That is true, but they were used sometimes by snipers to cause even stronger sniper terror on the front line.
Sounds about right, especially considering the stories in the video about soldiers getting their hand blown off by an IAI round. I'm not sure I totally believe that one, but it sounds like good propaganda to scare the enemy. Think about it, if you believe that story, then you basically believe that a limb/hand/foot hit from a sniper could kill you. In the videos they show, the round wouldn't have detonated early enough to cause those effects though, especially not the German round. It would've shot straight through the hand/wrist and either not detonate at all, or detonate behind the target as shown in the video.
Actually, if I'm not mistaken these rounds weren't supposed to detonate when they impacted flesh (maybe why German round doesn't detonate as early as the Russian one-It also allows more penetration on vehicle armor before the charge is set, which could make it more effective on hard targets).
Look what happened to Simo. He got shot in the face, and lived to tell the tale. Remember he was probably out in the woods, very far from medical assistance, and still managed to survive. Why didn't it blow his head off, or at least damage it more, like the video claimed?
The sort of damage Simo took to the face could've easily been caused by ball ammo. Hit the jaw, the bullet and jaw can fragment and blow the other side of your face off, where the fragments exit. Maybe it was an IAI bullet which would do similar damage, before detonation, but it doesn't seem as if the detonation really had much of an effect on Simo, or he would've been missing a much larger portion of his head/face, and likely would've been dead.
What's more, which makes me doubt these stories, is that the IAI bullets had a different shape, weight and balance than traditional bullets used in their sniper rifles. This would mean impact location would be different between the IAI and ball rounds at longer ranges. I have a hard time believing snipers would change their ammo for a 'special shot' which is likely going to miss because it will impact differently than what the gun was zero'd for. So, now you're missing and walking in shots using IAI ammo, wasting it, for a chance to potentially do SLIGHTLY more damage to a target, while also giving your position away. It just doesn't seem that economical when you could've just put a ball round into their chest 10x faster. A COM rifle hit will put you out of commission very quickly even with ball ammo.
I don't doubt use of these rounds was attempted but I believe most of their 'power' lies in the propaganda behind the ammo as fear tactics against the enemy. It doesn't seem like it would be as reliable on 'special targets' as they seem to imply. I think it was more to scare the upper ranks of the opposite forces. You hear stories like the one's claimed in the thread, claiming snipers are aiming for officers, with this 'explosive ammo'
You hear one sniper shot in the distance, and it would strike a deep fear, no matter what ammo the sniper was using.
It seems this ammo would be more useful for getting the enemy to scatter from cover. You got guys behind light cover like a tree or something, shoot the tree with IAI round (where you don't need a 'perfect shot'), it explodes nicely, any soldiers that were near the impact, may jump up and scatter, making easy targets in the open. This ammo has uses, I just believe it's use for snipers is quite overstated and exaggerated in many cases.
