External Ballistics

[mpthole]

Can anyone recommend a good book on the how's and why's of external ballistics? Something that includes formulas for calculating the results myself would be very helpful.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

FYI
The book Rifle Accuracy Facts by Harold R. Vaughn (about $40.00 from Precision Shooting, Inc., 222 McKee St., Manchester, CT 06040) received a good review by Duncan MacPherson in WBR V4N1.

MacPherson writes:

Anyone who wants a solid understanding of either interior or exterior ballistics should get this book even if they're not interested in rifle accuracy. The descriptions of interior and exterior ballistics (one chapter each) are both precise and understandable without forcing the reader to follow detail in a lot of equations.

However MacPherson also remarks:

Readers should be under no illusions; Rifle Accuracy facts is not light reading, and not for anyone who thinks Guns and Ammo is a technical publication. Rifle Accuracy facts is a superb book; most attentive readers will understand all or almost all the material in the main text.

 

[GoldenLoki]

You may also want to take a look at Duncan MacPherson's own book 'Bullet Penetration'.

http://pw1.netcom.com/~dmacp/

Put on an extra pot of coffee before you start.

GL

 

[JackM]

Hatcher's Notebook has a good section in the last chapter. It's a bit dated, but you can write your own ballistics program with the formulae and data there. It's widely available.

Two good sites are:
http://www.eskimo.com/~jbm/
http://www.nennstiel-ruprecht.de/

Bye
Jack

 

[Cosmoline]

That site on Eskimo.com has an awesome little calculator for determining how high a bullet will fly before coming back down. I'm going to have to plug all my data in and find out. THe paradigm data (for a 220 bullet with a BC of .5 at 3,000 fps) shows that this bullet can reach over 11,000 feet in the air!

 

[JackM]

The JBM site is run by a fellow named Brad Millard, according to Precision Shooting magazine. I'm not the world's leading ballistician, but he seems to know what he's talking about.

Here's a little exercise you can do with that maximum range calculator. Run it with the default numbers or your favourite load. Now try it with a 10% reduction in velocity, and then with a 10% reduction in B.C. instead.

Bye
Jack