M14 discussed on Guns: Machines of War - National Geographic Channel

[Zorak]

If you want to get technical about it, the problem was really solved by adoption of what was initially known as the "### round" but due to an increasingly negative connotation associated with that word, the term became "##### round," then "wuss round" and finally, ".223" There is no recoil associated with either the ".223" or it's modern equivalent, "an airsoft pellet."

It's all well and good to be an internet wiseguy on this. Suffice it to say you would be of different opinion if you'd seen as many folks shot with this round as I have. Going through walls is different than dropping a man. the 5.56 is a very different round from the .223, and belive me, most of the 5.56 variants work pretty good. Of course, NATO could be wrong these past 30+ years and you may have some specialized knowledge that the nations under this banner have not accounted for yet.