The Roles and Weapons with the Squad

[Ken White]

Was the weapon and cartridge first used by SF in the early days of Vietnam different from those fielded by the Army in 1965?

were Stoner and Sullvan's original rifles and the cartridges were the original Remington designed and manufactured 5.56 -- you're asking a lot from an old guy with a flaky memory...

The original had no bolt closure device (dumb item to add, but the Ord Corps insisted for some unknown reason...) and the gas tube was larger in diameter. There were other minor differences, one being the method of attaching the bolt carrier key and another had something to do with the gas seal rings on the bolt. They also changed the rifling twist from 1:14 to 1:12 to achieve better stability for the traveling bullet -- a factor that lessened the yawing and therefor wounding capability (and then later we went to 1:7 for the SS109 / M855 which made it reach out further but with less energy and upset potential...).

They changed the cartridge from a DuPont extruded powder to Olin ball; slower burning, to lower the chamber pressure, they then had to lighten the original bullet (whose weight I can't recall, 58 gr, I think...) down to 55 grains to meet the MV specs so they shortened it making it less stable -- not realizing or, more likely, not caring, they had decreased the energy at all ranges and increased the propensity to be deflected on contact with a brisk wind in so doing. With that MV, you had a light Gopher hunting pill that traveled too fast to upset on a hit except at the end of its range envelope; in close range shooting it passed right through bods and did little damage. Overpenetration, they said...

So given a weapon that the Troop Test had clearly shown was deficient in lethality, they bought it anyway, made it less lethal and issued it to people in combat.

Politically purchased weapon. Fault of the Pols. Politically modified to satisfy whims. Fault of the Army.