Raufoss

This is coolbert:

Thanks here to Yale and the Avalon Project:

The Raufoss fifty [.50] caliber round fired from the Barrett sniper rifle, is an illegal weapon of war? So it has been speculated!

The reasoning behind this speculation is the wording of articles from the St. Petersburg Convention of 1868.

"Laws of War : Declaration of St. Petersburg; November 29 1868"

The wording of which, reads in part, without regard to weaponry:

"the employment of arms which uselessly aggravate the sufferings of disabled men, or render their death inevitable"

"The Contracting Parties engage mutually to renounce, in case of war among themselves, the employment by their military or naval troops of any projectile of a weight below 400 grammes, which is either explosive or charged with fulminating or inflammable substances."

The Mk211 is an armor-piercing, incendiary, explosive round. Gives the Barrett sniper rifle an enhanced capability to do significant damage!

And, weighs between 43-47 grams. Well below the 400 grams [grammes] as specified in the Convention.

Would seem to be outlawed under the St. Petersburg Convention?

Still remains, however, a legal round. The experts have determined that the Raufoss round will pass through a body intact and only explode AFTER EXITING!!

UNLESS THE TARGET IS WEARING A CERTAIN TYPE OF BODY ARMOR! In such an instance, the round will explode WITHIN THE BODY!!

Whatever the circumstance, if you get hit with a Raufoss round from a Barrett rifle, you are probably dead, whether the round explodes or not!!

coolbert.