The 5.56 is just designed to wound the enemy and the .308 is the real stopping round + longer range.
So the US military went from the great M1 Garand to the M-16 (5.56 round), the pistol went from the classic 1911 with the 45 Cal to the Beretta 9MM (again less stopping power)!
I keep thinking that the Top Brass is in love with mouse-clicking the enemy with small rounds and not killing & eliminating them.
At least the snipers are (still) allowed to reach out and kill the enemy at long distances.
Wildcat rounds are rounds where there is no mass production. They are experimental rounds that may or may not go into production. Hobbyists as well as manufacturers can cook up wildcat rounds.
The Wounding of the Enemy is a way to take out Personnel by Wounding 1 brings 1 or 2 out from cover to administer to the Wounded now bringing 3 in the line of Fire.
As far as Ammo 9x19 will be easy to find, the .223 and 7.62 x 39 also. .45ACP May not be as easy to pickup.
I’m figuring that a 12GA x 3.5 Chamber will also eat 2.75”, 3.0” & 3.5”. Just don’t try go backwards on Chambers and Rounds.
Rifles may be a pick up or Ones favorite all ready but, IMO be prepared to pick up an AR or an AK so keep a few of .223 and 7.62 x 39 in your pockets.
Also consider how much Ammo weight you want to carry around and how far.
I wouldn’t call the 5.56 a ‘mouse-clicking’ round. Its gonna be a bad day if you get hit with one. And there is nothing wrong with 9mm in general, though the Beretta is a poor weapon choice for many reasons IMO.
But “different tools for different jobs”.
“What is called WILDCAT rounds are actually the types that really stops the enemy.
The 5.56 is just designed to wound the enemy and the .308 is the real stopping round + longer range.
So the US military went from the great M1 Garand to the M-16 (5.56 round), the pistol went from the classic 1911 with the 45 Cal to the Beretta 9MM (again less stopping power)!
I keep thinking that the Top Brass is in love with mouse-clicking the enemy with small rounds and not killing & eliminating them.
At least the snipers are (still) allowed to reach out and kill the enemy at long distances.” [prophetic, post 10]
None of these statements are true.
“Stopping power” cannot be quantified. Its use is not permitted as a performance characteristic when the military depts draft Statements of Operational Need.
5.56mm was not designed to wound and not kill. No small arms cartridge can be designed to do that: as a target, the human body simply varies too much in size, weight, organ position, health, physical condition, nervous excitation, etc. A minimum level of transferred energy that will wound without killing cannot be specified. And in action, there are no guarantees that a bullet will hit the right spot.
The military did not adopt the M16 to replace the M1. The M14 officially superseded the M1 in 1957, and the M16 officially superseded the M14 in 1968.
There was longstanding disagreement among senior leaders in the US Army, over the proper size and power for a rifle cartridge, dating to the 1920s: combat in World War One indicated that the 30-06 developed more power than required; its effective range was almost nine times the typical engagement range for rifle fire. The excess was so much waste. But Army Ordnance resisted change.
John C Garand’s earliest rifle designs were for about 25 caliber, with a large detachable box magazine and a barrel exposed from the muzzle backwards for a much greater distance: more like a Mini-14 than the M1 as finally approved.
The 9mm NATO pistol cartridge actually outperforms military loads of the 45 ACP: higher velocity, greater effective range, better penetration of soft body armor. Recall that “stopping power” cannot be quantified. In operational tests prior to the selection of the M9 pistol, it was found that the M1911A1 exhibited a higher malfunction rate than every newer handgun under test. It was determined that this was due to design limitations that could not be corrected. Pistol design had not stood still in the intervening years.
Ground forces no longer fight with rifle fire at any extended range. Even the most backward nations use artillery, rockets, missiles, air support, etc. The footsoldier isn’t expected to hit an enemy soldier 2000 yards away with an aimed shot; he is expected to call for fire support on the radio, from more effective systems.
The Top Brass wanted a shoulder-fired rifle capable of controlled full auto fire. This is physically impossible with a rifle as light as the M1 firing a cartridge as large and powerful as 30-06. The same is true of the M14 (which weighs about the same as the M1) firing 7.62 NATO (almost identical in power to 30-06). 5.56mm M193 fired from the M16 develops about half the power of either earlier round and is controllable on full auto.