- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: Texas Ben
Posted by: Casey
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.
I didn't know that caliber affected the extent to which that happened... meh. I always figured they all behaved more or less the same.
BUT! That makes it seem even more feasible to use 7.62 as oppoed to 5.56... You want wounded enemies, not fatalities... the stuff you described above is much more likely to kill someone than a 7.62 round apparently... the thing is, a dead soldier cannot fight, but he doesn't consume any resources either... wounded soldiers cannot fight, but you have to care for them, which costs a lot. If what you stated above is true, a 7.62 round would knock you out of action for a couple of months, but you would live yes?
Meh, w/e. Screw it all. Use 7.62mm hollow point rounds. Those things are nasty.
Actually, the wounds the 5.56 NATO round inflicts are extremely nasty (it's not so much the caliber of the bullet as it is the mass of the bullet). If left untreated, they usually are fatal from infection, and bleeding if an artery is ruptured. But, the wounds are extremely extensive (we're gonna have a ballistics lesson today).
Your body tissue is just like gel. When a bullet first enters, it creates a shockwave(due to both the spin from the rifling and the tremendous velocity with which it impacts) , which rips apart tissue and begins to create a devestating hole about an inch after the entrance wound. After that, the bullet (assuming it's a 5.56) travels a few more inches, expanding the hole and mutilating even more fles as it goes. If the bullet enters near a bone, the shockwave is usually powerful enough to fracture it, which sends off bone fragments like shrapnel. Once the bullet goes about three or four inches, the wobbling effect takes over, and it begins to make a sharp turn in a random direction. At the same time, the bullet fragments (which it is designed to do) and tears up flesh, bone, whatever is in the way. When it leaves, it forms a huge, gaping hole as the exit wound, because of the combined effects of the shockwave, splintered bullet, and other flesh that is being knocked out of place from the momentum of the bullet. Pain is intense once shock wears off, bleeding is usually severe, and the wound area is a complete mess.
In other words, once they bring you into the hospital, it's gonna take a lot of time, money, and resources to patch you back up.
All bullets do this once they penetrate far enough, but some are so massive and at such tight of a spin that they can blow you apart (like the .50 call).
The main reason they don't use the 7.62 is because its fragmentation doesn't begin until about 8-10 inches, which usually isn't enough. Once it begins to fragment and divert, it's almost out of the body anyways, so it won't do a lot. It just passes through you and knocks you down...unless it hits a bone. Then you're in for a world of huft, but you're practically guaranteed to be in a world of hurt if you take a hit from a 5.56.
If 7.62 hollow-points were a legal ammunition (even though hollow-points are probably more humane then the specially designed 5.56 NATO round), the military would still probably use the 5.56 because it's lighter, so you can carry more ammo with the same weightload as if you were equpiied with 7.62s.
[Edited on 1/22/2005 11:00:58 PM]