None taken, glad you spoke out. We are all trying to be helpful here and I am especially pleased that someone that uses an AUG responded.
The issue is not barrel length, that is pretty clear and that was/is the topic.
Twist is the issue and I was the first to speak out on that. The original concept was, and I'm paraphrasing "could I get better accuracy going from 508 to 550mm?" My response was correct, again paraphrasing, "Ahh, no, no not at all. In fact you have selected the wrong twist to stabilize .223 for shooting over great distances."
"feared overpenetration of the .223" - civilian in an apartment that has already described his prefered ammo (first thread) no understanding of ammo to twist match let alone fragmentation within the .223 family, optics, etc.
"Just as the US Coast Guard does. No better gun for raiding ships than a .223 AUG." - I can think of a few (6.8 MURG modified upper,HK416, FNH MK-17, 7.62x39 R, etc.), all under review at CG to throw out the .223 and all best suppressed. Now if you are of a mind that the Coast Guard prefers to board and tango with unsupressed weapons?
"In a stress shooting situation, auditory exclusion prevents you from loss of hearing" - Very much aware of tunnel hearing and am still surprised by those that still believe in it as a means for avoiding hearing loss.
"No, auditory exclusion is a psychological and not a physical effect. Whether hearing is damaged or not is a different mechanism altogether. Think of being in an auto accident where you quit hearing the radio and tunnel vision occurs. Since the mind "time shares" instead of actually "multi tasking" it dedicates all resources to surviving the perceived threat. It quits accepting input from those senses that aren't involved in preserving the animal. That's all auditory exclusion is, the mind no longer accepting inputs. The ear still receives any damage that might occur. The mind just refuses to "listen" to it.
There is a mechanism that kicks in to protect the inner ear from more sustained high noise. The aural reflex mechanisms work to protect the inner ear from loud noises, but they respond too slowly to protect from impulse damage like gunshots (100 to 150 milliseconds reaction vs microseconds for the noise pulse). The curvature of the ear drum is changed and the muscles attached to the bones that transmit the sound pressure to the inner ear tense up to reduce some of the sound, but too slowly to help shooters. These protective mechanisms can "fatigue" and have their own problems over time, but they don't help shooters because they don't react quickly enough to prevent the damage from occurring.
Most people don't notice the damage done by noise. The loss of hearing is more akin to a chipping away of small bits instead of hacking out large chunks. Since we don't notice the fractional loses we don't pay any attention to the overall loss (like having our rights chipped away little bit by little bit until we wake up to the reality) until it is obvious. It is the rare occurrence that a dramatic loss is experienced due to a single event or a very few such events. Those instances get discussed and some folks may think that because they don't experience anything dramatic they're not getting any damage. That's not what we see in occupational safety and industrial hygiene and not what the military sees. Damage occurs."
Everyone will have some interesting new choices coming out soon on that issue. I very much hope that you will use one of them each and every time you go.
As to the "it only works under stress" I guess these patriots just aren't as stressed as they need to be at the exact right moment.
http://www.asha.org/about/publications/leader-online/archives/2006/060321/060321g.htm
http://www.armedforces-int.com/news...n-iraq-afghanistan-suffering-hearing-loss.asp
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-08-03-troops-hearing_N.htm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/72317.php
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003722259
http://rinf.com/alt-news/war-terrorism/study-1-in-4-soldiers-at-war-have-hearing-loss/4262/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23523729/
The articles are endless and legion.
"2-12x50 RD Scope at 2x with boths Eyes open even within 2m distance. If you can't do that, practice more" - No doubt. But this is a civillian in an apartment that maybe lives near a loved one that selected his scope for "finess of the reticle" for long range shooting. I can think of a few CQB scopes that might make more sense for an untrained person.
The AUG is a great early 1970's design that is still in use today. As far as the U.S., it is still purchased by U.S. Customs and Immigration. The 9mm you are refering to is the kit 9mm, Versions 1 through 3 were not the AUGs best work, but gen 4 (look for the "1" molded between mag catches) is considered a success. The full 9mm rifle is still in production and is still a widely accepted and purchased by police forces world wide.
