12-03-2011, 05:23 AM
The Royal Marines I know love 5.56, and wish they would be issued Colt Commandos. If you know the selection process, Royal Marines are the guys that feed the SBS its bodies, and guess what their #1 go-to service weapon is....my broken record speech on Colt Commando variants again....surprise surprise. They also comment on how certain units in the US actually shoot much better than them, and have been modelling their marksmanship programs after that unit, even though that unit was modeled after the SAS.
The anecdotal reports from guys who don't know how to shoot, and want a new caliber mean very little to me. "If I woulda had a _______...." then what? Like I said, every 5.56 injury or death I've seen has been impressive, to say the least. You have to argue with thousands upon thousands of seasoned shooters in their mid-to-late 30's who have been stacking bodies with 5.56 carbines for most of their adult lives, against the pleadings of a few of entry-level soldiers and maybe 2nd-termers who aren't gun guys and can't shoot to the standards that they will need to in order to make whatever new caliber they want hit their targets anyway. A lot of guys, even in the SF community had a hard time hearing that from within their own ranks, but that was what they needed to hear.
5.56 as an LMG round for squad support cuts the mustard to most of the distances a squad will be tasked with, but an optimized LMG specific cartridge that could replace both the 7.62 and linked 5.56 would be the ticket for enhancing ground-pounder's capabilities, if offered in a 12lb max LMG weight. We have to get SAW/LMG gunners as maneuverable as possible, not make riflemen more burdened. Increasing the rifleman's and grenadier's loads while reducing their ammo capacity is the wrong direction to go in force structure at those levels.
The anecdotal reports from guys who don't know how to shoot, and want a new caliber mean very little to me. "If I woulda had a _______...." then what? Like I said, every 5.56 injury or death I've seen has been impressive, to say the least. You have to argue with thousands upon thousands of seasoned shooters in their mid-to-late 30's who have been stacking bodies with 5.56 carbines for most of their adult lives, against the pleadings of a few of entry-level soldiers and maybe 2nd-termers who aren't gun guys and can't shoot to the standards that they will need to in order to make whatever new caliber they want hit their targets anyway. A lot of guys, even in the SF community had a hard time hearing that from within their own ranks, but that was what they needed to hear.
5.56 as an LMG round for squad support cuts the mustard to most of the distances a squad will be tasked with, but an optimized LMG specific cartridge that could replace both the 7.62 and linked 5.56 would be the ticket for enhancing ground-pounder's capabilities, if offered in a 12lb max LMG weight. We have to get SAW/LMG gunners as maneuverable as possible, not make riflemen more burdened. Increasing the rifleman's and grenadier's loads while reducing their ammo capacity is the wrong direction to go in force structure at those levels.