[BushMeister]

The design of the M855 was driven by the USMC and by some loud voices who were screaming "range, range, range." The 855 needed to penetrate an M1 helmet at 800m. It does. And it doesn't fragment, unlike the Russian 5.45. I believe the fragmentation that we've seen in 5.45 wounds is mostly a consequence of poor quality control in manufacture.

No, the M855 DOES fragment, but at velocities around 2700 FPS. Out of a 16" barrel, that's at around 100 yards. Hardly acceptable, when you consider the difference in wounding capabilities between rounds that do and do not fragment.

AR15.comBallistics

[Criminal Number 18F]

Those data come from the dentist -- a phony and fraud -- so they are suspect. I realise that they originally come from a bunch of sources that he selected to support himself. But hundreds of 5.56mm slugs have been removed from hundreds of bodies in autopsies, both M193 and M855, and fragmentation is exceedingly rare.

M855 ammunition does not fragment in a sand berm at 25m from a 20" barreled rifle. It has to still be moving at about 3000fps at that point. It does not fragment in wood, or in rubber (i.e. the tire house, at point-blank range). It definitely doesn't fragment in people. Even at 200-300-400m it usually goes straight on through.

All these "experiments" by unqualified hobbyists and web site savants with gelatin and whatnot mean exactly zip. Ultimately, an uncontrolled experiment isn't an experiment.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F