New Army "Caliber Configuration Study"

[stanc]

To be technical, 5.45 DOES have a small amount of lead.

Yes, as do most conventional steel-core bullets. Can we call them "light green" bullets?

The reasons for steel-core at the end of WWII are inconclusive. I would tend to think it was due to a shortage of raw material, rather than rigorously examined technical improvements.

Actually, the reasons are not at all inconclusive. In the European theatre, the enemy had light armored vehicles, and there was much urban combat. Steel-core, .30 M2 AP had significantly better "hard target" penetration than lead-core, .30 M2 Ball, but was just as effective against personnel. Steel-core bullets cost a bit more than lead-core, but are typically better "general purpose" rounds.

I don't recall if it was this forum or the old one, but Bill Alexander once said his preference for a 6.5 Grendel military load would be steel-core.

It could well have "reduced the effectiveness" of small arms. Could be at that point the powers that be realized small arms were a relatively small factor in the overall killing and wounding equation, and that as long as it goes bang it's good enough when resources are scarce.

I'm pretty certain that conservation of a strategic material (i.e., lead) was the reason nations switched from lead to steel for core material of ball projectiles. But, if steel-core bullets were actually less effective than lead-core bullets, how do you explain that (lead-core) M80 Ball was originally intended to be used solely for training, while (steel-core) M59 Ball was reserved for combat?

Again, the Russian use of steel core is to gain a certain amount of penetration, all while maximizing their use of raw materials. As such, they, again, exhibit cooly rational thinking to gain a military, albeit strategic advantage, and it has nothing to do with environmentalism.

Okay. I agree they're not concerned with environmentalism. However, if they're as pragmatic as you say, would they be using steel-core bullets if such had poor terminal effects?

If you want to compare apples to apples, and put up a steel-core 6.5 Grendel round against their steel-core 7.62x54R, that's a more fair comparison than hobbling the 65G to a lead-free bullet vs. Russian lead-cored, as we were discussing above.

??? I'm aware of no comparison being made to lead-core 7.62x54R. The comparison was with steel-core 7.62x54R.

I would be quite willing to have a steel-core vs steel-core comparison. What is the BC and MV of the Wolf steel-cased 100gr FMJ load?