Objectively it has a lot of energy but the mass of each small pellet is such that it generally won’t penetrate past skin and muscle on a human. Imagine a shotgun round filled with small bird shot. Commonly you will hear folks talk about bullet velocity and subsequently the energy the bullet has when it strikes a target in foot pounds (ft-lbs)Ī bullet’s energy is a relevant factor to discuss, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. In our quest to understand how to select our round we need to discuss the basics of ballistics.Īs we’ve alluded, there are numerous factors that affect the lethality of a bullet. Other types of ammunition are designed to do the exact opposite, by not penetrating easily through such barriers. Some types of ammo are designed to work well, penetrating through intermediate barriers such as glass or metal. We also must remember that ammunition is situation specific. The kind of performance differences we will be discussing in this article amount to a few percentage points of difference at best. You must understand that shot placement will always trump the minutia of ballistics. There is no magical 5.56 round that will outperform any other round in all situations. I’m not going to beat around the bush here. In this article we will review some incredible research, that will show you why looking at ballistics gel tests, and foot pounds of energy are not nearly enough to select an appropriate round. You would be hard pressed to name an area of study that is plagued by more misinformation than ballistics and ammunition testing. The problem is, that you’re most likely wrong. I bet many of you could probably give me your choice for the best 5.56mm round for home defense or CQB.
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