Fact or Fantasy?

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LOL... :D

Very true, but the effect would be 1) reduction in velocity due to increased resistance, horizontal force component of the rain drop-bullet interaction, 2) the vertical component would apply a downward force to bullet altering the trajectory.
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That's what I'm talking about. Put enough of them together and their effect multiplies. What about shooting through a substantial thickness of waterfall. Wouldn't you expect it to deflect? I gotta ask the Chief about this one. If anybody's seen it he has. Of course he'll say he doesn't know because all he shot was .45 ;)

Let's see if Jamie and Adam pick it up. Tell me THAT wouldn't be cool. :D
 
Additive not mutiplicative. :D Now you are going to force me to do the calculations aren't you. :neener:
 
Ok, :D their effect "addifies" LOL...

Yes, we need to calculate the the forces exerted on a 55 Gr 5.56 round traveling at oh say...3000 FPS by striking a single drop of rain. You go first. :p

Then we have to addify them.
 
280PLUS and Ryder:

That's true. However, the downward velocity of the water vs. the downward velocity of the bullet at any given instant are different.

Let's ignore air resistance for the moment.

Say a bullet has been flying for 0.1 second. It is now falling at 0.98 m/sec.

Okay, since the water starts out at the top of the waterfall with no vertical velocity, there's a pretty simple formula that relates distance to time.

d = ½at²

or

√2d/a = t

Say it's the bullet passes through the water when the water has fallen 10 meters from its source.

√(2 * 10m)/9.8m/sec² = t sec

1.43 sec

Now the water, after falling for 1.4 sec is traveling at

9.8m/sec² * 1.4 sec = 14 m/sec

Conclusion: if a bullet, 1/10 second after leaving the muzzle, hits a 40 foot waterfall at eye level, the bullet will be falling at about 1 m/sec, but the water will be falling at 14 m/sec.

So the water is traveling downward 14 times as fast as the bullet, and will deflect the bullet significantly. How much? That gets a lot more complicated!
 
Conclusion: if a bullet, 1/10 second after leaving the muzzle, hits a 40 foot waterfall at eye level, the bullet will be falling at about 1 m/sec, but the water will be falling at 14 m/sec.

So the water is traveling downward 14 times as fast as the bullet, and will deflect the bullet significantly. How much? That gets a lot more complicated!
Click to expand...

Precisely!:D
 
Why do I sudeenly feel so inferior? :p

Ok then, what's the terminal velocity of a nice big fat tropical monsoon raindrop? :D
 
Rain In Vietnam

For those of you that have never experienced the Monsoon season in Vietnam, be very thankful. I swear I have seen it rain up, down, sideways and endlessly for days at a time. No, the M-16 bullets did not explode in the rain. The accuracy was shot to hell but most of the time in the Central Heighlands you couldn't see the enemy very much anyway. The difference between Fairy Tales and War Stories is the fairy tales stary out, "Once upon a time".
 
Thanks for that. Yea, I've seen it rain in Thailand but I wasn't there for any extended period of time. I agree though, if you haven't seen it there's nothing to compare it to, in the US anyways. How about the effect of seeing what looked like mini explosions downrange?

And of course, sea stories start with, "Now, THIS AIN'T NO ****!!"

:D
 
If I see anymore math I'm not reading this thread anymore. We're all just here to have a good time and it's no place for the complexities of the physics world. And you probably smartassedly said "so Teach, when am I ever going to us this crap?" :neener:
 
Don't blame ME, I didn't start in with the physics! :p

Dis, everybody knows 9mm is a better round than .45 :rolleyes:

:D
 
Heck, now we're gonna have to start figuring the caliber of the raindops...
 
Heck, now we're gonna have to start figuring the caliber of the raindops...
Click to expand...
:rolleyes: Everybody knows the smaller raindrops have a bigger effect because they travel faster and tumble when they enter tissue. Those big slow raindrops are totally overrated! :neener:
 
Biker

You owe me a new laptop, I laughed so hard this one is wearing an adult beverage.
 
2 things

Someone on a farm must be able to set up some sprinklers down range. The range I use is unimproved.
And-
What about hail?
 
It snows and sleets a lot in Montana and Wyoming. Would ice build up have any effect on ballistics? Maybe we should install de-icing equipment? :neener:
 
Someone mentioned humidity causing "more friction" and resulting lower trajectory.

This is a fairly common misconception too (so common the Army sniper manual got it wrong-1994 edition?), I think due to slang such as saying humid air is "thick". In fact humid air is less dense due to the increased content of water vapor. Water vapor is less dense than dry air which is why clouds are so high...unless the air temp and dew point is low to the ground. Anyway, trajectories are flatter in humid air. One book I have on long range shooting talks about having to adjust down 2 MOA in about a 30 minute time-frame one evening as the temp dropped and the dewpoint was reached resulting in rapidly increasing humidity.
 
Ok I didn't read all posts. (just first couple) so it likely was posted.
The problem with the early M-16 was a carbon fiber selector switch. In HEAVY humidity it would stick. So the problem was a group would be chamber loaded on safe. Charlie comes into ambush and they flick selector to full rock and roll and the gun will not fire. (talk about a sinking feeling) I actually talked to guy who worked on this and figured out the problem. (ok it was 1985/86 when I met him) He had a letter for his work/articles in some papers and stuff. He worked in a gun shop in Austin TX IIRC.
That and wrong type of powder/non chromed barrels for conditions made it a unliked choice.
 
all of my reading and research has lead to one thing.

A bullet striking anything, be it paper, leaf, twig, etc, has it's trajectory changed. I would bet it is the same for raindrops.

That being said, a bigger diameter round, just because it takes up more space, is more likely to hit something, like say rain, or a leaf when shooting in dense folliage, etc.

The question then becomes, does the heavier bullet deflect enough less to make up for it's increased likelyhood of being deflected?
 
For what it's worth a 'new' technique in armour development is perforated armour (not that new). You take armour, drill holes in it, and ta-daa. How can armour with holes in it be better than solid stuff? When the projectile strikes the armour the edges of the holes will be contacted unevenly, part of the projectile 'in' the hole, part 'out' Asymmetric forces are applied to the projectile, and that helps defeat it.

It's possible that raindrops apply asymmetric forces to bullets? 55 grns are reputed for easy fragmentation, and with 1 shot in a thousand it might hit enough rain drops just right to burst?
 
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