Skipping Bullets

[DixieTexian]

We were at a private lake this weekend shooting skeet, and I, of course had to break out my Walker and Remmie. When we shot them accross the lake (this is a private lake, we were at the only cabin on it, and it is surrounded by hills, so this was pretty safe to do with a cap-n-ball revolver) most of the balls curved to the left, but some curved to the right. Both revolvers have right hand rifling. I thought this was kind of interesting. The question is, why? My theory is that the balls went under the water enough that the spinning of the ball created a low pressure area on the left side and the upper side that kinda sucked the ball back up out of the water and to the left. Maybe the ones that curved to the right actually skipped off the top of the water, instead of going under. The area I was shooting over was long enough that we could watch the splashes of the bullets all the way until they lost enough velocity to sink. It was pretty interesting to watch.

 

[Calibre44]

Heay Dixietexian – I have no idea to be honest but my God I wish I was there to watch it! … a private lake, cabin surrounded by hills sounds like an absolutely idyllic place to shoot some lead and take in the scenery!

 

[RyanM]

My theory is that the balls went under the water enough that the spinning of the ball created a low pressure area on the left side and the upper side that kinda sucked the ball back up out of the water and to the left.

Sounds right to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli's_principle

If I had to guess why some went to the right, though, I'd say it's possible that some of the balls flipped 180 degrees after impact, going "backwards," which would cause them to be spinning to the left instead.

 

[DuncanSA]

I think RyanM is right with regard to perfectly cast and loaded balls.
A ball with a flaw or bubble in the casting, or loaded with the sprue cut-off to one side, could however do just about anything.

Sounds like a fun day - wish I had been there!

 

[Claude Clay]

english reverses off the bank
which in this case probably don't mean much. but it sure sounds like you had a nice time in a pretty place.