If I am not mistaken (and I probably am) part of the military’s “philosophy” behind the adoption of the smaller 5.56 (.223) cartridge was their belief that in most cases in battle it is actually better to WOUND the enemy than to kill him outright because a wounded soldier actually takes two or three people “out of action” (the soldier who is wounded AND one or two others who must tend to him/remove him from the field for treatment). How this works with an enemy who has no respect for ANY human life including those on “his” side is, I suppose, debatable.
Also, it is definitely true that a given weight of the smaller ammo contains more rounds than the .308 or .30-06.
Personally, I like them ALL. My .30-06 rifle is awesome and I really like my new High Standard AR-15 variant too.
How about this? A good bit of a compromise in .243?
http://www.dpmsinc.com/firearms/firearm.aspx?id=23
“Never do an enemy a small injury.” - Niccolo Machiavelli
I understand being able to hump more ammo. I also understand that a DEAD enemy is one less coming at you later on. And if you wound one, take out the other two IF they come to get him...threesies...
Also - We need to be able to outrange the other guy - why engage him on HIS turf with limited-range smaller calibers? Take him out with well-aimed, optically directed surgical shots (like any good RIFLEMAN) so his close-up tactics are useless. Especially when they like to hide behind women and children...
Carbines are good for house-clearing, CQB, etc., but why go “muzzle to Muzzie” when you can perform .308 Ballistic Cranial Surgery from long range (on ANY enemy)?
Just my “ignernt” two cents...
The “designed to wound” notion is a myth.
Used _as_designed_, the 5.56/M16 system is terminally devesating. High-velocity catastrophic fragmentation is not “designed to wound”, it is designed to make a very large and very messy and very terminal hole.
The problem is that the 5.56/M16 system, while excellent when used as designed, gets awfully tempermental when used as _not_ designed. When first introduced to combat, it lacked the chromed barrel, proper powder, and cleaning was discouraged. Today, usage often includes improper twist/weight/length combinations, hard-target rounds on soft targets, and wet lubes in dusty environments, predictably leading to substandard results. Garbage in, garbage out.