Small Caliber Lethality: 5.56mm in CQB

[garryc]

A bit about the Infantry Magazine. Somewhere out in my boxes of crap in my shop I have an Infantry Magazine that reports the M16s will start being issued to the troops in the Spring of 1976 that would be chambered for a 6 MM round.

Yep, that was the 6x45mm saw round they tarted playing with in the early 70's. Basically much like a 6MM TCU except the TCU has the taper blown out and would be a poor choice for a full auto. 6x45 is exactly a 223 necked up keeping tapers and neck angles

 

[Smaug]

A great read, thanks!

I found the Fig. 5 about yaw particularly fascinating: The M16 and its issued ammo is MUCH more effective inside 100m and outside 400m than it is from 100-400m due to yaw.

The bit about the bullet having to be able to penetrate armor instead of having expanding ammo (which we use as hunters) is also a good point. It is a whole different game out there.

The only thing missing was a comparison of calibers in the same chart. I bet that an accurate 7.62x39 would be "better" than a 5.56mm. At least in the range that it will work.