Can you explain why the longer the range (and therefore the slower velocity) the 77 SMK would work better? I'm lost because that goes against all terminal ballistics research.
The "Works Better" at longer ranges has nothing to do with terminal ballistics, it has to do with getting the bullet accurately on the target at longer ranges (beating the wind).
With a .223/5.56 AR load, you pretty much build your load for terminal performance or long range accuracy, it is not real practical to try and do both at the same time.
You also need to consider what is the reality for the "engagement"?
- Rounds that do well with intermediate barriers, don't perform the best when it comes to terminal ballistics or long range accuracy.
- Rounds that are optimal in terms of terminal ballistics, don't perform the best when it comes to intermediate barriers or long range accuracy.
- Rounds that do well with long range accuracy, don't perform the best when it comes to intermediate barriers or terminal ballistics.
So which of the 3 factors are most likely to be the most significant for your typical engagement?
The military needs the ability to engage targets at longer ranges, so they went with the 77 grain bullets which have great performance in the wind. If you hit a target at longer ranges you have done your job. For closer ranges, you make up for the poor terminal performance with shot placement and number of rounds dumped into the target.
If you need a "mix" of capabilities, you can:
- Load certain mags with certain types of ammo. The challenge is getting as close to a common zero as you can for all of them. You also have to keep up with the different mags.
- "Candy Stripe" your mags when you load them. That is alternate 2 different types of rounds in the mag, so 1 terminal ballistics, 1 long range accuracy, and repeat. When you do this, you will fire multiple rounds on the target (at least 2 or optimally 4), this will ensure that at least 1-2 of the rounds is doing what you want it to. If you do this, typically you zero and run dope for the long range round. You check the terminal performance round to ensure that is "close enough", but given that is will be used for close in work, it doesn't have to be a perfect zero.
It would be great if 1 bullet could do it all, but that is pretty much impossible. As such:
- You need multiple loads that will be masters of each application
- You run a single load that is going to be a jack of all applications
- You pick the one application that matters the most, and use the single load that will be a master
Best of Luck!