Quote:
Originally Posted by Panther Al
I've always felt, and seen firsthand, that the 5.56 lacked in the hitting power department.
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My problem is not with 5.56, it is with the M855 round.
The 55 grain m193 cartridge was a lead core with a full metal jacket. It would flip end for end when travelling through meat creating great wound channels. Sometimes the nose would separate from the base and angle away. This would create to wound channels.
The Hague conventions on ammunition made a mistake mandating pointed ammo as that can cause a more grievous wound than rounded nose.
Anyway the 62 grain M855 is Armor Penetrating with a tungsten rod surrounded by lead. It is balance for it length.
It doesn't yaw and drives right through like an ice pick. Small tight wound channels with small disruption of blood vessels. The damn Fedayeen using opiates in battle in OIF 1 seemed to keep going when hit. They didn't feel it whacked on pain killers but, certainly died later.
It is why Mk 262 and SOST is working better. The Insurgents are not wearing body armor and the M855 goes right through them.
Unofficially it is taught now to shoot for the pelvis or scapula to make an incapacitating bone break. Skirting legality though.