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October 3, 2026: The 21st-century American Army underwent a revolution in how it designs and uses rifles. The US Army’s 21st
‑
century rifle revolution means moving from the M16s and M4s using the 5.56
mm round to the XM7/M7 6.8
mm NGSW (Next Generation Squad Weapon) using a heavier 6.8mm cartridge.
Over the last few years, the U.S. Army has begun equipping troops with the new M7 6.8mm assault rifle and M250 6.8mm Light Machine Gun, or LMG. In 2023, the Army placed its first mass-production orders for the M7 and M250. These new weapons replace 1960s-era 5.56mm ammunition that also required a new generation of assault rifles and LMGs. The M-16/M-4 assault rifles and M248 LMGs will remain in service, but the infantry and Special Operations Command (SOCOM troops will be equipped with the new 6.8mm weapons. SOCOM accepted the 6.8mm ammo and the new weapons and conducted the initial combat tests between 2001 and 2003.
The Army received 17,000 M7s and 3,000 M250s in 2024. The Army initially distributed these to Army troops. SOCOM has options because SOCOM has always been free to buy and use whatever weapons it believes it needs. That means SOCOM troops have several assault and automatic weapons available, and the M7 is now part of the collection.
The current plan is to buy enough 6.8mm weapons for all Army combat troops. That’s about 60,000 shooters. The Marines and SOCOM also use the 6.8mm weapons, which means about 30,000 more M7s are required. The Army plans to eventually acquire 107,000 M7s for infantry and SOCOM, combat engineers, and several other combat specialists.
Weapons manufacturer Remington began working on the new round in 2002. The new round used the case from the old Remington .30-.30 rimless round with a new 6.8mm bullet. SOCOM supported the 6.8mm round and began testing it in M-16s and M-4s modified to accommodate it. The 6.8mm round is more accurate at longer ranges and has more hitting power than the 5.56mm round the M-16 was originally designed for. Out to about 600 meters, the 6.8mm round has about the same impact as the heavier 7.62mm round used in sniper rifles and medium machine-guns. Designing and building a new 6.8mm rifle and LMG took longer. The new ammunition and weapons are the first developed for American infantry in over 60 years. This continues a trend that began nearly a century ago.
In the 1930s, the Germans studied their World War I experience and concluded that a less powerful, lighter rifle round would be more effective. This led to research on a smaller 7mm round but, with World War II fast approaching, the effort eventually produced a shortened regular 7.92mm rifle round. During that war, the Germans developed the first modern assault rifle, the SG-44. This weapon looked a lot like the AK-47, and that was no accident. The SG-44, like the AK-47, used a shortened rifle cartridge that was developed before the war. This was the 7.92mm for the Germans and 7.62mm for the Russians, which is still used in the AK-47. This gave the infantryman an automatic weapon that could still fire fairly accurate shots at targets 100-200 meters away. The SG-44 and AK-47 rounds had about the same stopping power as the new 6.8mm at those shorter ranges.
The AK-47 didn't have the accuracy of higher-powered bullets, but the Russians didn't see this as a problem because most troops using it had little marksmanship training. If they had to kill someone, they could fire at full auto. The U.S. M-16 and its high-speed 5.56mm round were more accurate than the AK-47 at shorter ranges when firing individual shots. But the wounding power of the 5.56mm bullet fell off rapidly at ranges over a hundred meters. The American military, and especially SOCOM, trains their troops to fire individual shots, and do it with great accuracy at any range. Several new rifle sights have made it even easier to do so and make first-round hits at longer ranges. This made the shortcomings of the 5.56mm round at longer range more obvious.
SOCOM tested the 6.8mm round in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the users liked it. But senior non-SOCOM generals resisted proposals to replace the 5.56mm round with the 6.8mm. To further complicate matters, a new 6.5mm Grendel round was also being tested, and some troops preferred it to the 6.8mm. This was because the 6.5mm round was more accurate than the 6.8mm one at ranges beyond 500 meters. The 6.8mm round won that dispute as well. In part, this was because the 6.8mm round was more effective against the body armor enemy forces, including irregulars, are increasingly using.
The M7 weighs 3.8 kg. Add the optional sound suppressor, and that’s 4.46 kg. The heaviest 5.56mm rifle is about 4 kg, but most 5.56mm rifles weigh a little less than the M7. With a suppressor, the M7 is 914mm long. The barrel itself is 330mm long. The larger and heavier 6.8mm round means the 30-round magazine is no longer used. Instead, it uses a 20- or 25-round magazine.