The Army bought the Air Force's survival rifle chambered in a cartridge designed for killing groundhogs and turned it into their front line combat rifle. It's called the M-16.
Well, here's the thing. There was a Springfield Armory (the actual armory) project in the 1950s (60s? Can't remember) called SALVO that used a triple barrel and duplex cartridge to push a 5.6mm round at ~5,000 FPS. And then someone in the Army conflated that round with 5.56 and sold the M-16 to the brass based on the old performance numbers.
The Army bought the Air Force's survival rifle chambered in a cartridge designed for killing groundhogs and turned it into their front line combat rifle. It's called the M-16.
Oh yea. I forgot.
"ackshually, the 556 round is meant to wound the enemy, and force their combat medics to waste resources on them. that's why it's such a good round!"
Well, here's the thing. There was a Springfield Armory (the actual armory) project in the 1950s (60s? Can't remember) called SALVO that used a triple barrel and duplex cartridge to push a 5.6mm round at ~5,000 FPS. And then someone in the Army conflated that round with 5.56 and sold the M-16 to the brass based on the old performance numbers.