Long range roundball

[Leatherbelly]

 Would his name be "Roger",by  chance?

[Daryl]

Another interesting thread! - Anyone besides me got a computer program that will well you the maximum range of a round ball?  All that is required it the ballistic coefficient of the ball and the initial velocity.  Trajectory is applied by inserting the zero range, then the graph will show you (printable) the angle and trajectory, as close as in 10 feet distances. 

There are several of these programs. The one I use lacks some bells and whistles, but is free. You can pay for one from Lyman, Lee and Sierra to name a few, but Point Blank is free. Just google it. The old Lyman BP book will give you the BC's of the ball from about .32" up to .735".  Try it, it's interesting. No round ball that I've checked makes it even remotely close to 1,000 yards when fired in dead calm conditions. By the way, side winds from the left make the ball lose elevation while side winds from the right cause the ball rise slightly. This can be seen on a target.

 Althought I very much repect the late Jullian Hatcher and his work during and after WW11, I suspect his testing must have been done in a hurricane-force wind coming from the right.

[Dphariss]

You need to do some research on your own. Bullets in a fire launch the cartridge case as hard or harder than the bullets according to recent tests I have watched on TV. However, 308s belted in disintegrating link belts the bullets will pierce a 55 gal drum burn barrel. I KNOW this from personal experience.

I was on the nozzle in a sporting goods store fire, don't know how many hundreds of rounds cooked off but the only problems that existed were some primers from shotgun shells that came out with some force that could be dangerous to unprotected eyes/skin.  All the rifle ammo that cooked blew the sides of the cases out and much of it didn't go far from where it was to start with, a few feet at most.  Cartridges that cooked off in their paper & styrofoam factory boxes, sides swelled and split open on the brass.  No evidence was ever found from projectiles moving more than a few inches from were the case ruptured.  Perhaps with a very strong steel cartridge case and an insufficient crimp on the bullet maybe but this would be an exception rather than the rule.

This was some years back and people used to throw "bad" or maybe not bad, ammo in burn barrels along the company "street". Belted 308 would make holes in the burn barrel, did they come all the way out, did they exit with much force if they did I do not know. I just know what the barrels looked like. This finally stopped after we got a new crop of officers and a 1st SGT. Some one apparently put a frag in one and it went off just after a friend walked into the bunker. Walking by with them going "bang-bang  from burning ammo was "normal". The frag kinda "broke the spell" so to speak and we moved to another base with no burn barrels.

Dan

[jerrywh]

Dan.
 I think the gut was on top of the grand canyon shooting straight down. 

[irish]

this topic has really fired up you boys.   to throw in my 2 cents,  i started ml becaused shooting deer with a scoped .308 simply was too easy.   i do not like seeing the tv hunting shows where someone drops a deer at 400 or 500 yards.  to me that is not hunting, thats long range target shooting.  hunting is getting within feet of an animal in their enviroment and overcoming their natural defenses.  pitting you against them.  that is what i enjoy.   working within the limits of my equipment, range, one shot, and taking game is to me interesting.    anymore,  being out, enjoying the day is the goal, if i do get something great, if not, i had a good time anyway.    there my 3 cents.      irish.

[Daryl]

Irish - that's why we call it gopher shooting, not gopher hunting.
:  Sniping isn't hunting but rather a dirty trick on the subject being shot and an art all in itself. I don't like to see long range shooting of big game either - too much can go wrong. I'd rather hunt to within 100 yards or closer - real hunting is getitng within 20 yards for a bow shot.

[northmn]

I am like You and Irish.  I got sated on the use of a scoped 270.  Deer season became a ritual of going out to get meat almost similar to butchering a beef.  I have shot a lot of deer with a lot of different guns.  There is darn little difference in modern guns that are scoped.  Bow hunting is the ultimate practical challenge, but I have a 17 year old daughter that still likes to hunt and uses a 300 Savage I built up for her.  So I will hunt with ML's  this year.  I had to play with cast bullets in  old military bolt actions for a while but they are still modern.  ML's that I build myself are fun again.  While archery is a challenge, I still like the feel of a rifle butt against my shoulder.  We can talk about use of a ML for long range shooting, but practically speaking you would have to be able to judge the range very accurately, as you say too much can go wrong.  Also it is the limitations of the firearm that makes it hunting.   Wasn't it Colorado that made the 50 BMG rifles illegal for hunting for the reason that they are no longer considered fair chase?

DP