Quoted: Users of the short-barreled M4's in the Afghan are reporting that with the issue rifle/bullet they're having trouble knocking down the enemy over 100 yards. Multiple shots are required.
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That is to be expected for several reasons:
1) Fragmentation of M855 maxes out around 100 yards.
2) If the round doesn'g fragment it acts more like a .22LR (not much better - similar to a 5.45x39)
3) Hits on the body in combat are random. With you and your target moving you can't aim at the heart and expect to hit it (you are not sniping - you're in a firefight); that is why you aim COM (Center-of-Mass) to maximize your probability of a hit against the target.
4) If your random hit doesn't hit a critical spot (i.e. heart, aorta, liver etc...) the small hole isn't likely to bleed much - not enough to cause an immediate cessation of hostilities at any rate.
5) Even if you do hit in a critical area w/o fragmentation the bleed out could take 15-30 seconds through the small hole (time enough for both of you to squeeze off several rounds at each other).
If you get into firefights over 100yards with an M4 you are at a disadvantage - the M4 is much better suited for 'typical' combat distance - Afghanistan combat is proving to be the exception to the rule (either that or the our guys are not using artillery & CAS enough - which I doubt).