Terminal Ballistics

[nralifer]

That's incorrect misinformation created by Hollywood. A wounded enemy is not better than a outright kill. Nobody is ever taught that we are taught to kill. A wounded enemy can recover, detonate a bomb, call in your position, etc. They don't stop and try and get the down guy like us. The whole wound one and then wait for his friends is complete bs. In my multiple deployments and training I have never been taught wounding is better. In fact if you were shooting to wound you can find yourself up on charges. Dumb politicians set in place that the military can't use bullets designed for hunting. Manufacturers get around that with marketing. Like snipers use match bullets which are designed to expand and have great terminal ballistics especially at long range. They do ballistics gel testing in house. The fbi also doesn't ballistics testing on all the match bullets for law enforcement etc. There's very specific requirements like with Berger. They have to have it labeled as OTM (open tip match) for all their military contacts. The ridiculous view that wounding is better than killing is something that drives us nuts and is almost comical. There's no military school or training that teaches that. It's nothing more than misinformation from people who never served and watch too many Hollywood movies

I will have to defer to your judgment. Clearly expanding bullets are more lethal than non-expanding ones because they drastically increase the probability exsanguination. So in your experience, what is the role of expanding bullets in military sniping?

 

[NorthRiverGuide]

I will have to defer to your judgment. Clearly expanding bullets are more lethal than non-expanding ones because they drastically increase the probability exsanguination. So in your experience, what is the role of expanding bullets in military sniping?

Snipers require bullets with with great external ballistics for what they do. Snipers count on one shot one kill. Once they break the first shot they have possibly compromised their position. The more shots the higher probability they will be detected. Snipers unlike normal soldiers if captured face death or worse because the effects on the battlefield. They need a bullet that will cause massive trauma killing their target anywhere inside the engagement range. Fmj like the normal soldier uses has habits of doing funny stuff in the body. I know a guy who got shot in the shoulder and the bullet ended up in his leg. That's not uncommon either and people use volume of fire to ensure a kill. Snipers don't have the same luxury. Sniper tactics have changed a lot too the lone two man team isn't really used anymore. It's usually a team of guy's including security. They will have security around the position while they are sniping. That way if they are discovered they have a change of fighting their way out. They can only shoot from a single place so many times before being discovered. It's all about the one shot one kill. A lot of it is psychological too on the enemy. If you see the guy next to you drop dead instantly by a single bullet from nowhere it really messes with them.