US Marines to get new "deadlier" bullets

[joe817]

No more "Mr. Nice Guy".



Works...for me.

Agreed.

Yup. Same here.

[The Annoyed Man]

There is a good detailed explanation of how the round meets the requirements of the Geneva Convention in the original article. Follow the link-

The Geneva Convention does not regulate bullet design. The Hague Convention is what regulates bullet design.

Military snipers have been using the Sierra Match King for a long time, it also is an open tip bullet. It is not a bullet that is designed to explosively expand like a regular hollow point round you might use in a pistol. The open tip is for downrange ballistics, it flies better that a closed tip. Don't ask me how, it just does.

It has better downrange ballistics because it has a better ballistic coefficient (BC) than a bullet of same weight and diameter without the hollow point of a Sierra MatchKing or other similar HPBT match bullets from Hornady and other manufacturers. The higher the BC, the more stable in flight the bullet. The reason the tip is not closed all the way (it is a tiny, tiny opening, BTW) is because of the manufacturing process. The nose is hollow so that the maximum bullet weight possible is distributed along the shank of the bullet, and the minimum possible along the ogive. The boat tail gives the bullet greater range because of the way the air flows over the bullet in flight, closing more cleanly behind the bullet as it passes, creating less drag.

The 175 grain MatchKing commonly used by the Lake City Armory for military sniper use has a BC of as high as .505 for velocities above 2800 fps. (Lake City 175 grain Match is loaded quite hot, by the way, and produces noticeably more recoil in my heavy barreled Remington 700 than does the equivalent match round from Black Hills, for instance, also using a 175 grain HPBT bullet of unstated manufacture.) A Sierra GameKing in 180 grains (closest bullet Sierra offers in a hunting design to the weight of the 175 MatchKing) has a maxium BC of .501 above 2700 fps. Their 180 grain Pro Hunter has a BC of .407 at 2600 fps and higher. A .308 FMJ of 175 grain weight would not have the same high BC as the MatchKing.

But you are correct that the Sierra MatchKing is not a reliably expanding bullet. It does not behave the same way as your hollowpoint pistol bullets, which are deliberately designed to mushroom up and expand in diameter upon impact. But none of that addresses how the JAG office could come to the conclusion that the above pictured bullets are consistent with Hague requirements.

[Mike1951]

The next sentences from 1899 Hague:

The present Declaration is only binding for the Contracting Powers in the case of a war between two or more of them.

It shall cease to be binding from the time when, in a war between the Contracting Parties, one of the belligerents is joined by a non-Contracting Power.

I'm guessing it's because Al Quida and the Taliban were not signatories to the Hague Convention.

[The Annoyed Man]

The next sentences from 1899 Hague:

The present Declaration is only binding for the Contracting Powers in the case of a war between two or more of them.

It shall cease to be binding from the time when, in a war between the Contracting Parties, one of the belligerents is joined by a non-Contracting Power.

I'm guessing it's because Al Quida and the Taliban were not signatories to the Hague Convention.

That would explain it. Thanks.

[d strokes]

"We already had them in Iraq two years ago" - Best Friend (United States Marine Infantry)