05-23-2011, 10:11 PM
McCoy Wrote:...wasn't that the whole idea behind the 5.56 to cause wounding as to take up more resources from the enemy. Why yes, yes it was!No, no I'm pretty sure it wasn't. From what I recall reading -- in The Black Rifle, I think -- is that R&D of small caliber, high velocity cartridges was undertaken in the 1950s as a means to improve hit probability, not to cause a higher ratio of wounded vs killed enemy.
Indeed, judging by the wound profile of 5.56x45mm M193 Ball, tissue destruction should be such that lethality would increase, not be reduced.
If wounding had been the desired result, they would have been better served to use a bullet with late yaw and no fragmentation, similar to the 7.62x39mm M43 round.
IMO, the idea that increased wounding was the goal stems from the belief that a tiny .22-caliber bullet could not possibly be as lethal as the old standard .30-caliber projectiles.