The US Army’s new Service Rifle - The SIG SPEAR / NGSW XM5 

A big thank you to Illumined Arms for lending us this weapon!!!

Good gun but need L4 traders for any good ammo

As an armed forces memeber who has terrible hearing loss for my age, i cant express how thankful I am for supressors on service rifles. With the amount training you do, this is a godsend regardless of tactical advantage.

This guy just killed me on Lighthouse

Thing to note is that the m16 wasn’t an immediate home run. I’m sure they’ll learn a lot in the next few years and make adjustments where needed

I’m a machinist at sig and take a lot of pride in the parts I’ve made for SPEAR and hearing you sing the praises of the rifle make me extremely happy. Keep up the great work!

Am I the only one who felt strangely satisfied when he was shooting full auto with the clear mag and saw the bullets rising up?

The principle of using a higher pressure in the round to maximize the effectiveness of a shorter barrel has also been adopted by the Japanese in their updated MX10 tank.

the new optic package combined with this rifle is hella crazy. basically aims itself. put all that with the next gen nightvision theyve shown as well and the lethality range is tremendous in any condition. maybe not necessary for every infantryman but its crazy stuff. the new sig machine guns are even cooler

Looks like the starting assault rifle you get in every COD game that ends up being the most reliable and OP choice.

At least it's better than AK-12

Something to consider, when thinking about the switch from the M14 to the M-16 with respective calibers is that something like the M249 didn’t really exist. Now that we have squad level weapons that are some thing that can be carried and sustained more easily than something like the M 60 moving back to a heavier rifleman round does kind of make sense.

The Montage at the beginning of each of Mike's Videos are becoming that of Legend. Great Video Gents. Big Fan of the Spear

I think the greatest innovation is that it's balanced well enough to stand on the magazine floor plate. Makes photoshoots way nicer. Welcome to 2022

Finally an actual in depth review and not just small snip bits of shooting and rambling about how it’s gonna be another M14 blunder

RU-vid recommended me this video because i play tarkov and love the SIG spear

Regarding training issues, look how long it took the US Army to fully adopt the M-4. Even today, most POG units still have the M-16. Even if the SIG SPEAR does become the "new" Army rifle, it will take years after that for Joes in S-1 to get them in-hand.

What an awesome preview of a future episode of forgotten weapons! Thank you US army! Very cool!

Easily the most highly anticipated video of all time. This should have been in theaters

Can't say enough good about your reviews bro. You are definitely a person I would base my purchase options from. Solid review

Great rifle. I agree with your findings as a main battle rifle. Now in my 20 years as infantry (now retired), I think that would be an awesome SDM (Squad Designated Marksman) rifle. It is lighter than the souped up M-14 they had us using for years that weighed over 14 lbs. Throw a 3-9×40 or a 4-16×50 on it and you have a great longer range weapon while still keeping that armor piercing capability within the infantry rifle squad. Just my opinion.

Previously on GT: “plate carriers are more common place now, here's how to set yours up" GT now: "Why would the government switch to an AP round with less overall ammo?" Coincidence? I think not

Glad that i was able to try SIG Spear out.. its a great badass weapon, bit hard to get, but the marked rooms in Reserve usually have one, it rips PMCs and bosses aswell! Tarkov finally has a new king!

Thank you for the video. Waiting for a while to see it being used.

The fact that this rifle reaches 2800+ fps out of a 13 inch barrel is pretty amazing. Also really dig the color!

If history is any guide, in America’s next war the soldiers will be like, “Wow, this rifle sucks in these conditions. We got any of those old M4s in storage somewhere?”

Another fantastic video lads...... absolutely brilliant channel, I love it!!

I can’t wait to learn more about this weapon. I might be interested in this one for sure!

I’m honestly impressed that he managed to control this gun in full auto mode so well that he makes it look as if the gun has the recoil of a 5.56. I suppose that all his experience in firearms training has paid off!

Well, the need for a more powerful longer range round was apparent immediately in Afghanistan, now, 21 years later, after we left Afghanistan, we have it(Yet to be phased in). Great success!!!

Binge watching your videos is a guilty pleasure of mine. You guys do a very nice job with the production. 0:48 to 0:60 the quick snap movements, suppressing a large sector alone... into the mag change at the end gave me all 2 inches my friend! I thought it displayed the versatility of this rifle well in a possible defensive posture. Looking forward to seeing the kinks worked out and getting her streamlined. $4500?!? OUCH Loved the M1A video as well, keep up the good work boys 🤟

The SIG Spear is an amazing weapon machine fitted in rugged environment and fitted to special forces due to the suppressor.

I feel like the charging handle issue is something that will phase out in due time as more soldiers get a hold of the rifle and find which they prefer and they pick one and stick with it.

I figured 6.8 would be pretty hard to handle on full auto but GT seems to do alright with it.

The XM5 has been renamed to the XM7 due to avoiding Trademark Issues with Colt’s Manufacturer LLC from the M5 Carbine

Looks like you had way to much fun filming that sick intro, great vid.

9:38 "She is a thick boy" A modern rifle indeed

I was all excited like “Damn he’s handling that reportedly high recoil very well!”, then he said he wasn’t using the higher pressure 227’s 😭.

Such a badass intro 🔥battle of the universe such a good sound track

Great Video!

One thing that everyone forgets is that when the military was using the M14, and during Vietnam using the M16A1, we didn't have the M249 or now the M250. These are fire team level fully automatic weapons. In a fire team (in the Marine Corps) you have fully automatic gunner (M250), an assistant gunner (M5 simi-auto), a rifleman (M5 semi-auto), and the fire team leader and grenadier (M5 and/or grenade launcher). Only one person is to have their weapon on full auto. The M4 only has a burst of three rounds, (recently switched to full auto). In any case you're not suppose to put it on those settings (burst of full auto) except when being over ran. You will always be more effective with semi-auto except at very close range (trench fighting). So the concern about full auto on the M5 is valid to a small point. What you did miss is the additional 2 lbs for optics. Now how that new optic will help or hinder people will be found out once it gets deployed. Most new weapon systems don't survive first deployments as is. A private can break anything!!! Even unbreakable items. Where there is a will there is a way. Murphy's Law is alive and well. In my day we only used iron sights. When the Marine Corps switched to the ACOG all of us old Corps didn't trust it. Yet the Corps went on faith (and 2 years of field testing) to use the ACOG. Once the Marines were being accused of war crimes because of all the head shots they were getting, caused us old Corps to change our opinions. We will need to take another leap of faith on this. Great review!!!

The fact that the optic let's you ping positions with your squad is mind blowing 🤯

The good thing with this caliber and ammo is they can also shoot the non stainless case ammo if the hot stuff isn’t available.

I think the rear charging handle is a way to not have to deal with retraining every soldier to use the side charge but no doubt it will eventually be fazed out while the boot camp training changes to favor and teach all new recruits to use the side charge.

*SIG should have hired you for their promo materials. You are the only one I have seen that can handle the recoil effortlessly*

It seems like it may be a decent rifle, what I would really like to see is someone on the shorter side (or a less experienced shooter) shoot the full power ammo side by side with Garand Thumb. It would provide a good contrast.

Your intro music is somethin else Mr. Thumb. Thumbs up Thumbs!!

That AR T-handle is one of the things that pushed me to the AK first. Recent developments in aftermarket ARs has brought me back to the middle ground though, in particular the MCX and other AR-18/180 derivatives

GT out here showing us why training is important. Recoil control is hands down THE BEST I have seen on this weapon. Watching literally everyone else shoot it, you would think it's an unweildy weapon that can't be used. Shows you how much people need to spend more time training and less time filming.

The MCX Mk2, the Virtus, is a fantastic rifle in both 5.56 and .300 blackout, even though it is a bit heavy. I think this Spear is the result of that Sig design, isn't it?

Love your work men ❤

My 2 cent is this: yes the Army as adopted this rifle, and it seems to be a great rifle; but like GT said in the video, this is aimed toward the infantry units, direct action units (SF, 75th, etc.). As for the rest of the Army, Reserves and Guards included, the M4s will stay around for a long, long time. Now infantry platoons in the 82nd, 101st, 10th Mountain, etc., will probably get outfitted with the Spear rifles and MGs in the next 3 to 5 years. But for the rest of us POGs, it'll be DECADES before we even see this; especially if you're Reserves or Guards. Heck, my current arms room still have tons of M16A2s and M9s and those are still being used. Would I like to have this rifle for myself, absolutely! But as a Medical POG, the M4 and M18 are plenty for me.

Supposedly, this weapon isn't complete without the "fire control system", which allegedly will negate some of the "problems you foresee". I'm skeptical, but I assume there are many professionals who have already tested the system and agree that the concept functions and provides us a significant overmatch. If all of that is true, and they are able to train the average troop to take advantage of all that overmatch, then I'm all for it.

so this why its going for 690k on the flea

Looks badass AF! and finally a larger round than the 5.56! This is a good thing! Dont forget we going to use the XM250 bad-boy. Theres your cover fire!

I think the army is going to use DARPA quadrupeds to mule ammo around for each battalion, which is one reason for the bulkier ammo.

Between the scar and this rifle, I like the fact that most of the functionality of the old m4 still remains visible, probably to make soldiers more able to adapt!

Take a look at this barrel "she's a thick thick boy" Love the videos mate. But had to poke fun at ya for the blunder, gave me a great laugh

The spear is a cool gun plain and simple, love your videos garand thumb

I’ve seen a lot of controversy surrounding this rifle but to me, it makes sense. Regarding your point about volume of fire winning firefights, and not being able to carry as much 6.8 vs 5.56; my own experience tells me this isn’t going to be as much of an issue as we might expect. very recently we (British Army) have been moving away from the philosophy of filling every square inch of an enemies space with hot lead. We phased out our FN Minimi’s and instead of having an LMG gunner per section, we now have a 7.62 sharpshooter in every section instead. Filling much the same role as intended by your new Sig rifle. I think most modern western forces are going to go through this “evolution” in tactics. We learn from every conflict, we’re not totally regressing back to the Cold War era mentality, and carrying large powerful rifle cartridges, but we understand the limitations of our current ammunition technology. I don’t know if I’ve articulated myself particularly well, but the new Sig and it’s ammunition makes sense to me.

18:25 For what it's worth, for my line infantry company in 2008/2011 we honestly shot somewhere between 250 to 400 live rounds through our rifles in a calendar year. It was a bit of a joke how little we shot "to maintain proficiency". Gearing up for deployment it'd be closer to 200 or 300 a month, but still. Everything else was blanks with BFDs. Very OSUT-esque. Mileage may vary of course. My unit was probably trash, too. Just figured I'd throw this in there.

I think my favorite part about these videos is the beginning montage/edit

I was in the Marine Corps when they promoted the 223 round. After over 50 years, they are going back to the bigger round. Crazy.

If you swap out the operator foregrip for the ranger foregrip you'd reduce vertical and horizontal recoil by 12% only at a cost of 10% reduced ADS movement speed...

They have both charging handles so when the stock is folded over you can still load and clear without having to extend the stock.

Just discovered this LARP channel. Very cool.

I’ll be infantry 11b in a few months in Fort Wainwright AK! I might see these by next year! Feeling pretty excited to try out 6.8! Hopefully Sig gets it right for our sake 😅! 🤘🏼🇺🇸

This could be good in a "Tier" system, being issued to troops depending on what type of terrain they're operating in. It would be great in desert or mountains, but in jungles, you would run into the same problems we had in Vietnam with the M14. I guess it will do until we can make a Plasma Rifle in the 40 Watt Range!

I love this gun because it’s everything annoying AR guys hate, it keeps the forward assist, it’s a larger caliber, it’s short stroke piston system, and it has a side charging handle. Also the pseudo monolithic upper is super cool.

OMG the start of this vid goes so hard!!

Very Good Review. I understand the new Sig has a foldable stock so showing the length seemed a bit biased. Also the new scope to be basic issue for this rifle wasn't talked about.

I think it makes a lot of sense as a specialist rifle, for certain people like a Designated Marksman... just use .277 as a replacement for 7.62x51 and keep 5.56 as the standard for the regular infantry.

The XM250 looks great and I think this would be epic as a DMR or an option, like you said, for missions that have the majority of firefights taking place at 400-500 meters but I think the military is going to rediscover the same lessons pretty quickly when their guys are saying that carrying less than half the number of rounds you can carry with a 5.56 just isn't enough. I really don't think the ability to defeat body armour is important enough to offset the round deficit.

The sig spear basically shoots a .270 Winchester short mag. I was asking years ago why the military never entertained .270 rounds. It’s a great balance between Linda range accuracy, power and light recoil.

I think they should make a few divisions worth of them, and keep them in storage. It makes sense to have them. They would be great for long distance environments or near peer countries. The majority of the time however, I think carbine is the way to go.

this thing is going to go the way of the M14, frontline service for 5 years then a DMR for 60 years. ARs on Mars.

Less than 30 seconds gang rise up

Can definitely use it mountain long range,great assessment btw.

Just held one at the Sig pro shop. It's very heavy! Literally feels twice as heavy as a military m4 even if it's not technically. I can't see this being standard issue

Not going to lie, I absolutely love your intro's. They're always on point. I have a big crush on all of the MCX's and when I saw this one about a year ago my feelings weren't any different. When I saw you made a video with the Spear I knew the introduction was going to be good and you did not disappoint. That was the best video clip with the Spear yet!

I have a strong feeling that the spear xm5 won’t replace all M4s but will be relegated as the new DMR with that new vortex smart scope. Maybe some riflemans would have it, but likely not all considering the big reduction of fire superiority with less ammo. They’ll still get to be ran with the ngsw xm250 as the saw for ammo compatibility. DOD likely wouldn’t like the logistical nightmare of needing sig proprietary ammo for big army while other branches still use 5.56 with their newly procured HKs and noveskes. I’m guessing there could be a better m855a1 in the future with a beefier chamber on new barrels and perhaps a more robust bolt and bolt carrier group. Especially considering the relatively recent adoption of the urgi and the tango 6t, I’m thinking those m4s will get stretched a bit more. Similar to how 9mm made the millennium caliber .40’s reign so short-lived with ammo developments in view of wanting more capacity. In other news, US Army will soon be called SIG army. Ngsw: spear xm5 Ammo: 6.8 fury of sig Ngsw saw: xm250 6.8 can: sig Full size handgun: m17 Compact handgun: m18 Lpvo: 6t Sig Uniform and humvees next anyone?

i swear this guy looks so cool shooting any gun

Man that clear mag looks so dope on camera

Production value of this channel has come so far, amazing work as always

i think it's really the evolution of optics that's leading us back to long range accuracy in rifles, because it's going to become very easy for even inexperienced shooters to hit targets at very long distances as the technology progresses. the new optic supposedly lets you automatically zero the optic by pressing a button while aiming it at a target, and that sounds incredible. 20 round magazines in CQB doesn't sound very fun, but i suppose CQB is less of a concern in a near peer conflict than it has been during insurgency conflicts. we'll just have to wait and see how it performs in actual combat.

I am literally alone in Virginia but your militant training keep studies more library than ever, I also learned to tame train "mature" dogs only.

You handle that thing like a beast.

Agreed about this probably being a reaction to mountain fighting in Afghanistan. The generals are always preparing for the last war rather than the one they're likely to fight next. If they wanted longer effective range they could've just converted existing M4s to 6mm ARC or 6.5 Grendel and replaced ACOGs with the new Vortex smart scopes.

I just realized an advantage that the XM5/XM250 will have over in urban warfare: The majority of peer/near-peer combat we are seeing in Ukraine that falls into the CQB realm is being decided primarily with superior initiative, better reconnaissance and with whoever is better at getting grenades into the enemy’s lap. There’s no real advantage to the Spear vs the M4 in the grenade aspect, the Army’s said the fireteam will retain its grenadier, whether it’ll be an underslung M320/M302 or something else I don’t know. But there’s the recon value: The Spear coupled with its new optic will be leaps and bounds more effective in seeking and picking off the main opponent of an infantry formation in an urban environment: Snipers. Now each American soldier can effectively act as a poor-man’s sniper, pinning, communicating positions and allowing other elements to move in and take tactical initiative. And overall the Army’s banking on its ability to be better aware of the battle space than their opponents, as evidenced by the sheer amount of information sharing and networked capability the infantry has now compared to what it did even as recently as Fallujah or Mosul. The Spear itself comes into play here in the ability of these weapons to make structures that were once considered cover against 5.56 penetrable to the average soldier if he knows what/who is there. This allows the Spear to use its size to its advantage by standing off and picking apart enemy units from locations placed at ranges that their weapons wouldn’t necessarily be able to punch through, and attempts at closing the distance would reveal their locations to superior reconnaissance and allow for counter maneuver to be conducted to defeat them or allow air support to counter them. It is either that or the enemy would be forced to vacate the position and surrender ground. At least, that is what I think (emphasis on “I think”) is the theory of the Army’s future tactics.

As I'm sure many of you have, I've read a lot of the history books written about American service rifle development. So many interesting questions as relating to previous doctrin . Almost like they've finally circled back and are trying to correct the issues with the M14.

It sounds just like the m16s used in black hawk down, the audio at least, that thing is a beast

I think Sig got it pretty much dead on with the spear for a service rifle. It’s an evolution, yes, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The velocities coming out of it are pretty damn impressive, and the ammo will evolve and improve in short time. Ergonomically familiar. Quality components. Well thought out. I’m just a retired old grunt, but the Spear gives me a warm and fuzzy for our warfighters.

7:48 No photo popped up showing anything But awesome breakdown of the XM5. Absolutely love the design and function of this platform. I don't think anything will ever really replace an M4A1 or any AR15 platform for that matter, but this definitely has my acceptance of coming close.

Love how he just drops the mcx on the ground when doing the comparison in size.hahaha

This seems like a good *conventional war* rifle. Open ground, basic infantry tactics, support by fire type stuff alongside beltfeds. Any close range stuff, or like you said Vietnam, I’d rather have something else.

Totally should have stuck with side charging. I prefer that over the other for ARs. This is is probably the best review of this gun I have seen. Great job Mr. Thumb

I kinda wanna see a DMR version of the MCX Spear. Imagine the feet per second insanity of a 20+ inch barrel version of this weapon.

I have been looking for a new battle riffel and was looking @ the AR-10; but between the guns&ammo mag & now y'all and seeing the rounds and your information on the actions of the military adoption of the 6.8 I've decided to Go to the 6.8 now; as well as keeping my 338Lapua magnum; I used the 338 in the Army as a sniper; but I can drop back to the 6.8 if Nessary

Personally I’d like to run this with a 16-20” barrel configuration with Sig’s Tango MSR LVPO with 1-10x Magnification. This would make a killer DMR platform for sure.

Gonna be interesting to see how long the barrels last, also given what just happened with the Army PT test, gonna be interesting to see how some people handle lugging a heavier system around.