We’ve been following the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program here at TFB from the very beginning and we recently reported that the US Army had received the first batch of the new and improved version of the NGSW-Rifle - the XM8 . The XM8 Carbine is a shorter and ligh...
This is a fascinating Photo Of The Day (POTD) set showcasing some of the U.S. Army's current small arms family, with the XM8 Carbine, the M7 rifle, the M250 and the M4A1. It’s not often we get to see studio-quality images, but here’s the new XM8 Carbine in a perfect side-view. He...
For today’s Photo Of The Day, we have pictures of the new XM8 Carbine used by the members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. The XM8 is designed to improve maneuverability, especially in confined environments, while retaining the same 6.8×51mm ammunition and core operating system as ...
Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.  –   On December 10, 2025, the decision was made to advance the procurement of a carbine variant of the Army’s M7 Rifle, designated the XM8. While not a replacement for the M7, the carbine exemplifies the program’s commitment to rapidly incorporat...
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday, brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the new Victra 20-gauge shotgun suppressor . This week we are looking at the new silencers from Strategic Sciences. In an age of new and creative suppressor de...
The XM8 ships with a 25-round magazine. Twenty-round mags from the M7 remain compatible. That directly addresses one of the louder complaints in Army Capt. Braden Trent's May 2025 assessment of the M7, which called the 20-round capacity a liability. As TFB covered when the Army type-classifi...
In 2015, photographs and videos began circulating of several prototype rifle designs from the mid-2010s, chambered for an obscure experimental round, the 6x49, which was the Soviet Union's unified 6mm cartridge . The photos and videos show new developmental rifles chambered for the Soviet-er...