5.56mm Terminal Balistics

Take a look at the photos in this link.

But before you do… be warned, they are disturbing.

Draw from them what conclusions you will.  Velocity, shock effect… they can be devastating.  I’ve seen this in hunting situations, and it was the conclusion that Roy Weatherby came to.  Velocity kills, and we can like it or not… 5.56mm has a lot of it.

8 thoughts on “5.56mm Terminal Balistics”

  1. Ugly stuff. Mas used to show some photos of gunshot wounds and victims in his LFI-1 classroom section. I recall one photo of a suicide by 5.56mm that pretty much turned the entire cranium inside out. Tissue evulsion due to hydrostatic shock is an effective incapacitant to be sure. The trick is getting it to reliably occur.

    I was reading an article on the 5.7x28mm AP round the other day that mentioned that it had been tested in combat in “Southwest Asia” but failed to mention whether it passed the test.

  2. All this does is make me want a 16″ AR-10 in .243 Winchester or .260 Remington. Oh, and 50 round drums.

    As blistering as the .243 is though I’d probably be better off with the .260. My barrel would last longer! Then again I could have two uppers. Once the .243 wore out I could swap to .260 until I got another .243 barrel. >:)

  3. Having seen a lot of gun shot wounds in my career I have to say the 5.56 CAN be nasty but it seems to be a factor of distance. A head shot with the 5.6 and an 8mm in a suicide situation can not be told apart but take that same head or body shot at 200 yards and there are real differences that become apparent almost instantly. That has been the main down point of the M4 and its 10″ or 16″ barrel the loss of velocity on the battle field and urban streets. Still the last two shootings we had with the 5.6 were both DRT’s but then I can say the same thing about the last .22LR I saw also….

  4. Going to Sulaco’s comment…from what I saw in the thread comments following the photos, that shot occurred from “across the street”.

    I wouldn’t want to be shot by anything of any caliber, but I still think I’ll stick with my 7.62s. Got a headshot on a doe last weekend with my PSL at 100 yards and it had a similar effect.

  5. Yep. At close range, in a 55grn load, that little thing will pop. At medium to long range in 62 green tip, not quite so much. And again, flesh is one thing, cinder block, mud brick, and vehicles are another.

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