Sig Sauer has developed a 25 round magazine for the Army’s next generation rifle platform, responding to soldier concerns about ammunition capacity and battlefield loadouts. The larger magazine is among several changes driven by feedback ranging from constructive observations to blistering criticism.

The company is developing the M8 carbine as a compact alternative to its much criticized M7 Next Generation Squad Weapon rifle. The M8 appears positioned to replace the M7 as the standard weapon for soldiers, offering significant weight reduction and modifications aimed directly at troops’ complaints.

Josh Shoemaker, Sig’s product manager for defense, said the 25 round magazine would replace the 20 round magazine shipped with the M7. The change addresses a major concern among soldiers who previously carried the legacy M4 and its larger magazines.

The Next Generation Squad Weapon program shifted troops from the M4 rifle’s 5.56mm ammunition to the 6.8X51mm Common Cartridge. The internally designed caliber is used by both the rifle and the coming M250 light machine gun.

Soldiers accustomed to the M4 could carry seven magazines holding 30 rounds each, giving them roughly 210 rounds entering combat. With the new rifle’s 20 round magazines, the total available load dropped to 140 rounds.

“Guys are coming from the 5.56mm system, where they’re used to being able to carry seven 30-round magazines into combat, so they have 210 rounds, roughly, going into a fight,” Shoemaker said in an interview. “Well, now that they’ve gone to this larger caliber, there’s 20-round magazines, so you’re reducing the volume of rounds that you have.”

Sig Sauer and the Army have previously stressed that the 6.8mm round is heavier and delivers greater kinetic energy and power. Their argument is that troops can use fewer rounds while achieving the same effect on a target.

Last year, Brig. Gen. Phil Kinniery, commandant for the Army’s Infantry School and Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, told Task and Purpose that the 6.8mm ammunition “stops the enemy at one round” compared with the several rounds required by the legacy system.

That claimed difference is not visible during training because paper targets react the same way when struck by either caliber, Shoemaker said. The result has been ammunition management challenges for troops training with 140 rounds rather than the 210 rounds they were accustomed to carrying.

“Guys are having to think, ‘OK, well, how much ammo do I have left?’” Shoemaker said. “Sig has already, in a year’s time, developed a 25-round mag solution to extend some of that mag capacity out of the gate.”

It remains unclear whether the 25 round magazine will immediately ship with the M8 when fielding begins in December. Shoemaker said the magazines were undergoing early soldier evaluations and feedback, with a full Army evaluation still required before soldiers could receive approval to use them.

Sig Sauer, however, is approaching manufacturing readiness. “But in terms of production and manufacturing, we’re pretty much ready to go here in the next few months, to start spitting those out,” Shoemaker said.

Soldier feedback also led Sig Sauer to develop a more rigid handguard for the M8. Flexibility in the M7 handguard had caused problems for troops, particularly when movement disrupted the alignment of lasers used for nighttime targeting.

“We saw that with the guys jumping out of planes, and they were like, ‘Hey, man, we’re getting a lot of flex, and then our lasers don’t line up, and we can’t hit targets at night,’” Shoemaker said. “That’s a real problem.”

The redesigned handguard uses a newly developed insert and additional screws to reduce unwanted movement to a minimum. Unlike the larger magazine, which still faces Army evaluation, the more rigid handguard will come standard on the M8.

Shoemaker said continued changes should be expected as the weapon develops and soldiers provide increasingly detailed feedback. “There will be continuous improvements and evolutions of that as we go along. … And as the system matures, some of that feedback gets more and more nitpicky, you know, and we love it. The smaller stuff is just as important to us as the big stuff.”