RE: [DL] Re: Colt Walker

["Glenn Connot" <glennconnot@hotmail.com>]

Guys,
Here's how to think of it, in the physics sense (but with no equations :).  
Somebody famous once said that war is all about communication and the 
reallocation of energy.  Forgetting the first part, lets focus on the 
second.

The amount of energy a bullet delivers relies on two things: mass and 
velocity.  A big bullet travelling slow will carry just as much energy as a 
small bullet travelling fast.  But, damage is more dependent on how much of 
that energy can be transferred to the target.  In general, larger caliber 
bullets create bigger holes in folks because they are able to both deliver a 
lot of force and "transfer" that energy over a wider area.  High-velocity 
small bullets just pass right through the target.  The trick is to get a 
bullet to deliver ALL of it's energy into the target.  That's why 
hollowpoints are so nasty: it folds out and grows in size, acting like a 
bullet much larger than it is.

Thats also why hollowpoints don't penetrate things as well, though.  Since 
they spread their damage out over a wider area, they often cannot penetrate 
kevlar or other armor.  Thats when a small, fast bullet works, though.  It's 
going to do nearly as much damage as it would to an unarmored target, which 
isn't as much as a hollowpoint, but atleast it is able to penetrate the 
armor.

But then I'm not scheduled to take ballistics until next semester :)

Glenn
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Memento Mori, Memento Vivere
-Remember that you have to die, remember that you have to live.

Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum
-Don't let the bastards grind you down.



>From: "Phalen, Pat" <Pat.Phalen@infores.com>
>Reply-To: deadlands@gamerz.net
>To: "'DD'" <deadlands@gamerz.net>
>Subject: RE: [DL] Re: Colt Walker
>Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 14:18:47 -0600
>
> >>Remember the amount of powder behind the ball matters
> >>more than the size of the ball.
>
> >Not true :)
> >I'm not firearms expert, but this is a topic I follow for gaming and I 
>read
>
> >an FBI report which basically said that unless you are hit in the spine 
>or
> >brain, you die of blood loss, which is directly related to the wound 
>size,
> >which is based on bullet size.
>
>
>Wound size is also tied to penetration, which relies more on our trusty old
>friend velocity, then the mass of the slug.  (i.e., 1/2*mv^2).
>
>Patrick
>
>
>
>To unsubscribe, send a message to esquire@gamerz.net with
>	unsubscribe deadlands
>as the BODY of the message.  The SUBJECT is ignored.
>


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