In 1976, my cousin, a brave paratrooper, came from the army. It was from him that I learned that they were armed with new Kalashnikovs of 5.45 caliber with a bullet with a shifted center of gravity.
He told incredible things that, allegedly, this machine was tested in one of the Arab countries, and the fact that this bullet, due to the fact that its center of gravity is shifted, hitting the head, can come out almost in the heel, and the insides of a person at the same time turn into minced meat. He talked about experiments with a helmet, which covered a head of cabbage, and a bullet that pierced the helmet shredded the cabbage so that it could be immediately sent for salting.
From him, I learned that the Americans already had such a bullet that they used in Vietnam and the appearance of an AK-74 assault rifle in our country is a response to the Americans.
Later I heard a lot about this weapon. Our regiment in the early 80s was still armed with AKM assault rifles, but there were many officers in the unit who served in Afghanistan, where the AK-74 assault rifle was widespread.
They said that when a 5.45 caliber bullet hit a person, it was possible to survive only if the bullet passed through soft tissues, otherwise the bullet begins to tumble chaotically in the body, causing damage incompatible with life.
They also noted the high ricochet of these bullets. They said that it changes its direction even when it hits a tree branch, and it is very dangerous to fight with such a weapon in a confined space, since the bullet behaves unpredictably. There are many more similar examples related to the 5.45 caliber bullet.
So, where is the truth, and is the center of gravity of this bullet really shifted to enhance its damaging properties, or is this a common myth?
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Indeed, bullets with a displaced center of gravity appeared at the beginning of the 20th century and they do not belong to prohibited ammunition. It was then that two types of bullets appeared: heavy and light. The heavy ones were designed for long-range shooting, and the light ones were intended to defeat enemy personnel at distances of 300-400 meters.
At a similar distance, intermediate-skilled shooters could conduct effective fire. In addition, the light bullet was cheaper to manufacture, which was an important factor.
However, when firing these ammunition from old rifles with shallow rifling, the light bullet behaved unstably, therefore, to eliminate this drawback, its center of gravity should be shifted back to the bottom.
So, the shift in the center of gravity was made not to increase the lethality of the bullet, but to stabilize it. There is no evidence of that time that when a bullet hit the body, it began to behave chaotically.
The conversation that a bullet with an offset center of gravity inflicts severe damage to internal organs most likely arose after the Americans in Vietnam used the M16 rifle.
Indeed, a 5.56 caliber bullet, when it hit the body, inflicted terrible wounds due to the fact that, having penetrated to a depth of 10-12 cm, it turned over, and its bottom part, scattering into small fragments, along with a hydrodynamic shock, struck internal organs.
The wound profile left by the M193 bullet of 5.56x45 ammunition of the M16 rifle.
As a result of the water hammer and fragments, the diameter of the inner wound reached 5-7 cm, which was ten bullet caliber. All this was associated with the instability of the bullet flight due to the shallow rifling of the barrel of this rifle, but the introduction of a new, heavier bullet, although it improved the stability of the bullet flight, but there was no change in the nature of the wounds
So maybe all the properties of a bullet with an offset center of gravity are fiction? This is not entirely true.
In 1974, the AK-74 assault rifle of 5.45 caliber was adopted by the Soviet Army. The 7N6 bullet initially had its center of gravity shifted to improve flight stabilization. During the fighting in Afghanistan, it turned out that when a bullet hits the body, it behaves differently than American 5.56 caliber bullets.
This was due to the fact that a decrease in the rotation of the bullet during a hit leads to the fact that stabilization is disturbed. In this case, the bullet, having a strong steel shell, does not collapse, and due to the fact that its center of gravity is shifted, it turns over.
Experts believe that during sharp braking, the lead jacket shifts inside the bullet, the nose bends, which increases the destabilizing effect, and the bullet changes its trajectory and tumbles. Taking into account the ricochet of this bullet, which, when it hits the bone tissue, can significantly change its trajectory, the nature of the damage is severe.
The wound profile left by a 7N6 bullet of 5.45x39 ammunition.
However, the stories that a bullet hitting the head can come out of the leg are a myth. She simply does not have enough energy to overcome such a distance.
The high rebound rate of a 5.45 caliber bullet is not due to its shifted center of gravity, but to the fact that the light pointed bullet has a strong steel shell. The 5.56 American light bullet has a less durable shell, when it hits an obstacle, it deforms and loses its energy, which significantly reduces the likelihood of repeated ricochets.
When comparing the effectiveness of these bullets, it turns out that the penetrating ability of an American bullet is much lower than a 5.45 caliber bullet, and if it hits even a light bulletproof vest, there is a high probability of getting off with a minor wound.
From all this, we can conclude that the appearance of a bullet with a displaced center of gravity was caused by the fact that it was necessary to improve the stability of its flight, and not to increase the damaging effect. However, the unstable behavior of the 5.45 caliber bullet, created for the AK-74 assault rifle, when hit is really associated with a shift in the center of gravity.
