From pistols, tactics, calibers, platforms, to even an entire branch of service, the last several years of the U.S. Military is filled to the brim with new and shiny, alongside some novel kinks to work out. Some may question the reasoning of revamping our armed forces seemingly from the ground up immediately following the official end of two decades of war, but frankly this is all happening at the best time possible. History is rife with valid complaints of those in the dirt being indistinguishable from harried lab rats when it comes to experimental testing (with war comes innovation), and if we can discover and amend our mistakes during high-intensity training before putting the lives of ours literally on the line, all the better.
MARGIE
In 2020, the Department of Defense launched several new weapons development programs to increase lethality, and one still ongoing is the Medium-Range Gas Gun (MRGG or “Margie”). The MRGG is broken into two parts: the MRGG-S (“Sniper Support” to life cycle out the FN SCAR Mk20) and the MRGG-A (“Assaulter” or commonly called “Assault” to replace the role of the FN SCAR Mk17), with this article covering an entry into the latter category.
Chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, these semi-automatic rifles will provide both greater precision and longer potential envelopes of engagement for those on the ground, especially at the small-and-special unit level. Among the requirements for the MRGG-A are M4-like controls, accuracy of no worse than 1 MOA with issued 140-grain XM1200 ammunition, and a weight threshold of 10.5
