Guys,
I would like to know what you all think about the following info I came across online, while attempting to research the best ammo for my Colt 1/7 twist bbl, M4 carbine…
Here is the letter, apparently from a soldier deploying overseas:
"This is a portion of note sent by an active-duty friend to his junior officers. They will be deploying shortly:
“For those ‘who don’t know what they don’t know,’ I offer the following explanation: 55gr FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) is the old M193 ball ammunition th at we used to issue before the new, 62gr FMJ (M855) was issued with M16A2 rifles. The M855, 62gr bullet has a steel core ‘penetrator’ (a hard dart imbedde d in the middle of the bullet) and is boat tailed at the base to provide maximum stability in flight. The 1:7” twist (or, one complete revolution in seven in ches of travel down the barrel) of the M16A2 barrel is severe, by any standard. The bullet revolves nearly three times before departing the barrel of an M16A2 ( 20" barrel), and two complete revolutions from an M4 (16" barrel).
This provides great stability for the bullet during flight, too much as it turns out, because the bullet uniformly fails to subsequently destabilize an d tumble upon impact with living issue, as did the old, M913 bullet. It is basically a fast-moving ice pick. While it will make them bleed, it fails to generate a large, permanent wound cavity.
While the M855 bullet (with its imbedded penetrator) will penetrate some solid barriers that will not be penetrated by the M195 bullet, it consistent ly fails to penetrate most layered barriers (car doors, cinder block, etc) at a ny range.
Since, when we’re deployed to Iraq, we probably won’t be able to get sufficient quantities of the old M193 ammunition, and the M193 bullet render s poor accuracy (and sometimes self-destructs) from a 1:7" barrel anyway, we will b e using the M855 round for the foreseeable future. We will therefore have to t rain our men to plan on hitting bad guys multiple times and not to expect much in the penetration department. That will be the case until we’re issued the new caliber (or reissued M14s), which may be months (or years) away.
I can go into another diatribe about our 9X19mm FMJ pistol ammunition and it s notoriously poor terminal performance also, and, yes, we’re looking forward to improvements there too. In the interim, constantly remind your men and yourselves that the Marine is the weapon. The rifle or pistol are merely too ls. The poorest performing bullet in the world, when it hits, will render infinitely better results than will ‘wonder bullets’ that miss! "
Comment: My heroic friend is trying to make the best of an unhappy situation . We were told that the new M855 bullet would solve both the range and penetration limitations of the M193. As was the case with the Patriot Missil e in 1991, we were (knowingly) lied to!
The Patriot Missile didn’t work back in 1991, but, generals and presidents alike spent too much time reading their own press releases! It was only whe n Patriot batteries failed utterly to protect Tel Aviv from Scud missiles that the lie began to unravel. We later learned, to our horror, that the success rate of the Patriot system in intercepting and destroying against incoming Scud missiles was, in truth, close to zero!
By the same token, the hardened penetrating dart, imbedded within each M855 bullet, weighs only ten grains. There is no way a ten-grain projectile is go ing to penetrate anything! The truth is, neither range nor penetration limitations have been adequately addressed by M855 ammunition. It is woefull y inadequate on both counts and vastly inferior to the M193 round it replaced.
I’m not sure I’m the world’s expert on ballistics, but I have been an infantry officer involved in significant and continuous fighting, and I know that rifles carried by infantrymen need ammunition that will shoot through things ! Even in the USA, there still no species of political alchemy that will rende r “golden” performance from “leaden” ballistics! "
Now I’m no expert, but I read info like this, and I just keep asking myself what ammo should I be shooting, (or reloading on the Dillon 550 I own?