Pennsylvania gun maker Geissele Automatics has introduced a production ready version of its Hypervelocity Improved Capability Assault Rifle, or HICAR, for a Special Operations Command program.
The effort seeks to extend the service life of the legacy M4 carbine while adding new capabilities.
The company began releasing promotional videos about building the HICAR after announcing the weapon early last month.
Geissele Automatics said the videos are intended to highlight the rifle’s performance and show what “high-speed product development” looks like.
The Naval Surface Warfare Center issued the solicitation in May and provided a 21 day response period, which has ended.
The solicitation requested a platform based on the M4 that could fire “future hypervelocity” 5.56mm ammunition.
That ammunition is intended to push the weapon’s effective range from 300 meters to 600 meters.
The desired increase places substantial demands on a rifle originally associated with legacy 5.56mm ammunition.
Bill Geissele, founder and president of Geissele Automatics, said that the company could respond quickly because it was “already well familiar” with the technology.
He said the company had worked on other government and commercial projects involving ammunition under high pressure for about three years before the solicitation.
Geissele Automatics is also currently contracted to manufacture sniper rifles for SOCOM.
That existing work accompanies the company’s development of a rifle designed around the demands of the hypervelocity cartridge.
Public details about the U.S. military’s hypervelocity 5.56mm ammunition, designated M855A1+, remain “non-existent,” according to the source. SOCOM directed Military Times to the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command.
In an email, the command described the cartridge as a “conceptual approach for achieving increased range and performance within existing calibers.”
For internal testing and demonstrations, Geissele said the company developed its own hypervelocity cartridge from commercial products to replicate the military ammunition.
Bill Geissele said the major difference between legacy 5.56mm ammunition and the hypervelocity round is pressure. The new cartridge case is loaded to 82,000 PSI, which is about 20,000 PSI higher than the legacy ammunition.
Because of the project’s sensitive nature, Geissele said the company will not sell a civilian version of the HICAR until the ammunition becomes commercially available. The timing of any such ammunition availability was not provided.
In promotional videos, company engineers equipped the HICAR with a scope intended for longer ranges and used a chronograph to measure velocity.
According to Geissele Automatics, an HICAR with an 11.5 inch barrel firing pressurized ammunition with a 77 grain bullet consistently produces a muzzle velocity of 2,700 feet per second and is accurate out to 800 meters.
Bill Geissele compared the ammunition’s demands to placing a more powerful engine in a vehicle: “When you put a high-performance engine into a vehicle that’s not designed for it, other things in the vehicle have to be beefed up in order to handle the horsepower.”
He added, “And it’s the same thing with high-pressure ammunition.”
One major challenge is the additional stress that ammunition under high pressure places on the barrel.
To address that concern, Geissele Automatics used higher quality steel of the kind typically reserved for artillery barrels.
Questions remain about how long a firearm can withstand repeated use of ammunition at those pressures.
“We haven’t shot as many rounds through to find a limit of it. We are shooting our first iteration of the barrel now,” Geissele said.
He described the testing process as “actually extremely difficult” because the company must fire thousands of rounds while monitoring both performance and material wear. Testing is not complete, and the HICAR has not reached its final iteration, although Geissele said the company is close.
The company’s videos are also intended to let viewers follow that development work.
“I think it’s very interesting for people to see product development and how Geissele does it,” Geissele said.
Despite testing that remains underway, Geissele called the HICAR a “production-ready weapon” that has moved beyond the prototype phase.
“We could, you know, if we got an order for 5,000 guns tomorrow, we could turn the machines on and start making them,” he said.
