/lit/ - Literature

>>10362127
So you're making it even worse?

>>10362201
>And the M16 has a maximum firing range of 3,937 yards according to wikipedia
If you angle it like an artillery piece or something.

The average 5.56x45mm/.223 load is like a 55gr bullet, going over 3000ft/s, at 100yds or less this performs very well, a decent load like M193 will perform phenomenally here, a hit to the shoulder essentially just necessitates amputation, assuming target doesn't bleed out, up to 400yds and you're still pretty good, assume we're looking at a 20" barrel here.
Looking at 800yds and you've lost quite a lot of velocity, this is about as far as I would ever shoot an M16 and that's assuming I had to, I wouldn't go past 500yds myself because the light bullet just isn't going to perform that well at all past that point.
Likewise, short ARs like the M4A1 or the even shorter Mk.18 would be at a hideous disadvantage at even 300yds because of how much less velocity it starts out with.
Some loads like Mk.262 Mod 1 can rectify this, but to a point, and it'll do better still in a 20" rifle.

At near 4000yds, ANY 5.56x45mm loading will have a light bullet that moves very slowly, there simply isn't a point to use that cartridge at those ranges, you could deflect that with a frying pan or your keychain, assuming it was hitting you at all. I mean you could just as well run up to the target and throw pebbles at it.
Those are also really challenging distances even for a rifle bullet that would still retain energy at that distance, assuming you had some really slick and well made bolt-action rifle in say .416 Barrett, with amazing glass, you'd still not have any good use out of that range because shooting at those ranges is very hard and requires a lot of practice and mental bandwidth to achieve.