Fuchs,

There are a number of variables, but the fact of the matter is a 5.56 round can create relatively massive injuries. I'm hesitant to post photos, but I'm posting one link to some graphic photos of leg wound. In the field I seen fairly large chunks of skull removed, and would hate to see that happen to 5-7 year old child anywhere. I'm confident you can do a Google search and find more photos. Again there are variables that will determine amount of tissue damage. I'm not making an argument on the pro's and con's of 5.56 for the military, but countering your argument that a "little" bullet doesn't do much damage. I can't imagine, or worse maybe I can, what those first responders saw.

Link to graphic leg wound photo:

http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.ph...7854#msg157854

A link that explains the how:

http://www.futurefirepower.com/myths...-556-cartridge

So one might ask; ‘How in the world can a smaller bullet be more lethal than a bigger one?” One word: cavitation. Cavitation is the rapid formation and collapse of a substance or material after an object enters it at a relatively high velocity. I guarantee you have seen cavitation before. Next time you are in the pool or on the boat, look at your hand as it passes through the water or the propeller spinning. In both cases you will notice bubbles on the trailing edge of each. You see this because the liquid water falls below its vapor pressure. Without getting into physics and the hydrodynamics behind it, I’ll just leave it at that. When a human body is hit with a 5.56mm 62-grain bullet traveling at 3,100 feet per second; essentially the same thing happens but much, much more violently. For a split second, the cavity created inside the human body by the round from an M-16/M-4 is about the size of a basketball (if hit dead center of mass). The 5.56 creates this massive cavitation by tumbling through the body initiated by inherently unstable flight.