Quote:
Originally Posted by Stealhead
I have seen some say x round is a "wounding" round x round is a "killing" round... news flash any bullet can kill you and the whole notion that military weapons use "wounding" bullets is an urban myth anyone that thinks this has clearly not seen what a modern 5.56mm similar bullet will do to the human body some of the heavy grain one used by elite forces have been mistaken by pathologists to have been caused by 7.62x51mm rounds.This myth is caused I believe by the Hague Convention which bans certain types of warfare one of the the things that it bans or perhaps discourages is the better word is causing unnecessary pain and suffering that does not mean to encourage wounding over killing but more the use of weapons that are likely to cause long painful death or a needlessly painful injury.In other words you should kill the enemy quickly if he is displaying the will to be a combatant(even if he is retreating).
The goal of a well made weapon/round/munition is to be as deadly as possible and then if failing to kill to cause the most injury possible killing is always most important who wants a wounded enemy still able to fight being able to use his weapon to kill you?
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There is a ton of research done on the effectiveness of different rounds by the military. The 5.56x45mm NATO for example can cause a lot of trauma to the human body due to its tendency to tumble and break apart on impact (depends on load, weapon, and distance) and cause increased amounts of hydrostatic shock. It's kill probability per shot though, is much lower than say the 7.62x51mm NATO, though the wounds the 5.56 create tend to be much harder to treat surgically. Hence its reputation as a wounding round.
From a military theory perspective it is more advantageous to seriously cripple or wound your adversary rather than kill them, this is with the idea that the enemy will have to deal with the casualties by either trying to treat them, or having to dispose of them. In fact several bullets since the 5.56mm (that one happened to be more of a fluke in the design) were designed with the intent that they tumble and fragment on impact to increase the trauma and severity of the wounds caused. They have all tended to be smaller lightweight rounds that also have lower first shot pk ratios.