Is it possible to convert an M16 to 6.8mm?

Question

u know the new 6.8 rifles they are coming out with? is it possible to convert a m16 chambered for 5.56 or .223 into a 6.8 caliber ammo???

Answer 1

The answers are missing one thing.

Besides removing the old upper and pinning on the 6.8 SPC upper. The bolt must be swapped the bolt face on the 223 and 6.8 are not the same.

Companies like a Bushmaster ( I assume others as well) include the complete bolt carrier assembly with the new upper receiver group.

If you mean a true M-16 then the bolt must be removed from the auto carrier and the 6.8 bolt installed to still function in automatic mode of fire.

Answer 2

sure, just change out the complete upper and you now have a rifle that can be changed back and forth to both calibers just by swapping uppers.

Answer 3

Yes.  You can actually convert it to almost any caliber.  What you are going to need to do is look for a new bolt and upper reciever, which is gonna be your chamber, bore, barrel, and muzzle.  The lower reciever will be fine as it is.  I've never fired 6.8mm, but from what I understand, either the 6.8mm round is loadable into a 5.56mm magazine or the 6.8mm magazines are functional with the lower receiver of the standard M-16 series rifle.  Either way you should be fine...it'll just cost ya a pretty penny.

It's a really easy process....switch the bolt out and pop on the new receiver.  Done.  Load a mag and start shooting.

Answer 4

i would assume it is possible if you got a new barrel, as re-boring the existing barrel would be far more expensive. anything is possible if you've got the right amount of money. they will probably make an m-16 barrel mod or a kit to modify it over to 6.8mm.

you will also need a new receiver and firing pin, but that would probably come in a kit.

Answer 5

Yes you can, just buy a 6.8mm upper reciever. that round was designed arround the m16

Answer 6

They have done it with M16 rifles to produce a marksman's weapon. There is also speculation of rechambering the M4 carbine to make it more potent.

Answer 7

with a good CNC Lathe and room to grow, anything is possible

Answer 8

Well, you would just need to change the upper receiver.

Answer 9

the entire concept of the 6.8 is that yuo could keep the same lower and magazine (but a 30 would only hold 25 rounds) and simply slap on a new upper with a new 6.8 barrel

But then, a new lower is pretty inexpensive.  If I had 2 uppers and only one lower, it woudl take me about a week before I decided "2 guns is better than 1 modular gun" and bought a new lower for the excess upper.

Answer 10

They already did with the m468.

Answer 11

The ideal general-purpose military round, it's been known for nearly a century, would be one shooting a 7mm bullet of 120-130 grains' weight at about 2500 fps. It should also be smaller than, say, 7mm08 loaded down for savings in size and weight. The 308 case is just to big, needlessly so with modern propellants. On the other hand, there's a whole family of wildcat and proprietary cartridges based on the 223 case, and it's too small to get the job done.

The reason the 6.8 SPC wound up being 277 caliber is that the 7mm wouldn't work in the M4/M16 reciever, and the entire point was to get as close as possible to the ideal without having to change the basic platform. So, after all this lengthy discussion, yes, by design it can.

Answer 12

no the M16 was only made to use the 5.56 and .223.Using other ammo could damage the gun