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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Rick Mc Leod of the Clan Mac Leod <rxm@****.MDA.COM.AU>
Subject: Wind Resistance on a ballistic projectile...
Date: Tue, 30 May 1995 05:13:26 GMT
Several folks quoted me and completely missed my point...
(one of them anyway...)

Original post from some guy (paraphrased cuz my memory is shot):
>>Wind resistant slows bullet till it is no longer effective...

My response (again paraphrased):
>If you think wind will slow a bullet so that it won't hurt...

Now, the best of these is pretty a good description, but the
7.62mm round has a larger cross-section, and a slower MV
than the .223. Hence, the shorter range. (I can consistently
hit a DC at 400m with an AR-15.) But I digress, my point was
that wind resistance does not significantly reduce the killing
force imparted by the projectile.

In fact, as stated physical trauma will increase if a large
projectile goes subsonic, but that's just not going to happen
with a .223 or .50. The round will ground before it slows
that much -- which leads to -- what are the estimated MV's
or SRII weapons? Are they assumed to be equivalent to the
modern counterpart?

Wind resistance (which varies with temperature, pressure, and
humidity -- i.e fluid density) will disrupt targeting
accordingly...weather conditions are fickle...GM's will have
to decide if the wind is constant or gusting, dry or wet, etc.

Thinking about Seattle though, finding a decent shot at 1,000m
isn't really that easy. Neither is walking around with a rifle
about six foot long...I like things up close aand personal
myself. It the only way to be sure...

Spider
Message no. 2
From: Tim Serpas <wretch@**.COM>
Subject: Re: Wind Resistance on a ballistic projectile...
Date: Tue, 30 May 1995 03:05:43 -0500
On Tue, 30 May 1995, Rick Mc Leod of the Clan Mac Leod wrote:
> I like things up close aand personal
> myself. It the only way to be sure...
>
> Spider
>

I'm sorry, that's incorrect. <aawww> Yes, the correct answer /is/:

Nuke them From Orbit.

Thank you, we have some lovely parting gifts for you...
<cue cheesey game show music...>
<cue :-) for the humor impared>

Tim Serpas :Geek Code v.2.1: GS d- H++>+++ s:- !g p1 auVW a- w+ v+ C+
BS Physics : U P? !L !3 E---- N++ K++ W M- !V -po+ Y+>++ t+ !5 j+>$
wretch@**.com: R+ G'' tv+>! b+>++ D+ B-- e++>-- u+ h- f+>* r++ n+ y+
Message no. 3
From: Andy Austin <gaustin@****.VOICENET.COM>
Subject: Re: Wind Resistance on a ballistic projectile...
Date: Tue, 30 May 1995 15:39:49 -0500
>Original post from some guy (paraphrased cuz my memory is shot):
>>>Wind resistant slows bullet till it is no longer effective...

I believe that I said Wind resistance slows a bullet till it has a much
lower chance of killing the intended target. (Or something like that, I
didn't save my post. Your welcome to post my whole statement again, but I
don't believe that that is neccesary.)

>My response (again paraphrased):
>>If you think wind will slow a bullet so that it won't hurt...
>
>Now, the best of these is pretty a good description, but the
>7.62mm round has a larger cross-section, and a slower MV
>than the .223. Hence, the shorter range. (I can consistently
>hit a DC at 400m with an AR-15.) But I digress, my point was
>that wind resistance does not significantly reduce the killing
>force imparted by the projectile.

Unfortunately, you missed my point. I was not refering to an AR-15, but a
Barretta .50 caliber. Also, I was refering to long range shots. At the
Barretta's extreme range, a sniper has many different forces acting
against him. He must cope with wind resistance that _does_ slow the bullet
down until the round has a velocity that is much slower than when it was
fired. At arouund six kilometers range, a Barretta has a much lower chance
of killing. It will probably still penetrate, and _will_ hurt whomever it
hit, but does significantly reduce the impact force. As a sidenote, the
Barretta's bullet has a high intial velocity, and can maintain that speed
out to about two kilometers, but the velocity falls off quickly as a result
of air resistance. A .50 caliber round is more than 200% larger than a 5.56
mm round. In my initial post, I was oversimplifing the factors that a
sniper has to deal with so that the game would be simpler.

Andy Austin

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These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.