A different, darker kind of gun porn

 

1. Brilliant deduction Holmes, er, Drew.

   Posted by cmblake6       07/14/2009  at  08:37 AM  



2. Those Boers and their Mausers as you say have quite a history of long range marksmanship as the British army found to it’s cost. Fascinating story though and really quite ingenious. I imagine by the time the bullet impacted it was probably sub sonic so the loudest noise would have been it’s impact.

   Posted by LyndonB       07/14/2009  at  03:42 PM  



3. That paper patch . . . I take it tnat it would work now, on modern cartridges?

   Posted by BlueStateSaint       07/14/2009  at  04:08 PM  



4. Lyndon, I’ve got a regular ballistics lab on my computer. That particular bullet launched at 3200fps would stay supersonic out to 665 yards. But the “sonic boom” made by bullets isn’t all that loud anyway - as anyone who has been shot at can attest to. You hear a “phweee” kind of sound, or a “whood” sound, sort of like a partridge makes as they go by. But you don’t hear them until after they’re past you anyway, duh, cuz they’re supersonic.

   Paper patching still works today. It’s a lot of work, a genuine skill. But it lets you use fairly soft lead alloys at modern velocities. They smear on impact but don’t shatter. The very hard cast lead alloys used in commercial bullets these days are not malleable at all really. They will shatter if they impact something fast enough. Pure lead just mushrooms, even 1-16 tin/lead alloy still mushrooms. The ultra hard antimony/arsenic alloys don’t, which is why most of the commercial cast bullets for hunting are unaerodynamic flat points. They’re nothing more than fat drill bits, whereas a soft lead bullet will nearly triple in diameter. It’s an interesting thing to mess with, if you’re a bit tired of the regular kind of shooting. Lots of info on line, but start by looking into a Corbin swaging press and go from there.

   Posted by Drew458       07/14/2009  at  10:43 PM  



5. Drew I was thinking more that the witnesses would have heard the supersonic crack. I disagree with you over the relative amount of noise. I used to shoot at a military range with .303 and .308 Enfields. The rifles were 300 metres away and we were in trenches in front of the butts. The crack of the bullet passing about ten feet overhead was loud enough that you needed ear defenders. I used to shoot a .22 rimfire in the UK with a moderator. With sub sonic bullets you could barely hear the bullet. It was a hissing noise hardly noticeable. Put in a supersonic round though and you got a scream all the way to the target.

   Posted by LyndonB       07/14/2009  at  10:53 PM  

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