Re: Chinese cartridge, 5.8x42mm

[Ryan Pendergast <pender@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 01:34 PM 4/22/02 -0700, you wrote:
>Anyone got some information on this new proprietary round?

Developed in 1987 by the PLA to overcome the limitations of the Russian 
5.45x39mm and NATO 5.56x45mm cartridges at ranges in excess of 400m.  The 
bullet has a diameter of .228 in. (5.8mm), a weight of 64 grains (4.1g), 
and a muzzle velocity of 3182 fps (~940m/s).  Looking simply at those 
stats, the performance is almost identical to that of the NATO SS109/M855 
cartridge.  The difference is in the ballistic coefficient (.262 vs. .235), 
which means the 5.8mm retains slightly more velocity at range than does the 
5.56mm.  I've calculated the DD to be 19/11.  For expanded DD's at ranges 
to 500m, see http://www.millenniumsend.com/user/pender/milend/dd.pdf

Interestingly, the bullets examined so far have all had steel jackets and 
the core has either a high or low antimony vs. lead content (I can't 
remember which).  At any rate, what this means is that the bullet tends to 
fragment upon impact, causing much more serious wounds than a typical ball 
round.  I did not allow for any additional wound effect when calculating 
the DD, but something to keep in mind.

Hope this helps, Jeff.  And my apologies to the list if this is off topic...

Ryan