7.62 MM VERSUS 5.56 MM – A COMPARISON OF NATO’S TWO CALIBRES
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
1. On 28 October 1980, after more than four years of extensive testing at the German Infantry School at Hammeburg, Federal Republic of Germany, the NATO Small Arms Test Control Commission (NSMATCC) approved the standardization of a second rifle caliber cartridge. The cartridge selected was the intermediate power 5.56 x 45mm (.223 Caliber) and the improved Belgian version, the SS109, was selected as the basis for standardization.
2. As a result, NATO had two standard rifle caliber cartridges, the full power 7.62 x 51mm NATO (.308 Caliber), in service since 1953, and the intermediate power 5.56 x 45mm NATO adopted in 1980. Although the selection of the 5.56 x 45mm cartridge was based on extensive testing, research, and documented battle performance, this intermediate power round is not the optimum ammunition and caliber in the contemplated battlefields of the future. Let's examine the......
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