Its a good thing that you can carry more .223 rounds. You need more to do the job. Whereas a .308 is a one shot one kill round.
I am looking at a .223, but its for varmint hunting and as a good rifle for my wife & daughter. Considering the light recoil and good accuracy, it has its place.
But I am a long time believer in using as much gun as you can. My favorite revolver is a .44, my favorite autoloader is a .45, and my favorite auto-loading rifle is a .308.
I get excellent accuracy out of my Remington 700 in 7mm Magnum, but there is something special about the M14 in my mind.
Military ammo is all FMJ.
A .30 cal in the right place will kill, but in a non-vital place will make a neat hole in and out.
A .223 round will also kill with one round if it hits the right place. But if it hits a non-vital area, it will likely deflect, bounce around inside, and even if not fatal is likely to cause more damage than a .30 cal bullet hitting the same place from the same angle. Buddy of mine was killed in Grenada because a small caliber bullet (5.45mm) hit him. It entered just above the knee, hit the bone and was deflected, traveled up his thigh and severed his femoral artery. He bled out before we could stop the bleeding.
A .30 cal bullet would have been heavy enough to break the bone, or even punch through it. Woulda fucked up his leg good, but he'd still be alive.
The only advantage to heavier calibers in combat is they are accurate over longer distances. Small bullets tend to start to tumble after a few hundred yards - earlier if there's much of a wind. A .30 cal won't.
Like I said, the need to carry lots of ammo does not come up in civilian use. It DOES come up in combat, and not because heavier bullets kill more so you need more smaller bullets to do the job. It comes up in combat because 90% of shooting is simply trying to spoil the other guys aim and keep their heads down. And they are shooting back, most of which is to spoil your aim and keep your head down. Modern combat uses a lot of ammo that way. And it's a real bitch if you find yourself needing to conserve because you're running low. Conserving ammo lets the enemy take better aim, which can fuck up your day.
Civilian situations are quite the opposite. Heavier calibers are preferable in hunting big game because they don't bounce around ruining meat. And if one needs more than a 5 round mag to bring home the meat, one really should practice more before going out again.
Heavier caliber handguns are preferable because, being close contact weapons, you need to put the target down hard before they can close on you. Even in combat a heavy handgun is preferable to a light one. I like the Baretta because of the way it feels, not because of its stopping power. My model 29 does that job.
