[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

.40 cal is just about as in demand as 9x19mm is in fact if a person does not have 9x19mm they have a .40 and it is not really a controlled shortage it is supply and demand if you make ammo for the open market it does you no good to have a surplus because then the value goes down.By having your ammo in demand you make much more money.Renumber firearms manufactures and ammunition manufactures are for profit businesses.I think many people forget this important fact.

I know that there really isn't a shortage of this ammo...people are just buying it all up.

In fact, I found a store that sells boxes of Steel Case .223 for 6$ and Brass Casing 5.56 for 9$.

However, I don't own a pistol nor shoot pistols very much so I really don't know much about them. I can handle them correctly but that's about it. I'm not an expert in that department.

There is limit on caliber size under the Hauge Convention you just are not allowed to use certain types of ammunition.FMJ are used because they cause the cleanest wounds which in theory causes less suffering.The Hauge Convention has been around in one shape or form since the end of the 19th century and for over 70 years of it existence nations used full size rifle cartridges and still do in machine guns,sniper rifles and other specialist roles.

I remember it was one of those conventions.

Most armed forces use smaller caliber ammunition for two reasons:
1.the ammo weighs much less and this allows a combatant to carry a much larger amount of ammunition under the same weight. If the cartridge is large a full size rifle round the typical solider will only have about 180 rounds in a smaller cartridge they can carry 240 rounds for the same cost in weight as the larger caliber.
2.It is far easier to train a person to have good marksmanship with a smaller caliber round than it is a heavier round additionally people of smaller frame can much more easily use a smaller caliber rifle while a larger may reduce their combat effectiveness.

All in all I think that the choice to use smaller caliber round was a wise one.Even in Vietnam where there where teething troubles with the M16 largely due to poor training and poor maintenance practices the advantage of 5.56mm was clear it encumbered troops less and they carry a large amount of ammunition that would have been very encumbering if it had been a larger caliber.You have also recall that in addition your ammo you also might be carrying a belt or two of ammunition for the machine gun in Vietnam that was the M60 7.62x51mm.

Those are two other good reasons to use a smaller caliber...but that's for like an entire regular army. I was meaning Counterterrorism, SOF, Law Enforcement, etc.

I've heard over and over that they use Hollow Points and smaller calibers so they don't have to worry about shooting through bodies in a hostage situation or in a densely populated area.

These days a platoon might only have two GPMG M240 and each squad will have at least one M249 which greatly increases the suppression ability of a squad so only the members of the weapons squad where the GMPG will be have to carry the heavier ammo and in the other squads usually one extra man carrier belts for M249(5.56mm) they use canvas bags told hold them so they really do not add that much weight.Both the M240 and the M249(sometimes known as MK46) are very highly rated by combat troops in yearly reviews.

I've been trained on both the 240 and 249. I talked quite a bit with the gunner who was helping me.

He and I both agreed that they were awesome weapons.