From:	Marc Renouf renouf@********.com
Subject:	Armor Penetration
Date:	Fri, 26 Feb 1999 12:08:46 -0500 (EST)

On Fri, 26 Feb 1999, Sven De Herdt wrote:

> 2. I think it is crap that you have to compare the UNMODIFIED power of
> a weapon with the armor rating. This means that a HMG won't penetrate
> the armor, but a sniper would? This sounded a bit illogical to me,
> especially if you consider the caliber of the HMG or am I mistaken in
> this one?

Well, one of the things to consider is not just the caliber but
also the amount of powder behind the round and the penetration dynamics of
the bullet. For instance, the AK-47 uses a 7.62x39mm round. By SR
standards, that's 8M. The M60 also uses a 7.62mm round, but it's a
7.62x54 (though it may be x51, I can't remember), and thus has got a hell
of a lot more powder behind it, and that brings it up to MMG status (8S I
think).
Further, even if you're firing the same bullet, the barrel length
makes a difference. The longer the barrel, the more time the expanding
gasses have to accelerate the bullet, the faster your overall muzzle
velocity is going to be. Thus, a Dragunov SVD (which *also* fires a
7.62x54mm round) gets the 14S given to a sniper rifle simply because the
barrel is so freaking long. Its muzzle velocity is over 2750 fps, which
is about double what most pistol rounds travel at.
Higher muzzle velocities mean more range and more punch at any
given range, so it's much more complicated than just comparing
bullet calibers.

Marc