AmmoSgt
Posts: 1002
Joined: 10/21/2000 From: Redstone Arsenal Al Status: offline
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Some fun numbers to add to the debate ... one of the factors that was the main driving force behind the development of Modern Rifle ammo , such as the Russian 7.62x 39 used in the AK and SKS, the German 7.92 kurz used in the MP44, the Nato 7.62 x 51 ( .308) and an endless number of experimental ammo that never got adopted (Brit .280 for example) and even the US 5.56 used in the M-16 was the fact In WW2 about 50,000 rounds of rifle ammunition was expended for each casulity caused by rifle caliber ammunition. Now , this inculdes Rifle Caliber MG's like the MG-34, Browning 30 cal, Vickers .303 Russian MG's using the 7.62 x 54. Rifles could be assumed to have an effective rate of fire from a low of about 8 for the Mosin-Nagants to a high of 15 per minute for the British Enfields for Bolt Action Rifles , Twice that for Semi Autos like the Garands and STV's and GW 42's .. and twice that again for Submachine Guns and Auto Carbines like the M-1/2 Carbine and MP 44 ..with each weapon type having it's own span of effective rate of fire based on magazine size .. ease of reloading.. ergonomic factors ..doctrinal use . However in Veitnam the rounds fired per casulity actually increased to about 100,000 rounds fired ... This is considered a successful trend in that Effective Rounds fired have doubled per firing soldier since Rate of fire is up about 4 times , while ammo needed to cause a casulity merely doubled. I know these numbers seem incredible , I have a hard time believeing them myself ..but source after source , from nation after nation , come up with about the same basic numbers .. and the same Philosphy of lighter smaller rounds, and Higher rates of fire, for increased Basic Infantry Effectiveness, continue to drive adoption of cartridges like the Russian 5.45mm and experiments with Flechett type ammo .. So if a squad of 10 men, 8 Riflemen and a 2 man MG crew, with about 100 rounds per Rifleman and 1000 rounds of 30 cal/7.92/7.62 for the MG ( maybe 50 lbs, or a little more with ammo cans and belts), The MG has the Majority of the ammo , and it should only take the basic load of ammo of about 25 squads to inflict 1 casuality on average , I know this sounds silly , but i have NO idea who is shooting all of those rounds that miss. LOL but those are the statistics .. Good Info on the development of various types of military rifle ammo over the last 120 years or so is avilable at the www.cruffler.com web site in their Weapons Trivia Archives, they also have good specific info on various infantry type weapons in their other Historical Archives.
[ November 25, 2001: Message edited by: AmmoSgt ]
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"For Americans war is almost all of the time a nuisance, and military skill is a luxury like Mah-jongg. But when the issue is brought home to them, war becomes as important, for the necessary periods, as business or sport. And it is hard to decide which
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