Ballistics books

[strat81]

Recommend me some books on ballistics. Internal, external, and terminal ballistics, I'm curious about all of them. I'm not a chemist, physicist, or engineer, so "For Dummies" books are fine, textbooks too.

I'm interested in learning more about drop, sectional density, ballistic coefficient, expansion, pressure, etc. I know the net has a lot of info, but I'm a bit skeptical since it seems everyone is an expert.

Related: do any colleges offer majors specifically in ballistics? Or is it a branch of another field?

 

[GunTech]

You may get ballistics in aerodynamics.

If you have a very strong mathematics background, for Exterior ballistics you can do no better than McCoy. But you need to be comfortable with diffEq.

The Rinker book is a pretty basic start, and suitable for about any audience. Serious books on internal ballistics are pretty specialized and hard to find. The same is true of books on terminal ballistics. Marshall and Sanow are pretty well discredited. Check out the Journal of Trauma - there are many artcle referencing terminal ballistics. Duncan McPherson has a decent, if technical work, "Bullet Penetration". Also, if you can find it, there is some good information in the SIPRI publication "Antipersonnel Weapons"

Hope that helps.

 

[45crittergitter]

Understanding Firearm Ballistics, by Rinker. As I recall, it's very good with the exception of making the basic mistake most authors make concerning the physics behind uphill/downhill shooting.

 

[benEzra]

45crittergitter, you beat me to it. Rinker's book is IMHO one of the best out there regarding the physics of shooting.