The round has a civilian use, and that is for ferral hog hunting. Because 308 is to much and .22 is not enough. Because 5.56 is a commone caliber used in most sporting rifles to make these sporting rifles useful you need a better round. It goes a long way towards killing what you hunt quickly and humanely.

This same thing happened in the Clinton administration with cheap 7.62x39 steel core ammo.
http://www.thegunzone.com/762x39.html