I didn’t think the .223 had the stopping power at 300 yards.
“I didn’t think the .223 had the stopping power at 300 yards.”
FYI: All Marines rifle-qual with the M16 - at 500 yds...
“I didn’t think the .223 had the stopping power at 300 yards.”
Google says:
https://www.google.com/search?q=.223+maximum+effective+range&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
“Better to think first in terms of mid-range, in the 400- to 600-yard ranges. For this type of shooting the .223 is ideal. In fact, there are shooters doing outstanding work at 1,000 yards with the .223 cartridge. But this is post-graduate stuff.”
In other words, even on a level shot, 300 yards is effective. Shooting down at a relatively steep angle, dropping 300 feet in 300 yards, the velocity at impact will be higher. A beginner would not have much accuracy at that range, but that doesn’t matter with full-auto where no one can be accurate. He just had to point toward the crowd, and he would hit someone most of the time.
You won’t have as much energy to drop the victim immediately, but you’ll wound them and many will die (roughly one in ten did die). His .308 would have a lot more energy and do more damage, but he might not have liked shooting that one for long, it might have overheated more quickly, he might not have wanted to carry that much of the heavier ammo, or he might have had trouble controlling that much power on full auto.