[fso301]

Some of the reasoning behind the 5.56 is that only shots to a few places in the human body by either a 5.56 or .30 caliber will instantly drop an adversary dead or paralyzed. Hits to many other parts of the body by either round will be fatal but not immediately.

The wound channel created by the .30 will cause the adversary to bleed out faster that if hit by the 5.56 but it's during this time that the adversary has been mortally wounded but isn't yet dead that they can deliver their parting shots.

As anyone who has hunted deer knows, a deer hit in the lungs and heart by a 30-06 180gr soft point at close range can still run 50-100 yards before going down. Replace the soft point with a ball round and the mortally wounded deer can run even farther before going down.

[Antoninus II]

Some of the reasoning behind the 5.56 is that only shots to a few places in the human body by either a 5.56 or .30 caliber will instantly drop an adversary dead or paralyzed. Hits to many other parts of the body by either round will be fatal but not immediately.

Another argument early in the introduction of the 5.56mm was the twist of the bullet. It originally was barely stable in flight. As soon as it hit the target, it tumbled. Then they noticed in cold weather, it became unstable right after it left the barrel. So they tightened the twist. Then the steel cored Nato SS109 bullet made that a problem, so they tightened the twist even more. That eliminated a lot of the original lethality of this round.

Check this web site for a more in-depth history of the deveolment in the 5.56mm Nato cartridge:

http://www.thegunzone.com/556dw-1.html