The Army set out to make a more environmentally friendly bullet, and wound up with something to really brag about.
There was nothing fundamentally wrong with the M855 “Green Tip” ammo that the United States has been using since 1982, except that it has a lot of lead in it. With the adoption of the Montreal Protocols, Executive Order (1993), EPA 17 List, and AEC Study into lead contamination, the Army began looking for an unleaded solution to their 5.56mm rounds. With the use of a lead free projectile the Army could eliminate 2,000 tons of lead from production, gain access to formerly closed training ranges, and removes the future lead hazard from the environment.
The new M855A1 EBR, actually has much better performace, and is lead free……
Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk
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About laststandonzombieisland
Let me introduce myself. I am a bit of a conflict junkie. I am fascinated by war and warfare, assassination, personal protection and weaponry ranging from spud guns and flame throwers to thermonuclear bombs and soviet-trained Ebola monkeys. In short, if it’s violent or a tool to create violence it is kind of my thing.
I have written a few hundred articles on the dry encyclopedia side for such websites as History Times, Firearms Talk.com, GUNS.com, Suite 101 (where I am the contracted Feature Writer for Military History) and Combat Forums; as well as for print publications like England Expects, and Strike First Strike Fast. Several magazines such as Sea Classics, Military Historian and Collector, Mississippi Sportsman and Warship International have carried my pieces. Additionally I am on staff as a naval consultant and writer for Eye Spy Intelligence Magazine.
Currently I am working on several book projects, including a section in the upcoming Mississippi Encyclopedia (to be published by Ole Miss this summer), an alternative history novel about the US-German War of 1916, and a biography of Bennett Doty. My first novel, about the coming zombie apocalypse was released this Spring by Necro Publications and can be found at Amazon.com.
In my day job I am a contractor for the US federal government in what could best be described as the ‘Force Protection’ field. In this I am a certified Firearms, and less-than-lethal combat instructor.
