“There is the advantage that a small or light bullet has over a heavy one when it comes to wound ballistics. … What it amounts to is the fact that bullets are stabilized to fly through the air, and not through water, or a body, which is approximately the same density as the water. And they are stable as long as they are in the air. When they hit something, they immediately go unstable. … If you are talking about.30-caliber, this might remain stable through a human body. … While a little bullet, being it has a low mass, it senses an instability situation faster and reacts much faster. … this is what makes a little bullet pay off so much in wound ballistics.”

—  Eugene Stoner

Congressional testimony ([Why the AR-15 Is So Lethal, w:James Fallows, James, Fallows, November 7, 2017, September 2, 2018, The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/why-the-ar-15-is-so-lethal/545162/]; [M-16: A Bureaucratic Horror Story, June 1981, September 2, 2018, w:James Fallows, James, Fallows, The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1981/06/m-16-a-bureaucratic-horror-story/545153/]; [If Porn Could Be Banned, Why Not AR-15s?, w:James Hamblin, James, Hamblin, February 15, 2018, October 25, 2018, The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/02/on-banning-porn-vs-guns/553433/]).

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Eugene Stoner1
American firearms designer 1922–1997

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