US Spec OPs New Sniper Rifle?

[numbersman]

Not sure if this is the right forum or not, so....mods, feel free to move. But I was reading today (see link below) about the new Barrett rifle that US special forces operators are hoping to get. It can shoot 3 different calibres through the one rifle. I am wondering why that would be useful. Surely an elite sniper would spend all his time training with the one calibre anyway, wouldn't he? If you wanted to switch calibres for a certain mission, wouldn't that require a few weeks of additional training anyway, so you could just as easily obtain another rifle and train on that? Or is this a really useful idea? If any of our veteran members, or otherwise knowledgeable people could answer this question, I would be grateful.
Cheers, numbersman
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/...nvNKXVjBRX1xM-ERojxCW8NYj7Y2UFzFe-k&r=US&IR=T

 

[Hickory n steel]

Master the rifle in all 3 calibers and you can have familiarity in your rifle when you need a different caliber for specific tasks.

 

[bdmicarta]

It can shoot 3 different calibers

I would expect the biggest problem switching calibers would be different time of flight, different trajectory and different wind performance. I would think that for actual service use it would be beneficial to concentrate on just one caliber, but for practice at a set distance, or for familiarity training, you could use a less expensive caliber or perhaps a less abusive caliber. I would think that someone with the qualifications and experience to use such a rifle would not have a problem with the recoil of the full caliber, but perhaps for long practice sessions a little less recoil would be beneficial.

Maybe the caliber options are not for use by a single rifleman but for use by a group, for instance one group of soldiers my be better served by the lesser cartridge while in other areas of service they would use the caliber with best distance performance. In other words there is no reason to use a Barrett .50BMG if your longest shot will be 100 yards.

Generally changing calibers for something like this requires changing barrels and bolts, and would certainly change point of impact so you would have to change sighting as well so it isn't a spur of the moment change as is implied by the article.

 

[heresthedeal]

That article and about 5 more pretty much explained it. It's not like these guys are shooting Buffalo with 4570 or 45 110s.
Difference between the calibers is for distance and materials. Designated Marksman, 308 out to 800 maybe a thousand yards. you got to set up and your targets going to be at 2000 to 2500 yards away 338 Lapua. These aren't bolt guns from what I understand, kind of a hybrid AR design. Makes it a little bit easier to change calibers. As far as sightng goes, the Scopes are more computer now than they are scope.
These guys ain't reading mirages to see what the wind speed is, that's done with a shot computer strapped to their wrist.
Pretty much everything is done for the sniper these days.
Still takes some skill, but a computer helps out a lot.
Or it's just a tad that'll look cool on the newest video game.