- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: Texas Ben
5.56 sucks! In combat you use mostly single-shot anyway... 7.62 doesn't have unreasonable kick, and although it is heavier, it fires a bigger slug. Ya'know? Its less effective against body armour (bigger slug=less penetration), but really now, can terrorists afford body armour? Overall I just think that 7.62mm pwns 5.56mm any day. Also, wtf is up with the M92(fs?) pistol? 9mm? weak. Bring back the M1911! I liked that gun! Meh. w/e. I still have two years till I join the military, and then I only have to put up with whatever crap weapons they have for four years... so whatever. If I was in charge of things, they would still be using single-shot long rifles (M1 garand, M14(yes I know its auto so shut up, etc.), as opposed to all these damn carbines. But I don't make those descisions. But I still think the XM-8 is just a glorified G-36, as I said earlier in this thread.
The 5.56 has one advantage over the 7.62, and this is why we use it. It actually is because the 5.56 weighs less. Because of the weight, the bullet wobbles slightly. It also only needs to penetrate about three or four inches and then it begins to divert course and fragment, doing massive internal damage. The bullet could enter through your abdomen and come out your thigh, breaking up and shattering fragments all along the way. This not only takes the unlucky victim of the bullet out of the fight, but also the man who has to drag him out of the battle.
The 7.62mm bullet, by contrast, needs to penetrate about 10 inches or so before it begins to divert course and fragment. That is due to its relatively heavy mass.
However, this completely ignores the fact that the 7.62 has much greater stopping power due to its mass. In turn, that is offset by the fact that while the 7.62 has massive stopping power, it could have much greater stopping power if it broke up sooner upon entering the body.
Yeah, that's really gruesome and grisly, but that's how bullets are worked and are designed.