Just enviro-hype or really a good round?
http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/06/23/41283-army-begins-shipping-improved-556mm-cartridge/
http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/06/23/41283-army-begins-shipping-improved-556mm-cartridge/
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Army begins shipping improved 5.56mm cartridge
- Thread starter Furrbrain
- Start date
From the link you cited:
"According to Lt. Col. Jeffrey K. Woods, the program's product manager, the projectile is "the best general purpose 5.56mm round ever produced."
Woods said its fielding represents the most significant advancement in general purpose small caliber ammunition in decades.
The Enhanced Performance Round contains an environmentally-friendly projectile that eliminates up to 2,000 tons of lead from the manufacturing process each year in direct support of Army commitment to environmental stewardship.
Woods said the effort is a clear example of how "greening" a previously hazardous material can also provide extremely beneficial performance improvements.
The M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round is the first environmentally-friendly bullet resulting from a larger "greening" effort across the Army's Small Caliber Ammunition programs. Other greening efforts include 5.56mm tracer, 7.62mm ball and green primers."
I suppose if they reverted back to green fatigues, the world would be just perfect...totally harmonious...even Utopia!
"According to Lt. Col. Jeffrey K. Woods, the program's product manager, the projectile is "the best general purpose 5.56mm round ever produced."
Woods said its fielding represents the most significant advancement in general purpose small caliber ammunition in decades.
The Enhanced Performance Round contains an environmentally-friendly projectile that eliminates up to 2,000 tons of lead from the manufacturing process each year in direct support of Army commitment to environmental stewardship.
Woods said the effort is a clear example of how "greening" a previously hazardous material can also provide extremely beneficial performance improvements.
The M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round is the first environmentally-friendly bullet resulting from a larger "greening" effort across the Army's Small Caliber Ammunition programs. Other greening efforts include 5.56mm tracer, 7.62mm ball and green primers."
I suppose if they reverted back to green fatigues, the world would be just perfect...totally harmonious...even Utopia!
I've worked with LTC Woods before, he's a great guy.
The purpose of the change was not to develop a "green" round. The Army wanted a round with increased ballistics and more effectiveness for the Soldiers on the ground. The new round does that. Anyone with significant experience with Military ammunition can attest to the lack of consistency and in some cases quality. The new round and new production methods at Lake City Arsenal will be a great advance for our Soldiers in the field.
As for lead being a natural element, that's true. Unfortunately, the US Military puts so much of it into the environment that we have several Military Installations that will eventually have to be considered Superfund Clean Up sites.
The purpose of the change was not to develop a "green" round. The Army wanted a round with increased ballistics and more effectiveness for the Soldiers on the ground. The new round does that. Anyone with significant experience with Military ammunition can attest to the lack of consistency and in some cases quality. The new round and new production methods at Lake City Arsenal will be a great advance for our Soldiers in the field.
As for lead being a natural element, that's true. Unfortunately, the US Military puts so much of it into the environment that we have several Military Installations that will eventually have to be considered Superfund Clean Up sites.
So is arsenic. That doesn't mean you want a lot of it in your drinking water.
I'm not too comfortable swimming with pirahnas either, come to think of it.
J
Jose
Lead leaching into drinking water happens under extremely acidic situations ONLY.
Cleaning up lead from bullets is as easy as scooping the ground up with a bulldozer/backhoe and sifting all the crap out of it to recover spent projectiles.
The bottom of Lake Erie just off the shore from Port Clinton Ohio has literally hundreds of tons of spent copper-jacketed lead cored projectiles from the firing ranges at Camp Perry.
If we do not stand united against the red herring of lead contamination, we do not deserve to win this fight.
Cleaning up lead from bullets is as easy as scooping the ground up with a bulldozer/backhoe and sifting all the crap out of it to recover spent projectiles.
The bottom of Lake Erie just off the shore from Port Clinton Ohio has literally hundreds of tons of spent copper-jacketed lead cored projectiles from the firing ranges at Camp Perry.
If we do not stand united against the red herring of lead contamination, we do not deserve to win this fight.
You are correct that, in most situations, lead is not very mobile in groundwater.
This... the lead leaching stuff is a bunch of crap.
It's going to be used as an end-around attack by antis to get ranges shut down, more or less.
I can sort of understand the concern with shot contamination, where you have like thousands of little lead particles all over, but bullets in soil don't exactly dissolve
easily.... people are still finding bullets in battlefields from the civil war and sometimes the revolutionary war.
-Mike
The SS109 bullet used in the M885 used a sub-caliber conical tipped steel penetrator with lead filler and a copper jacket. When striking a hard target, the jacket and much of the filler material would peel away on the hard target and only the small penatrator would continue.
Looking at this design, the steel tip holds the front of the bullet and shields the front of the jacket and filler material, which should result in better penetration. The back-weighted bullet would reduce stability slightly, but the stacked configuration might facility fragmentation as the filler seperates from the penetrator and the back-weighted bullet should be a little less stable for improved toubling in soft targets.
The common problem with hard-tipped ammunition is deflection when striking a hard target at a slight angle (why the 30mm DU rounds have a blunt-tipped aluminium tip). I'd be interested in seeing how this new round compares to the SS109 when striking hard-steel plate at 10 or 15 degrees of angle.
Looking at this design, the steel tip holds the front of the bullet and shields the front of the jacket and filler material, which should result in better penetration. The back-weighted bullet would reduce stability slightly, but the stacked configuration might facility fragmentation as the filler seperates from the penetrator and the back-weighted bullet should be a little less stable for improved toubling in soft targets.
The common problem with hard-tipped ammunition is deflection when striking a hard target at a slight angle (why the 30mm DU rounds have a blunt-tipped aluminium tip). I'd be interested in seeing how this new round compares to the SS109 when striking hard-steel plate at 10 or 15 degrees of angle.
rep308
NES Member
Has anyone info on the terminal ballistics of this round? There are a lot of Trijicon TAO1's with the bullet drop compensator in the field and I wonder if the calibrations still hold true.
![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
Same year as the mess kit in my mobility bag. Weird.
The articles claim higher velocity and ballistic coefficient, which would suggest a flatter trajectory. Of course, if you're talking an inch or two less drop at 400-600 yards, I doubt it's enough to change the scope.
Looking at the specs, this round was developed agains a 3/8" (9.5mm) improvised balistic protection verse the SS109 (M885) round that was designed to defeat 4mm armor.
1903Collector
NES Member
wonder what the feedback will be from the soilders in the field.
