12-05-2001, 10:27 PM
Wound cavities like that were one of the reasons why the world went to ~5.56mm (.223 caliber) rounds in the late sixities and seventies. A 7.62mm rifle bullet (what was generally used in all small arms until shortly after WWII) makes a very clean hole, and has enough kinetic energy that it will generally plow thru bones, etc. Even the shortened 7.62mm bullets which were used in the first generation of assault rifles had too much KE to make nasty, messy wounds like that one.<br>
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The lighter 5.56mm bullets lose KE faster, and are not as well jacketed, so they will bend, break and tumble in wounds. And a wounded man will cost an army much more than a dead guy.<br>
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But enough about us moderns. WRT the Romans, that stabbing strategy makes sense. Your opponents are generally not as well armored as you, and such a wound would definitely not be survivable in those days, and stands a fair chance of putting the enemy out of action.<br>
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WWB <p></p><i></i>
<br>
The lighter 5.56mm bullets lose KE faster, and are not as well jacketed, so they will bend, break and tumble in wounds. And a wounded man will cost an army much more than a dead guy.<br>
<br>
But enough about us moderns. WRT the Romans, that stabbing strategy makes sense. Your opponents are generally not as well armored as you, and such a wound would definitely not be survivable in those days, and stands a fair chance of putting the enemy out of action.<br>
<br>
WWB <p></p><i></i>
