with FN FALs in .280 British.

 

[somethingwolfpack]

Because 277 is a big nothing burger. It exists for civilian sale only for marketing purposes. So SIG could tell the gov that ammo supply wouldn't be an issie because anyone with standard equipment can make it. Also "Look its a proven round! We're already selling it too civilians."

The xm5 has made it the same distance down the replacement pipeline as the xm8 did and look where that ended up. Sig won the contest however the Army has no obligation to actually replace their current arms.

Not saying it wont replace the M16 family but I don't think it will. The XM5 was borne out of a desire to have a rifle with long range and better armor penetration capability. Those goals were achieved but at the cost of significantly increased weight and significantly decreased ammo capacity.

In some alternate universe Col. Studler got taken out back and had some sense beat into him. In that universe its 2022 and everyone is still happy with FN FALs in .280 British.

I completely disagree with the point that the XM8 and the Spear are at the same point in there figurative life cycles. I know this because we've already got units in our arms room to begin familiarity before general issuing begins. I think because the civilian sector doesn't have access to F/A guns that the logic is focusing on the new rifle because it will eventually trickle down into the hands of the public, in one form or another, where little to no attention, from the media or the public, has been centered on the M250. The stark reality is that 6.8 adoption has more to do with the replacement of the SAW with the M250 and the inevitable replacement of the M240. Anyone who has seen my posts knows I have no love for Sig and I am primarily an H&K guy, so I can pretend I don't have that much bias in this venture, but the reality is our doctrine as a nation has more to do with flanking and "overmatch" then lining up and shooting volleys at each other. The 6.8 round allows more ammunition to be held, has a further *effective* range, and preforms better in terms ballistic and terminally characteristics when compared to the venerable 7.62 round.
The prime reality is that, like all business ventures, a gamble is occurring. Many manufacturers are going to wait until they see .277 Fury marked boxes on the shelves before they begin development and production of their own guns chambered in that cartridge. But that same logic is why Glock is a household name and S&W will be second (now third) in terms of pistols sales - love it or hate it, do you remember when S&W introduced the 40 S&W cartridge to the market? Yet Glock managed to get pistols on the market before S&W, chambered in their own developed round, and as a result Glock became the de-facto standard for LEOs? Other factors of course helped play a role but there WILL be other companies making 6.8 - the base cartridge is just a necked down 308 Win casing after all - and it is a race to see who can come to market with something before the competition. Remember is 2012 when manufacturers couldn't give away guns chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor? The Ruger PR was selling $100-$200 less for a 6.5 model over the 308 offering, fast forward a few years and you have someone bumping the 308 variant in the BST section a couple dozen times because no one want it.
Its not a "significant" increase of weight. People keep spewing that statement but have no primary source to back that up but let us clear that up here: an unladen M4A1, the current fielded rifle, is 7.62 pounds with a loaded magazine. A XM5 without it's suppressor is 8.38 pounds a difference of 3/4 a pound. That is a 9% weight increase firing a 30% larger cartridge then 5.56, has a full length-free float rail, a loaded magazine (20 rounds of 135 grains as opposed to 30 rounds of 62 grains). That same 9% increase gives you a Point and Area range of 1000/1200 as opposed to 500/600 of the M4A1. The decrease in ammo capacity is nonissue when you consider that the automatic rifle man in a fireteam has the performance of 6.8 without the hinderance and weight of 7.62 - again being the point of the cartridge has more to do with its belt fed role over the individual marksman.
I'd prefer a G3 over the FAL every day of the week and twice on Sunday - but at least we can agree on Studler.