a. The development of the Short Range Training Cartridge covered by this specification will provide a substitute for service ammunition, ballistically comparable to the 7.62mm, M80 Ball ammunition at a range of 100 meters. The cartridge was developed for the U.S. Armed Forces live-fire training on scaled ranges, restricted maneuver areas and military operations on urbanized terrain scenarios.

b. The cartridge is military unique. Operational requirements mandate an environmental performance window of from −20°C ± 1°C to 40°C ± 1°C. The cartridge must also be able to withstand storage temperatures from −35°C ± 1°C to 63°C ± 1°C and be safe to fire after exposure to these extreme temperatures. The cartridges are packaged in military containers for use integral to the M60 and M240B machine gun systems. The packaging container becomes a part of these weapon systems. While the cartridge may be used individually by commercial sources, its intended use is in a 4 ball to 1 tracer linked configuration for the military.