Not exactly. The change in the rifling was also due to the fact that dense air (such as cold air in the lower parts of the Vietnamese mountain ranges) would sometimes cause some rounds to deflect and tumble. So would brush, wicker hats and most infamously grass. *Grass* would cause the rounds to deflect and go god-knows-where. Great if you’re doing area suppression, not good when you need to deliver rounds on target. Post-war research shows that after they got over the initial shock, the VC and NVA found that the black rifle was actually killing *fewer* of them, just that the ones who were hit were often taken out in more dramatic fashion due to the round’s instability. It’s worth noting that the VC, who always wanted weapons, despite the availability of captured M16s and ammo often just left them in the field after the initial panic subsided. US and allied troops exceedingly rarely found themselves facing captured M16s.
More reading here: http://www.gunrightsmedia.com/showthread.php?413583-Tumbling-223-controversy-another-view
Spktyr: Thanks for the info -- and the link! IIRC, there also were
ammo changes mixed up in that whole
Foxtrot Charlie. I'll dig back thru American Rifileman issues of the period, which had extremely detailed analyses of the whole fiasco...
I expect we agree that a gyro-stabilized .556 slug, zipping staight thru the flesh of a 'Cong-sized upper arm loses (transfers) minimal energy to the arm -- and that a tumbling, "weed-whacker" slug is far more damaging. That was my point -- not a full history of M-16 rifle+ammo systems development... '-)
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simpson96: apologies! It wasn't my intent to "slide" your thread into a non sequitur 'Nam ballistics discussion!
My intent was to validate that an upper-arm bullet strike could cause chest pain or damage -- just as the (dumb@$$3d) "kid" claimed...
"'Nam-era" Vet...
TXnMA
