this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
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Forgotten Weapons

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That was actually feed back given from the US army to the development team at Heckler & Koch.

The rifle evolved form the kinetic energy carbine portion of the doomed XM29/OICW program, and eventually became the G36 rifle. In between those two, however, it was the XM-8, and it came close to adoption by the US military.The XM-8 was designed to be a very modular system, with a variety of interchangeable stocks, handguards, optics and accessories.

Video: [16:54] https://youtu.be/Te2IqFbRR7A?si=

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/hk-xm-8-what-was-it-and-why-with-larry-vickers/

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/almost-adopted-the-hk-xm8-family/

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[–] LouNeko 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's comforting to know that there is a parallel universe where this rifle was fully adopted. And people in that universe are living the good life because Harambe is still alive since there would be a XM8 tranquilizer variant to safely resolve the situation.

[–] setsneedtofeed 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sometimes somebody says something that just makes so much sense that you can’t argue with it.

[–] FireTower 5 points 1 year ago

We are to the XM8 timeline as Tantalus was to the fruit branch in ancient Greek myth. Always in sight but always out of reach. Truly tragic.

[–] SpezCanLigmaBalls 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is this where they took inspiration from for halo? Lol my first thought seeing this was the halo AR

[–] setsneedtofeed 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The XM8 wasn't designed until after Halo CE had been released, and it wasn't really seen or known about by the public widely until 2003 at least.

If the Halo assault rifle drew from real life it may have taken some visual inspiration from the XM29 as a whole, the various versions of which had a much boxier and more industrial look. Mostly though, I think it is safe to say the Halo assault rifle is a riff on the Aliens pulse rifle. Very metal and industrial, and it even has the ammo counter and even a very shotgun pump looking handguard despite the Halo CE rifle not having a shotgun built in.

Although once people started noticing the XM8, it ended up in a ton of video games.

[–] setsneedtofeed 5 points 1 year ago

Sir, your AR-18 is very sick.

[–] Brunbrun6766 5 points 1 year ago

I don't know why but I have always found this to be a beautiful rifle

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember this but I did need a mental push to bring it up. I remember when it was news and googling about it. It is funny how far along it came before being shelved. I actually thought they had even used it a bit before being shelved.

[–] FireTower 3 points 1 year ago

I know I'll occasionally get quotes for some of the posts and do some reading but that's not a requirement. If you stumble across a picture of something cool and you know nothing about it it's 100% kosher to post it captioned "What's this".

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It looks like a toy.

[–] psmgx 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] FireTower 6 points 1 year ago

Na the XM8 kept it 100% modular. QD optic.