02-05-2012, 10:55 AM
Variable Wrote:Yikes, that chart on p. 29 seems to make a pretty good argument for the 5.56 cartridge. If you figure the Grendel weight as similar to a 7.62x39 round then you are only buying another 30 seconds over the 7.62 NATO, whereas the 5.56 buys you 3.5 minutes....
Well, we all know that 7.62mm ammo weighs twice as much as 5.56mm, and that the guns are generally heavier too. No news there.
The problem with this comparison is that it assumes that 5.56mm and 7.62mm are equally effective, when there is clear that they are not - in terms of neither suppression nor range (leaving terminal effectiveness out of it). Why else would dismounted and already overloaded troops in Afghanistan be happy to carry the great lump of the GPMG/M240 and its heavyweight ammo? Because it gets the job done when 5.56mm can't.