Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
I hear that!
Got to be at least 7mm (give or take) to give me confidence it's actually going to take down the target without requiring follow up shots.
Circa 5.56 will do it, but what's the point of being able to carry all those extra rounds when you need twice as many to do the job properly?
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There might be times I am left scratching my head at things you say, but here Leg you nailed it centre mass, right out the gate.
I've always felt, and seen firsthand, that the 5.56 lacked in the hitting power department. Much like the old saying of don't get into a pistol fight with something that doesn't begin with a .4 ("Yes Top, Honest to god, I did find that Kimber over here, its just a pure coincidence that it happens to be the same model as my personal one back in the Springs..."). Yes, even a .22 can kill if you aim well enough, but face it, running and gunning isn't conductive to precision shooting. When I was over the sand box, and we went dismounted once the invasion phase was done, one of the first things I did was do a swap with another joe: I gave him my M16A2 Upper for his M4 Upper. Having a fixed stock on the M4 was pure win: It balanced perfectly with a 203, wasn't wobbly, still compact, and just flat out worked - within the limitations of the Short 14.5" barrel granted.
On another thread, I put it like this when comparing the various "Intermediate Rifle Cartridges" that people are talking up lately:
The 5.56 (AKA .223) was designed to snipe varmits. Dogs, cats, prairie dogs, stuff of that ilk by varmint shooters.
The 6.5 Grendel was designed by Long Range Shooters to snipe large targets from an AR platform.
The 6.8 was designed by troops to kill troops.
The 7.62S was designed by weapons designers to be cheap and reasonably effective at killing most any medium sized target.
In short, the 7.62S is a round that has really great potential: I seen some handloads with top flight brass and sierra bullets fired from bolt guns that would knock your socks off. Though the rounds are a bit hot for even an AK. If an AK was built to stand those loads, and built to tighter tolerances, that would be a world beater. Of course, those tighter tolerances would degrade the ruggedness of the design...
(And funny enough, since the introduction of centrefire ammo, the 6.8 size has been dancing in and out of vogue: always on the verge of being accepted, yet never being so.)