Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Gunsplaining to conservatives [View all]Straw Man
(6,839 posts)39. Hmm ...
When I would shoot my dad's Winchester model 70 in 30.06, it would just about take my arm off. When I shot the M16, it was like plinking with a .22.
Both of those statements are hyperbolic to the point of irrationality. The recoil energy of .22LR in an average rifle is .2; the recoil energy of .223 in a relatively light rifle is 3.9, or twenty times that of the .22LR; the recoil energy of lightly loaded .30-06 is 10.2, or about two-and-a-half times that of the .223. The .223 is much closer to the .30-06 than it is to the .22LR.
https://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm
In other words, if a .223 feels like a .22 to you, then you should have no problem with a .30-06.
The particular genius of the .223/5.56 is that this much smaller but faster bullet causes such catastrophic damage - reading the autopsy reports out of Vegas and such, with doctor's comments that it was common for a bullet to hit in the upper chest, and come out the butt, destroying everything in between.
As would pretty much any centerfire rifle round. The high speed and light weight of the .223 bullet make it less apt to penetrate, and more likely to yaw and fragment on contact. The wounds it causes are indeed severe, but that is not due to the type of penetration you describe.
Thom Hartmann, for instance, advocates a ban on everything semi-auto, but I don't think that's especially useful. That would ban everything from the 20th c. pretty much, and I don't think banning Ruger 10/22's, M1 Garands or the Colt 1911 is needed. The .223/5.56 is its own special nasty case though. For that, a case can be made.
And what would you do about reloaders who create their own reduced-power loads for the .30-06 and .308 cartridges to minimize recoil, facilitating rapid fire of their Garands and M1As? Would you ban that as well?
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
46 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
