Performance of Ammo

[gunsouth]

I tried the search function but it is too hard to nail down.

Are the heavier 5.56 loadings,( 75-77 grain ), close to 6.8SPC performance on two legged hostiles? Or does the 6.8 have a much greater edge in performance?

I'm trying to make a decision whether to rebarrel for the heavier 5.56 rounds or just switch over a couple of uppers to 6.8 and have both.

Thanks

[jmart]

If you go by jello, the 6.8 will definitely be "better" and will certainly do better when barriers are involved. The only question you need to ask yourself is if the 75-77 5.56 will be "good enough".

[gunsouth]

Hopefully someone with some real experience will chime in here and let us know if it really is good enough. What I'm looking for is performance out to 400 yds.

I think that it's obvious from looking at the research done by DocGKR that the 6.8 is the ultimate from the AR size frame and hopefully somedays our troops will get a much better round for combat. But for now we are using the 5.56 and getting some feed back from real world users of the 75-77 grain load would be very informative.

[Failure2Stop]

I had no problem with standard M855 out to 600 yards. If you put the bullet where it is supposed to go the bad guy drops.

At close range at least 2 rounds are going into the chest, honestly usually even more. If those don't work, the shot through the face does.

Going to a 6.8/6.5/7.62 is not going to change the standard response of 2 to the chest at close range, so the benefit there is moot.

At long range (over 300 meters/yards) a yawing non-fragmenting 5.56 is doing about the same amount of damage as a yawing non-fragmenting 6.5, and is doing more damage than a standard 7.62x39.

At what level of increase is a change warranted? Today the 6.8/6.5 seem neat and dandy, so let's say we go with one of those. Tomorrow, someone finds something else that is marginally better, do we then change to that? We can't, we won't. To switch calibers will require a true revolution in small arms, not the gradual evolution that is constantly observed. Remember that any item that the .mil procures is in accordance with a requirements document. Write down exactly what you want it to do, and test everything that thinks that it can do that.

I would be very happy to see the Mk 262 Mod 1 issued to all troops. It is already in inventory, so getting it out will take relatively little time. We know what it does, we know that it works. It has high support of anyone that has actually used it on NEPUTs (non-electric pop-up targets).

There is supposed to be another 5.56 round in the works (I have no inside knowledge of this, so what I say is heresay only), supposedly intended to perform better in soft targets with a penetrator for improved performance through intervening objects. Sounds nice.

Just my experience, yours may vary.

[Shihan]

I have had no problems with M855 but would much prefer the Mk262Mod1. Non of my personal guns are configured in anything but 5.56 and like F2S it would take something revolutionary for me to change.

[gunsouth]

Thanks for your service F2S and thanks for your insite.