02-21-2014, 12:16 AM
LRRPF52 Wrote:The Small Caliber High Velocity Rifle concept dates waaaaaay back in US Military history. I suspect the impetus was in the 1895 6mm Lee Navy, which replaced the .45-70 in the Navy and Marines until the Army's .30 Cal nazis pushed the .30-40 Krag onto the services.
A small minority of engineers in the Army Ordnance Department already began formulating a series of papers and projects based on .22 caliber, and a Brigadier General had Frankford Arsenal conduct tests with .22 caliber high sectional density projectiles:
http://www.thegunzone.com/556dw.html
By the time SCHV actually gained enough traction, it was the late 1950's, and Armalite and Winchester were solicited to provide test rifles for the SCHV concept, pushing a .22 cal projectile fast enough to perforate a steel helmet at certain yardages, which were then moved by the .30 cal nazis as the .222 Remington proved capable of blowing through the helmets even at 400yds. When the goal posts were moved to 500yds, the .222 Remington only penetrated one side of the helmet, and was deemed a failure by the nzis, so Stoner asked Remington if they could blow the shoulder forward a little, get more case capacity, and push a lighter FMJBT as fast as possible.
Hence was created the .222 Remington Special, which was then re-labeled the .223 Remington, and the rest is history. The .223 Rem, type-classified as 5.56x45 M193 was always meant to be a killer, not a wounder, and killing it did when first fielded by US Advisors with ARVN Infantry units in the early 1960's. The tissue damage witnessed by Korean and WWII vets was unusually avulsive, and brutal, and gained sensational responses from them, which were then passed up the chain in the ARPA program that it was at the time. SF, SEALs, SAS, and rapid deployment units started acquiring and demanding the AR15 immediately, and it became the official service rifle quickly.
Just doing some research on the net it looks like I was just passing along bad info I was given...seemed so true after what I've seen. You are right...in that case there are so many new fancy calibers that can take that role.