Why Do We Use 5.56 instead of 6.8?

[RP88]

the 5.56 is lighter, costs less, has a flatter trajectory and better range, has low impulse and great ease of control, and kills just fine. There are also improved 5.56 rounds coming out that show good performance.

The 6.8 costs more, weighs more, has more recoil, less range, and requires swapping out major parts of current weapons, or whole new weapons altogether, as well as re-equipping machinery to produce the round, not to mention that it would be a mess as these machines try and catch up to the billions of 5.56 rounds sitting around. The 6.8's only advantages are a bit more penetration and energy. Are those two marginal advantages really worth all the trouble?

also, Ned: I like how you speak about the unpredictable effects of hydrostatic shock, yet ramble on and on about Taylor's elephant equation and stopping power. Eating your own words in a different flavor?

 

[Ned Kelly]

also, Ned: I like how you speak about the unpredictable effects of hydrostatic shock, yet ramble on and on about Taylor's elephant equation and stopping power. Eating your own words in a different flavor?

The bullet needs fluid (the more the better) to make hydrostatic shock work.
That is why its called Hydrostatic. It needs fluid to work.

Ned, first of all, Thank You for your service.What branch were you with? Ned,the NVA did drag their wounded and dead off. This was heard at night. Ned, I know you do not like the 5.56 round. My experience was with the M 193 round. It killed. I never had a man get up. Ned, you seem to have it in for Nam vets. We put up with a lot when we came home and I guess a few more comments will not affect us. I hope your anger can be laid to rest. It was my honor and duty to fight for The USA and to help provide a future for those that came after us. I will leave a verse that has given me great comfort in the years after Nam and still to this day. Jeremiah 33:3.
Peace to you. Byron

I never made a comment to belittle the vietnam veterans. you guys fought in an enviroment that many WW2 veterans experienced. combat in the forested tropics is probably the worst enviroment imaginable for combat operations. My uncles experiences with the Japanese were pretty intense. Under the conditions you describe I would imagine our own troops would try recovering our own dead if there were any. I think it's only customary to try to recover your dead on the battlefield if you are able to. I don't see them doing it as a propaganda tool though like the US government said it was.

I served in the light infantry.

The 5.56 does its job. I have used it and I own several myself. But I think we could be served better by a more robust cartridge.