Police source: Manassas bullet was a .223

In short, the slower twist barrels with the old 55 grain fmj 5.56mm slug made much more damaging wounds out to its max range of =-400 yards from an unscoped M-16.

The fast twist barrel shooting the new 62 grain AP rounds is more accurate, out to +-600 yards, and penetrates very well against helmets and vests, but tends to make a neat "knitting needle" wound which is not an instant man stopper as they discovered in Somalia.

However, in civilian use, a hot .223 HOLLOWPOINT is going to just tear a person up, as we have seen with 7 out of 10 dead.

Usually when folks say ".22" they are referring to .22 rimfire, sometimes written .22LR for the most common type, .22 long rifle. They also come in shorts and longs and a few other sizes based on case length, powder, and slug weight in grains and type, round nose, hollow point etc. The most common .22 would be a .22LR firing a 40 grain soft lead round nosed slug at about 1,050 fps out of a typical rifle. The entire cartridge, slug and brass case, is about one inch long. The case is just side enough for the .22 slug to fit, it does not widen out. The primer is in the rim, hence rimfire. Anywhere the striker hits the rim, it fires.

What the sniper is shooting is also generically speaking a ".22 caliber", but it is a centerfire cartridge with a separate primer installed in the bottom of the case. The case expands outwards from the neck in the shape of a bottle to hold much more powder. The M-16 and AR-15s etc typically fire a 50 to 65 grain slug at from 2900 to 3200 fps depending on the load. At these extreme velocities the wounding and killing power is MANY times greater than the 1000 fps .22LR.

There are other ".22 calibers" even larger in case size than the .223 the DC sniper is using, which push rounds up near to 4,000 fps. These are generally used for varmint hunting and target competition.

To: Travis McGee Can you explain real quick the difference between a .22 and a .223. The size of the round is similar, but what differentiates them? 63 posted on 10/18/02 7:27 AM Pacific by Huck

Well, see, the diameter of the .22 and the .223 are similar, but the .223 is a much longer bullet (ergo, much more massive) and is propelled by a frickin' insane powder charge, and...

oh, fuhgettaboutit. Enough with my babbling. Here you go...

Picture's worth a thousand words.

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