Monday, January 30, 2012

How far will a bullet travel without the barrel?

If you put something like a 5.56 round in a vice and then discharged it manually with a hammer and nail to the percussive cap how far would the bullet travel approximately? Couple of foot? Other side of the room? 100 metres?How far will a bullet travel without the barrel?Bullets move out of the case and down the barrel due to the pressure differential between the base of the bullet and the exterior pressure. Without a barrel, the limit of this pressure is the amount of force required to pull the bullet out of the case. This force varies depending on a few factors, but is never more than about 25 to 30 pounds of pull.



Given what I have just said, on primer ignition, the pressure generated in the primer usually unseats the bullet and pushes most if not all of the propellant powder out of the case. The bullet leaves the case at about 100 feet per second. If the case was at the top of your work bench, say 36 inches up the numbers say that the bullet will strike the ground about 15 to 20 feet away.



By the way, don't try this experiment, the primer will come out of the case at a good speed and can cause injury. There is a slight chance that the bullet will stay in the case long enough to develop a couple of thousand PSI in the case, which will then turn into a small bomb. How far will a bullet travel without the barrel?
Its hard to say, without the barrel there is no spin on the bullet so it could go anywhere. Needless to say this is very dangerous! It will most likely only travel a couple of feet but you have no idea where it will end up.How far will a bullet travel without the barrel?Actually, without the friction of the barrel, it should travel farther, but it would most likely tumble and because it is not spinning due to the rifling of the barrel, it would be less predictable in its trajectory.How far will a bullet travel without the barrel?
Maximum range of 5.56 round is 3600 meters.



I would guess that it may lose up to 1/4 from resistance and friction of spin.



Maybe 900 meters at best.



(If the blasting cap was secured)How far will a bullet travel without the barrel?The lack of a barrel means that the pressure developed by the exploding charge does not propel the bullet very far. Normally the pressure acts on the bullet as it travels down the barrel. The barrel contains nearly all of the high pressure gas developed by the explosion and so it accelerates the bullet down the barrel. Although the pressure decreases as the volume behind the bullet expands because of the moving bullet, it still gets some acceleration all the way to the end of the barrel. With the round in a vise the only pressure that acts is the initial pressure pulse over the area of the end of the bullet. As the bullet moves from the casing, most of the high pressure gas escapes to the sides and what does push on the end of the bullet does not do so for very long.



As other have said, it would be dangerous to try this experiment.

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