10-18-2016, 10:20 AM
Zouji Wrote:The military uses 5.56 to wound enemy soldiers. A wounded soldier is a burden to his comrades and also ties up a medic (assuming they have one). You want to, ideally, wound the soldiers and not kill them. When you kill them, they are no longer a liability to there comrades.
The use of standard big caliber ammo went out of use really around the time of our Civil War. Starting the 20th century short of the American bigus dickus .50 cal machine gun most weopons were .30 cal or smaller. Some SMG's used .45 but they were not very effective.
It is simple physics. Higher velocity lighter caliber weapons are more versatile for the battle field. They learned the lesson the hard way in WWI. You want small caliber weapons to fire at both long and short ranges with equal results. You also need to be able to push the projectile even when it tumbles. Velocity counts more than caliber does in combat.