It really started in the 80's when secretary of Def. Dick Chaney found out the US Army listed the Max. Effective range for the 5.56x45 round as 250 meters and the max. effective range of the AK-47 as 400 meters(F-M 7-8 Rev. 31-December 1980 pages 1-17 and 1-7) He further found out to his horror , that unless the US military shit caned the 5.56 altogether, there was not one thing they could do to change those numbers. After extensive(unsuccessful) efforts by NATO and the DOD to find a "better" bullet for the 5.56 it was decided that for "moral" reasons that from that point on the "Max. effective range" for the 5.56 would be listed by the US military as the longest range at which the round could hit a paper target to within five MOA (500 yards). This was a PURELY political decision and had nothing at all to do with the weapon or the ammunition. It was cold war rhetoric to make "our" assault weapon look "better" than "there" assault weapon. But the basic "numbers" haven't changed at all in the 50+ years the 5.56 has been in the field. The current B.S. about the 5.56 being "effective" out to 800 yards is mostly driven by internet fan boys and civilian target shooters who have never tried to kill with the round, but if you talk to the kids that are coming back from the wars they'll all tell you that the M-16 just won't get it done past 275 yards (I have six combat vets on my block with a total of 11! combat tours--they all say the same thing , at long range(above 300 M) the 5.56 go's right thru, makes .22 cal. holes and just keeps going , the "bad guys" just get up and run away.)--Ray
It really started in the 80's when secretary of Def. Dick Chaney found out the US Army listed the Max. Effective range for the 5.56x45 round as 250 meters and the max. effective range of the AK-47 as 400 meters(F-M 7-8 Rev. 31-December 1980 pages 1-17 and 1-7) He further found out to his horror , that unless the US military shit caned the 5.56 altogether, there was not one thing they could do to change those numbers. After extensive(unsuccessful) efforts by NATO and the DOD to find a "better" bullet for the 5.56 it was decided that for "moral" reasons that from that point on the "Max. effective range" for the 5.56 would be listed by the US military as the longest range at which the round could hit a paper target to within five MOA (500 yards). This was a PURELY political decision and had nothing at all to do with the weapon or the ammunition. It was cold war rhetoric to make "our" assault weapon look "better" than "there" assault weapon. But the basic "numbers" haven't changed at all in the 50+ years the 5.56 has been in the field. The current B.S. about the 5.56 being "effective" out to 800 yards is mostly driven by internet fan boys and civilian target shooters who have never tried to kill with the round, but if you talk to the kids that are coming back from the wars they'll all tell you that the M-16 just won't get it done past 275 yards (I have six combat vets on my block with a total of 11! combat tours--they all say the same thing , at long range(above 300 M) the 5.56 go's right thru, makes .22 cal. holes and just keeps going , the "bad guys" just get up and run away.)--Ray
ReplyDeleteVery informative. Thanks.
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