parsimonious_instead
Member
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2010
- Messages
- 791
I was just reading a comment about the basics of rifle shooting on a general interest men's site.
One commenter spoke about a relative's experiences with a .30 carbine, which according to this person was "designed to wound, not kill an enemy, because wounded men take more resources to deal with."
I don't think any weapon was intentionally designed to "just wound" other than "less than lethal" stuff for use against criminals and unruly mobs.
I would guess it's unethical according to the laws of war and also rather stupid from a tactical point of view, because there would be times when you would want to kill an enemy pretty quickly - an underpowered weapon gives them a chance to continue fighting.
I *have* heard that there were some issues related to the .30 carbine. Apparently some of the issue ammo was underloaded, which did create a lack of stopping power. The full-auto version also had muzzle climb issues ("how could I have missed? I sprayed a whole 30-round mag at those advancing Chinese"). Tales of ineffective .30 carbine might have also arisen from enemy troops wearing multiple layers of very heavy clothing.
(I'm excluding an intentional tactic of scoring deliberate, aimed shots at non-vital areas against an enemy, as in the 'sniper' scene in Full Metal Jacket)
Any thoughts about this "designed to wound" stuff or the general effectiveness of .30 carbine?
One commenter spoke about a relative's experiences with a .30 carbine, which according to this person was "designed to wound, not kill an enemy, because wounded men take more resources to deal with."
I don't think any weapon was intentionally designed to "just wound" other than "less than lethal" stuff for use against criminals and unruly mobs.
I would guess it's unethical according to the laws of war and also rather stupid from a tactical point of view, because there would be times when you would want to kill an enemy pretty quickly - an underpowered weapon gives them a chance to continue fighting.
I *have* heard that there were some issues related to the .30 carbine. Apparently some of the issue ammo was underloaded, which did create a lack of stopping power. The full-auto version also had muzzle climb issues ("how could I have missed? I sprayed a whole 30-round mag at those advancing Chinese"). Tales of ineffective .30 carbine might have also arisen from enemy troops wearing multiple layers of very heavy clothing.
(I'm excluding an intentional tactic of scoring deliberate, aimed shots at non-vital areas against an enemy, as in the 'sniper' scene in Full Metal Jacket)
Any thoughts about this "designed to wound" stuff or the general effectiveness of .30 carbine?
Last edited: