On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 11:36 AM, J. Andrew Rogers <and...@ceruleansystems.com> wrote: [...] > The doctrinal assumptions of infantry and police are inverted. Infantry > operate in a hostile environment in proximity to a few friendly people, > police operate in a friendly environment in proximity to a few hostile > people. Their tactics and procedures reflect this.
Excellent summary. >> From my limited knowledge even I know this: The INSAS rifle uses >> ammunition designed to maim rather than kill. > > > The 5.56x45mm is *not* designed to maim except to the extent that maiming > leads to death. This is an old urban legend based primarily on the fact that > it uses a significantly smaller bullet than the cartridges it replaced. This > particular cartridge has the distinction of being one of the very few > military cartridges that can undergo explosive fragmentation when fired from > common weapons. In terms of terminal lethality, you would be better off > getting hit by a larger bullet that does not undergo explosive > fragmentation. I am unable to ascertain for sure the fragmentation behavior characteristics of the INSAS. Since few if any own INSAS outside of the Indian & Nepali forces public data isn't widely available. The NATO 5.56 fragments at high velocities, however once again I don't have any information on the velocity characteristics of INSAS. >> The Special forces like NSG use >> sub-machine guns like the HK MP5 which are designed to kill rather >> than maim... > > > Actually, the H&K MP5 has very benign terminal ballistics as military > weapons go, since it uses a 9mm pistol cartridge. Survival rates for these > types of wounds is very high, though in the case of the MP5 the standard > practice is to hit the target with a burst of well-placed bullets which > mitigates the relative non-lethality of a single random shot. Thanks for refreshing my memory. >> The INSAS is cheap to produce but will >> overheat after 10 rounds of continuous fire. > > > It stretches plausibility that a modern AK-47 derivative would overheat > after 10 rounds of continuous fire, since that is barely enough rounds to > warm the steel. Even the lightest of lightweight military rifle actions -- > and the INSAS is not lightweight -- can absorb the thermal waste of a full > 30-rd magazine at maximum cyclical rate without overheating. Military > small-arms of the last half century are designed to indefinitely sustain > fire of 50-100 rounds per minute, including AK-47 derivatives actions, which > is roughly rapid semi-automatic fire. I have no direct experience, however on internet forums there are fairly regular reports of the INSAS heating up to unusable temperatures after 10-20 continuous rounds. This is also said to be due to the poor quality of Indian ammunition. It's another matter that the stock infantry version of the INSAS is not capable of full auto because of army specified restrictions. After seeing the civilian use guns that OFB produces, one wonders if the INSAS is any better. [...] > While I agree that military units make poor police, the reasons have more to > do with doctrine and training assumptions than the particular weapons they > use. I am no expert, so thanks for correcting my errors. Cheeni
