07-17-2011, 01:26 PM
LRRPF52 Wrote:...On another note, we encountered several situations where pretty dense vegetation was partially-obstructing most of the targets on the patrol lanes (by design). We were wondering how these obstacles in the path of 5.56 might affect shot placement, so I had one of the guys get down and purposely shoot through tall grass and weeds that were between him and the target. POA-POI was on, with no signs of key-holing that we could detect on targets from 24m out to about 60m. Everyone had 10-16" barrels on the AR's, wit most being 11.5" or 14.5". I didn't notice any key-holes throughout the two days of high-volume shooting on any of the targets, and every target in the patrol lanes had vegetation partially-obstructing it.And here we hunters have "don't shoot through vegetation" drummed into us from our first hunter safety course onward.
The little secret is that the bullet gets through most of the time. A lot will depend on the relative size/thickness of the vegetation in causing deflections and bullet upset. Your environment places a high value of getting hits somewhere on the target. Multiple shots are frequently taken, so the few that actually pick up some green on the way through and the still smaller number that actually get disrupted aren't important. When shooting only one shot at a valuable game animal, however, the need to minimize the chance of deflection increases.
Also, "brush shooting" leads to accidents where a human might be the unintended target but the shooter doesn't recognize his presence, let alone ID as a person.
Bottom line: You demonstrated an important point in combat shooting! The environment you describe and tested reflects one of the many differences between responsible hunting and the imperatives faced by infantry.
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PS MK82 Daisy Cutters do a lot better getting the grass and brush out of the way than do M855A1 or Mk262! (I guess we don't use much of those these days...)