5.56 Testing

[Chattertooth97 1]

So i was looking around in a bit of confusion over the 2 different types of the 5.56 ammunition, the typical STANAG mag, and the G36 mag, and i couldn't really find much to verify if using one type of ammo in one type of gun, or vice versa would make a difference; so i decided to go and test it myself and hopefully help out any of those wondering the same thing i have been since i got into ARMA.

I used a shooting range mod for this, its NOT mine and i take no credit for it and will link it unless im told i cant, but anyway , on to the info.

I tested both regular rounds and SD rounds in each gun at a target placed 50 meters away from where i was shooting from, and i saw no MAJOR difference though some things that may or may not make a difference if really looked into, im no expert on ballistics and im not claiming to be, so feel free to correct me if i get anything wrong. The guns i used were these: Standard M4A1, unsuppressed, with no optic, and with one 30 round magazine of both regular and SD ammo, a G36 C with the same loadout, both iron sights; and this is what i came out with:

The regular STANAG, in both guns, go 10 m/s faster than the G36 mag, but had SLIGHTLY, and i mean very slightly, more muzzle jump that i could barely notice when firing in full auto, seemingly more so in the G36 than the M4, but that may be the gun and not the ammo itself. As for SD rounds, this was really confusing and it took me about 3 tries before i found out what the hell was going on, and im not sure if its a bug in the game or intended; but at 50m the SD rounds in BOTH guns hit about an inch or so higher than the iron sight of the gun, i did test this with a scoped G36 and the rounds hit where i was pointing, so im not sure what that is about. As for the velocity loss, from the data the firing range mod i was using, the G36 C had about .6% more loss than the M4 with both regular types of the ammo with an average of about 6.90% loss total. Im not too sure if that would make a huge difference in comparison, even with the 10 m/s more with standard stanag. Im not too sure about the reloads, they seem about the same for both and im not all that worried about looking into them in detail.

AS for suppressed weapons, i used the M4 HOLO GL SD (not sure if thats the exact name) and the G36C SD, both had the HOLO sight on it and only used the SD variant of either mag, and with almost identical results from comparison besides the fact the M4 had a grenade launcher, has no burst mode, and fires a bit faster in full auto mode.

I do plan to look into other types of weapons using diffrent mags, and if i can find them ill post them up here (unless i get a bunch of "you cant do this" from anyone ofcorse.)

Well thats all for this post, i hope my information was helpful and i can do more like it in times to come. Thanks for reading!

Heres a link to the Shooting Range mod(thanks to the mod maker for making it :P): http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=14616

Edited February 9, 2013 by Chattertooth97
added link

[NeoArmageddon 958]

You are right. The Stanag and the G36 Mag are using the same type of ammo with one exception:

The "initSpeed"-Value of the Stanag is 930, the one of the G36 mag is 920. The SD type of ammo has similar differences.

If you want to compare stats of ammo/weapons, you can have a look in the specific config-values.

For this you can use the SIX Config browser: http://browser.six-projects.net/cfg_weapons/classlist?version=58

[Beagle 684]

The G36 Mag simulates the fact that the Bundeswehr uses indeed an ammunition with lower muzzle velocity and im genral somewhat lower energy. It's a standard solid lead full metal jacket without any penetrator core and the idea is to reduce wear on barrels.

Edited February 9, 2013 by Beagle

[Chattertooth97 1]

Still a bit confused on why the SD rounds hit so high, is it something to do with trying to compensate for the lower velocity or is it just a bug? Also, im testing a few things with the PDW as it seems to take many different types of 9mm mags, but this is more for my own amusement and to pass the time than a burning question, ill post it if you want me too, though.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Chattertooth97
typo fix

[Beagle 684]

Still a bit confused on why the SD rounds hit so high, is it something to do with trying to compensate for the lower velocity or is it just a bug? Also, im testing a few things with the PDW as it seems to take many different types of 9mm mags, but this is more for my own amusement and to pass the time than a burning question, ill post it if you want me too, though.

There is no bug, SD ammo simply has a higher ballistic arc...it hits too high at close range but is spot on at 200m...the maximum effective range. it's the same for all Silenced weapons with fixed zero Edited February 11, 2013 by Beagle

[Chattertooth97 1]

Ahh ok, makes sense i guess, like i said im no expert on that stuff, thanks for the info.