Delete comment from: Captain Capitalism
Actuall you got it wrong because smaller bullets pack more punch overall.
Look at comparison of standard 7,56 NATO vs 5,7mm FN. 7,56 has trouble penetrating vests at 200 meters, whilst 5,7 FN's pistol easily penetrates kevlar vests at 300 meters. So the reason of switching to smaller calibre, aside from size and accomodation costs reduction, are firepower. And smaller amunition is much more lethal, because the smaller calibres tend to bounce in the body, causing much larger wounds, while big projectiles just punch through leaving - most of the time - small punching holes on the other side. See ak-47 vs ak-74 for reference.
It's all question of mass of projectile times energy times size of patch of contact during the impact.
Jul 3, 2013, 7:28:20 PM
Posted to Resource Warfare from the Terrorists