page_title: 5.56×45mm NATO
section_title: Ammunition capacity for weight comparison
hierarchical_section_title: 5.56×45mm NATO / Ammunition capacity for weight comparison
caption_attribution_description: M16A1
context_page_description: The 5.56×45mm NATO is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, SS110, and SS111 cartridges. On 28 October 1980 under STANAG 4172 it was standardized as the second standard service rifle cartridge for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries. Though they are not entirely identical, the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge family was derived from and is dimensionally similar to the .223 Remington cartridge designed by Remington Arms in the early 1960s.
context_section_description: The first confrontations between the AK-47 and the M14 rifle came in the early part of the Vietnam War. Battlefield reports indicated that the M14 was uncontrollable in full-auto and that soldiers could not carry enough ammo to maintain fire superiority over the AK-47. A replacement was needed, as a result, the Army was forced to reconsider a 1957 request by General Willard G. Wyman, commander of the U.S. Continental Army Command (CONARC) to develop a .223 caliber (5.56 mm) select-fire rifle weighing 6 lbs (2.7 kg) when loaded with a 20-round magazine.
  This request ultimately resulted in the development of a scaled-down version of the Armalite AR-10, called ArmaLite AR-15 rifle. During testing it was found that a 5- to 7-man team armed with the ArmaLite AR-15s has the same firepower as 11-man team armed with M14s. Also, soldiers armed with ArmaLite AR-15s could carry nearly three times more ammunition as those armed with M14s (649 rounds vs 220 rounds). The ArmaLite AR-15, officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16, was later adopted by U.S. infantry forces as the standard issue rifle.
  Here is a table comparing rifles based on a maximum ammunition load in box magazines of 10 kg (22 lb).
caption: An M16A1 with 30-round magazine
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