So how come the military had to go from 55gr at standard .223 Remington SAAMI pressures to (as much as ) a 90gr bullet at redefined pressures of (let's call it) 62,000 "PSI" and increase the web thickness of the brass and lengthen the leade of the chamber to reduce bolt thrust to "safe" levels?
And, I am told, had to reduce the "requirements" for military cartridges during testing from penetrating both sides of a GI helmet to only one side at what... 600 yards?
And didja ever notice how many near-wildcat cartridges have been developed commercially to enhance the performance of the AR platform.... constrained, as it is, to .223 cartridge lengths?
Even the Brits were working on a .280 caliber as an intermediate cartridge. I understand Colt spent millions to con the high-up military suckers into their AR concept.
That's one of my long-standing bitches. Years ago I bought a very accurate varmint rifle in .223 Rem on the theory that I would always have military loads and brass. Yay! Smart me, huh? I chose this caliber over .22-250 for that reason. Now I can't use military ammo or brass in my varmint rifle, even though it chambers and (would) fire in it.
Shoulda bought the .22-250. Or even a triple deuce I drooled over until the gun shop owner told me to stop getting the gun all wet.
So I never miss a chance to zing the military for choosing that barely-100lbvarmint cartridge in the first place... and then having to soup it up and fiddle with cannelures and rifling and chamber pressures and bullet weights to meet the necessities of reality.
Nyah!
Terry