New Army "Caliber Configuration Study"

[BluntForceTrauma]

Stan, in the green text you quoted above, it states: "The program manager (PM-MAS) needed to find a solution that was “environmentally friendly” (defined as a lead-free projectile, no tungsten) to meet the Green Ammunition mandate for which they were already funded."

Does this not prove my point that environmental concerns came first? M855A1 is lead-free first and foremost because of an environmental mandate. All the rest is simply trying to make the best of it, trying to optimize a "green" bullet. You see why I complain political correctness is placed before military effectiveness?

I'm simply echoing a point you, yourself, have already made. If lead-free bullets are too long to be practical then lead-free should not be mandated. It's a simple matter of the physics of ballistics, a matter of material density. While both have similar form factors, throw a ping pong ball and a golf ball as hard as you can and see which sheds velocity faster.

If it turns out that "green" bullets are the better tactical solution, I'm all for them.

John