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Photo of bullet leaving muzzle

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Steve H

Steve H

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A couple of weeks ago someone was asking about how to ge a photo of a bullet as it exits the muzzle. I came across this today. I hope this is not a repost.
45acp-hst.gif
A Federal .45 ACP HST bullet (P45HST2) emerging from, but still in, the 5" barrel of an S&W Model 4506, complete with gas being blown ahead of it. (Average muzzle velocity 900 fps, 414 ft-lbs of energy, and 21,000 psi.) Note the amount of infrared light that's being emitted around the bullet, and the little smoke plume above the ejection port. The action was caught using an invisible infrared trigger beam system (1,000,000th-second response time). Flash duration was 1-2,000,000th-second.
 
Photo

Take note also of the distance that the slide has moved rearward in recoil, but the barrel hasn't yet reached the linkdown point. The breech is still locked. Another interesting point is how little the muzzle has risen as compared to the amount of flip that will occur due to action/recoil spring compression and the slide impacting the frame's stop surface.

This picture not only disproves the myth that the slide moves after the bullet exits...it shows that most of the felt recoil is due to the slide's cycling rather than actual "kick" produced by the ballistic event.

Excellent picture. Thanks for posting it.
 
Zinj,

I am not sure, but I think those are heated gases from the powder ignition
 
Gasses

The gasses escaping ahead of the bullet are blow-by gasses that get past the sides of the bullet on ignition...before the bullet has time to obturate and seal the bore, and while the bullet is offering its heaviest frictional resistance to swaging down and entering the rifling. Being much more resistant than air, the gasses take the path of least resistance and blow past the bullet at the onset of expansion and pressure buildup.
 
Note the amount of infrared light that's being emitted around the bullet
Click to expand...

I did not know that infrared light was part of the visible spectrum. I would think that burning gasses would be a better explanation.
 
I did not know that infrared light was part of the visible spectrum
Click to expand...

There are lots of films and CCDs that will capture it however, so it's possible.

Most infrared film looks "funky" though. Hard to tell.
 
SOME films (especially "fast" films, as this CERTAINLY is) will catch Infrared that the human eye can't catch... that is likely what is happening in this VERY neat pic!

for a better description, ask our Founder and keeper of this site, Oleg Volk... I bet he can explain it better...
 
"I did not know that infrared light was part of the visible spectrum."

Maybe not visible to your eyes, but easily visible to the correct type of film.
Look on older 35mm camera lens. Many have a small red 'R' to indicate the focus point for infra-red film.
It was never as good as a super-cooled IR imager, but had some applications.
 
If anyone wants to learn how to do this, this site is a good place to get started:

http://www.hiviz.com/

It contains directions for making sound triggers, as well as modifying flashes to fire for ultra-short durations. It requires some knowledge of soldering and simple electronics work. A sound trigger is different from the infrared beam trigger used in the OP pic but its purpose is the same; it reacts to sounds and triggers the flash faster than human reaction time would otherwise allow.

And LkWinnipesaukee, where did you get your IR beam trigger? Did you make it yourself?
 
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