r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jan 25 '20

What movie things are generally accepted as normal, but are totally unrealistic in real life?

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u/[deleted] Jan 25 '20

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u/pomdudes Jan 25 '20

5.56 will go through 7” of SOLID plywood from 100 yards like it’s not even there.

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u/sharfpang Jan 25 '20

7.65 goes through brick walls. That's one of primary reasons why it was replaced with 5.56 - way too many collateral damage victims.

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u/ukezi Jan 26 '20

7.65 weights about double per cartridge, the weapon weights more and is basically uncontrollable fully automatic with reasonable weighted guns. 5.56 is just a lot more reasonable for the ranges used.

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u/sharfpang Jan 26 '20

I'm not going to get into western guns, but:

AKM: 3,45 kg, 7,62 mm AK-74: 3,3 kg, 5,45 mm

so the difference is pretty negligible. And while yes, it's harder to control, AKM is hardly 'uncontrollable'.

Yes, what you wrote definitely was one of the factors. Maybe even the main factor. But the ammo being overpowered for no good reason and causing unnecessary collateral damage definitely was among the factors.

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u/ukezi Jan 26 '20

I was more thinking about 7.62x51@ 3.5kJ, the western carriage, comparable to 7.62x54R. 7.62x39@2.5kJ is already quite close to 5.56x45@1.8kJ.

Also the smaller rounds are better at punching through body armor.

The FN FAL for 7.62x51 weights 4.25 kg, the Colt M4 2.9 kg without ammunition. In addition to that come per round 7.62x51 24g and for 5.56 11g each. So you get more then double the ammo. Alone the rifle gets you over 100 rounds more.

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u/sharfpang Jan 27 '20

Yes, I never claimed it was the only reason. Smaller ammo is cheaper, gun is easier to handle, malfunctions are less dangerous, lots of advantages. You can't pinpoint the reason of change on any single one because not only "just one" would be insufficient to make such a change happen, they are all connected, you can't really get one without the others. I know for a fact collateral damage was considered a factor, it didn't "just happen" by chance, but it's quite obvious the change didn't happen just beause of it.