In 1954, the American 7.62x51 mm ammunition became the main NATO rifle cartridge. It was planned to be used with rifles and machine guns, and soon a wide range of compatible weapons appeared. However, just a few years later, the United States decided to abandon rifles chambered for this cartridge and replace it with a more advanced one. The result of the following work was the adoption of ammunition 5, 56x45 mm.
New cartridge
Development of the T65 cartridge, the future 7, 62x51 mm NATO, began at the turn of the forties and fifties at the initiative of the US Army. The existing rifle cartridge.30-06 Springfield, showing high performance, turned out to be overly powerful for promising automatic rifles, and was also large and heavy enough. The army needed a more compact and lighter, as well as a less powerful cartridge with similar ballistics.
With the participation of several enterprises and organizations, a line of experienced T65 cartridges with different bullets and capabilities was created. After all the necessary tests, the ammunition was accepted into service in the United States, and then pushed as a standard for NATO.
The T65 cartridge was shorter (71 mm versus 85 mm) and lighter than the existing.30-06 Springfield - 25 g versus 27-30 g. The use of modern grades of gunpowder with higher characteristics was proposed, due to which the muzzle velocity of a standard bullet was at the same level, within 790-830 m / s, and the muzzle energy reached 2550-2600 J.
Weapon for the cartridge
The army ordered the development of new types of weapons chambered for 7, 62x51 mm - automatic rifle and machine gun. The result of the ensuing work was the adoption of the M14 rifle and the M60 machine gun by the United States. In addition, foreign countries have developed several samples for the same ammunition.
Even at the stage of work on the future M14, disputes began about the advisability of using a rifle cartridge. It has been known from prior experimentation that a full-size rifle cartridge is overly powerful for hand-held automatic weapons and limits the accuracy and accuracy of fire. Nevertheless, such a cartridge provided certain advantages at the same time.
In 1959, the M14 rifle entered service. Its strengths were considered to be low weight and acceptable dimensions. The rifle cartridge gave a high effective range of fire and had a good destructive effect. At the same time, the rifle could not accurately shoot in bursts: excessive recoil made it difficult to hold it, which led to increased dispersion. Also a problem was the capacity of the store (only 20 rounds) and the excessive weight of the ammunition. The loaded magazine weighed 750 g. Accordingly, 13 magazines with 260 rounds weighed almost 10 kg.
In the early sixties, the complex in the form of an M14 rifle and a cartridge 7, 62x51 mm came to Vietnam, where it showed its advantages and, even more clearly, disadvantages. As a result, the army stepped up work on the creation of new weapons that fully meet modern requirements.
Intermediate chuck
Since the late fifties, several arms companies have been developing promising rifle systems based on an intermediate cartridge. The essence of the new concept was the use of small-caliber ammunition with an increased bullet velocity; also required to increase the rate of fire. The resulting automatic rifle, in theory, could show characteristics at the level of existing samples.
ArmaLite and Remington Arms participated in the program along with others. The first was developing a new rifle, and the second was involved in the development of a new cartridge. Later, their AR-15 rifle and the.223 Remington cartridge showed advantages over competitors, won the competition and were recommended for adoption. In 1964-65. the US Army began rearmament - the new samples were designated as M16 and M193.
The new.223 Rem cartridge (5, 56x45 mm) had a length of only 57, 4 mm and weighed less than 12 g. The muzzle velocity of the bullet reached 900-950 m / s, the energy was at least 1750-1800 J. The combat characteristics were at an acceptable level and ensured confident defeat of manpower.
Tests have shown that the new M16 rifle chambered for the M193 shows the required accuracy and accuracy when firing bursts and does not face the problem of excessive recoil. In addition, the smaller cartridge made it possible to optimize the dimensions and ergonomics of the weapon. There was a gain in the context of ammunition: a magazine with 20 rounds weighed only 320 g. Thus, 10 kg included 31 magazines - 620 rounds.
Thus, in all the main parameters, the cartridge 5, 56x45 mm and the weapon for it, at least, were not inferior to the previous samples of a larger caliber. All this led to understandable results. In 1964-65. the US Army began rearming from the M14 rifle to the newer and more successful M16, while changing the cartridge. Ammunition 7, 62x51 mm NATO was now planned to be used only with machine guns, but not with rifles.
Subsequently, the M193 cartridge was widely used in NATO countries. Initially, it was only about the procurement or licensed production of ammunition. Then third countries began to develop their own versions of the cartridge with various differences.
New generations
In the late seventies, NATO countries, led by the United States, conducted an extensive study comparing existing versions and modifications of the 5, 56x45 mm cartridge. The winner of the competition was the Belgian version of the weighted bullet cartridge, designated SS109. It was soon officially made NATO's standard ammunition. In the US Army, this product received the designation M885.
Over the next decades, the SS109 / M885 cartridge managed to become the basis for new ammunition development in several countries. A number of such products entered service, others went to the commercial market.
Objective reasons
In the middle of the last century, all leading countries took a course to improve infantry small arms by creating fundamentally new intermediate cartridges. However, in the United States, this process was delayed, since the army first decided to rearm with a less powerful rifle cartridge. The shortcomings of such a solution soon became clear, which led to the intensification of work on intermediate cartridges.
The first version of the 5, 56x45 mm ammunition was put into service more than half a century ago, later it was replaced by new modifications with improved characteristics. 5, 56x45 mm NATO still remains the main rifle cartridge of the United States and the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, although there are already some prerequisites for its replacement.
In recent years, work has been underway to create new intermediate cartridges that can in the future replace the good old M193 / M885. However, the real results of such programs are not yet clear, and hypothetical rearmament remains a matter of the distant future. The 5, 56x45 mm NATO cartridge remains in the US and other countries' armies and continues to demonstrate its potential, laid down half a century ago.
