05-04-2011, 02:49 PM
Gents,
I must clarify that there was only one event that involved 5.56 penetrating a thin barrier. The rest were all from muzzle to target. Basically, with the single barrier incident, a SAW gunner was left outside a light-framed building when he should have followed his team, which was the trail team in an Airborne Infantry Squad of 9 men. The lead team had already penetrated the building and pushed into a 2nd room. The SAW gunner from the lead team fired a burst into a plastic E-type target, and the rounds went through the wall, which was made of thin plywood that was dried out from the extreme heat. His forearm and leg were severely injured with significant tissue destruction, bone fragmentation, and blood loss. He survived, but looked like Frankenstein in the areas that needed reconstructive bone and various other surgeries.
That was from a Commando barrel SAW pushing M855. His radius and ulna in the left arm looked like someone had completely fragmented each bone, with only the styloid processes, radial head, and olecranon process of the ulna being recognizable on his x-rays. Our medics and PA used ace wraps to form compressive pressure dressings, and evac'd him successfully. He ended up with pins forming his radius and ulna in that arm, and I think the soft tissue damage to his leg just left heavy scarring and some muscle tissue loss. The PA said it looked like at least one round had skipped the SAAPI plate on his IBA. That could explain the yawing, as I doubt that there was much yawing after going through such a thin piece of wood. There were some direct connects without the SAAPI plate involved though.
I have also seen M855 cut through very thick and wet trees in Panama like they weren't even there, which really surprised me, so I'm skeptical of many of the claims about weak barrier penetration with that round on trees, although I know it is quite limited on cinder block and solid brick. All I know is that after seeing that, most trees went from being "cover" to only "concealment" in my mind. I would not count on a tree to protect me from 5.56 or any other high power rifle caliber.
The guy that got his head canoed was in the Korean Peninsula, and he was a bona fide bad guy. A ROK Army soldier shot him with a Daewoo K2 with the South Korean made M855, which is manufactured to the same specs. That incident really woke me up to the reality of what 5.56 can do, and nothing anybody says about it will change that. As far as reliable performance goes, every person I have seen that took a 5.56 round had a very bad day. I have rarely seen or heard any of my friends complain about a clean 5.56 injury and the resulting ineffectiveness, though I readily admit my experience is limited to less than a dozen incidents where I was able to witness the details of those injuries/deaths on actual human targets.
Gel tests will rarely correlate to humans, since there is such a wide quality in tissue density and dimension on human torsos, arms, and legs. Gel tests rarely involve bone simulation, or body heat, and they don't compartmentalize the various layers of fascia, sinew, connective tissues, vessels, skin, etc.
What this means from a practical standpoint in my mind is that I lean towards the school of thought where I divide the human target into thirds, and aim for the smallest point within the center third of center of mass, regardless of how the target is presented, and put as many well-placed rounds into that point until the target goes down, regardless of what caliber is being used. That is what I taught soldiers I was responsible for, and many of them have used that concept with lethal results.
If we want catastrophic hydrostatic effects on human tissue at even 400m, you are pretty much talking about .338 LM with some type of projectile that would at least toe the line of the Hague, unless you use API. For an assault rifle, I think 100m is the threshold of expecting that type of performance since you need at least 2700fps to make that happen with FMJ's. That doesn't bother me at all, as long as Joe can put a hole that bleeds well in his target past 100, and carry plenty of it with minimal space/weight.
For AOR's commonly found in Afghanistan, it might be appropriate for small unit leaders who deal with dismounted patrolling to spill in a heavier mix of 7.62 rifles/carbines, but not too heavy. You could also equip DM's with SPR's and the Mk262, but the real area of weakness as far as weapons goes is the weight and portability of the M240. It would really be great to have a smaller pig that duplicates 7.62 ballistics, with less recoil and lighter ammo. That is what would make Joe happy, because it would increase the maneuver capability of gunners and the unit overall, so effective suppressive fire could be brought into play against the well-coordinated far ambushes that are the forte of the Muj/Taliban.
LRRPF52
I must clarify that there was only one event that involved 5.56 penetrating a thin barrier. The rest were all from muzzle to target. Basically, with the single barrier incident, a SAW gunner was left outside a light-framed building when he should have followed his team, which was the trail team in an Airborne Infantry Squad of 9 men. The lead team had already penetrated the building and pushed into a 2nd room. The SAW gunner from the lead team fired a burst into a plastic E-type target, and the rounds went through the wall, which was made of thin plywood that was dried out from the extreme heat. His forearm and leg were severely injured with significant tissue destruction, bone fragmentation, and blood loss. He survived, but looked like Frankenstein in the areas that needed reconstructive bone and various other surgeries.
That was from a Commando barrel SAW pushing M855. His radius and ulna in the left arm looked like someone had completely fragmented each bone, with only the styloid processes, radial head, and olecranon process of the ulna being recognizable on his x-rays. Our medics and PA used ace wraps to form compressive pressure dressings, and evac'd him successfully. He ended up with pins forming his radius and ulna in that arm, and I think the soft tissue damage to his leg just left heavy scarring and some muscle tissue loss. The PA said it looked like at least one round had skipped the SAAPI plate on his IBA. That could explain the yawing, as I doubt that there was much yawing after going through such a thin piece of wood. There were some direct connects without the SAAPI plate involved though.
I have also seen M855 cut through very thick and wet trees in Panama like they weren't even there, which really surprised me, so I'm skeptical of many of the claims about weak barrier penetration with that round on trees, although I know it is quite limited on cinder block and solid brick. All I know is that after seeing that, most trees went from being "cover" to only "concealment" in my mind. I would not count on a tree to protect me from 5.56 or any other high power rifle caliber.
The guy that got his head canoed was in the Korean Peninsula, and he was a bona fide bad guy. A ROK Army soldier shot him with a Daewoo K2 with the South Korean made M855, which is manufactured to the same specs. That incident really woke me up to the reality of what 5.56 can do, and nothing anybody says about it will change that. As far as reliable performance goes, every person I have seen that took a 5.56 round had a very bad day. I have rarely seen or heard any of my friends complain about a clean 5.56 injury and the resulting ineffectiveness, though I readily admit my experience is limited to less than a dozen incidents where I was able to witness the details of those injuries/deaths on actual human targets.
Gel tests will rarely correlate to humans, since there is such a wide quality in tissue density and dimension on human torsos, arms, and legs. Gel tests rarely involve bone simulation, or body heat, and they don't compartmentalize the various layers of fascia, sinew, connective tissues, vessels, skin, etc.
What this means from a practical standpoint in my mind is that I lean towards the school of thought where I divide the human target into thirds, and aim for the smallest point within the center third of center of mass, regardless of how the target is presented, and put as many well-placed rounds into that point until the target goes down, regardless of what caliber is being used. That is what I taught soldiers I was responsible for, and many of them have used that concept with lethal results.
If we want catastrophic hydrostatic effects on human tissue at even 400m, you are pretty much talking about .338 LM with some type of projectile that would at least toe the line of the Hague, unless you use API. For an assault rifle, I think 100m is the threshold of expecting that type of performance since you need at least 2700fps to make that happen with FMJ's. That doesn't bother me at all, as long as Joe can put a hole that bleeds well in his target past 100, and carry plenty of it with minimal space/weight.
For AOR's commonly found in Afghanistan, it might be appropriate for small unit leaders who deal with dismounted patrolling to spill in a heavier mix of 7.62 rifles/carbines, but not too heavy. You could also equip DM's with SPR's and the Mk262, but the real area of weakness as far as weapons goes is the weight and portability of the M240. It would really be great to have a smaller pig that duplicates 7.62 ballistics, with less recoil and lighter ammo. That is what would make Joe happy, because it would increase the maneuver capability of gunners and the unit overall, so effective suppressive fire could be brought into play against the well-coordinated far ambushes that are the forte of the Muj/Taliban.
LRRPF52