Gun Porn

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Is there any sort of chart that lists handguns/rifles across history by their maximum and effective ranges? I mean, I'm sure it exists somewhere, but not in any resource I currently own.
 
thats way higher than I would have thought. Seems like gunfights could take place across acres
 
thats way higher than I would have thought. Seems like gunfights could take place across acres
True, but realistically you have to be able to see and aim at a target. Sure the gun can hit out to a 1000 meters. Most people don't have the skill to shoot past a hundred without difficulty. (Really, under that) Of course optics can change this. Then with shots out at extreme ranges things like wind, humidity, curvature of the earth and other crazy variables come into play.
Not to mention if we are speaking of military engagements. Sure your assault rifle/SAW can reach 800m, but you have to be able to identify you target. Is is a hostile? Is it a civvy? Hard to tell that far away. Typical military engagements occur at maybe 400m or less as a loose general rule. Even less in a built up/urban environment. Typical civilian self defense engagements occur at 1-5 meters.
 
To be fair Jerry Miculek is basically superhuman with a firearm. No, seriously.

Sure, I just like to show what is theoretically possible by a human. It is kind of crazy, but at 8 shots / second (480 rounds per minute) he fires faster with a revolver, than a WW2 M3 submachinegun (450 rounds per minute).

Just putting rounds down range 2-3 shots per second doesn't even take any special skill, with practice I don't think 4-5 is unrealistic. People in the 6-8 range are scary special. Aiming I'd cut those numbers in half or more, so yeah, he engaged 3 targets with accurate fire and still maintained a ROF of 5 shots per second, that is actually kind of scary.

The reload is what really fries my noodle, I don't think I could even reload a revolver with a speed loader in 3 seconds, let alone empty it twice. Somebody might want to check to see if he is leaking android fluid.


Is there any sort of chart that lists handguns/rifles across history by their maximum and effective ranges? I mean, I'm sure it exists somewhere, but not in any resource I currently own.

Ronin hit on the modern stuff, as to blackpowder

At the transition from smoothbore to rifles (1850s) a shooter of a smooth bore was expected to be able to hit a standard rifle target reliably at 50 yards, a good shooter out to 75 yards. A rifleman could hit a target at 200-300 yards, and a good shooter 500 yards.

That is why smoothbores vs rifles was so devastating at the time. Traditionally you took your army to around 50-100 yards of the enemy, let fly with a volley or two and then charged with bayonets. Cannons would hang back 300-500 yards safely out of range.

With rifles, those armed with smoothbores would end up taking multiple volleys of fire and losing many men before they could close to their effective range and return fire. Cannons at 300-500 yards, more or less safe from smoothbores were still well with the range of rifleman.


thats way higher than I would have thought. Seems like gunfights could take place across acres

Can be, but as Ronin said, seeing a target that doesn't want to be seen at 1000 yards is not easy. There have been multiple documented military sniper kills taken from more than a mile. In 2002 Canadian sniper team in Afghanistan was credited with a kill at 2.2 miles (3.8km) distance using a .50 BMG sniper rifle.

There were sharpshooters using blackpowder rifles during the American Civil War and later "Indian wars" that got hits on individuals at 1400+ yards (4/5 mile).

The key factors being skill of the shooter, and the importance of not being seen.

Studies have found that since WW1 most combat occurs at less than 300 yards, with the majority at 20-50 yards. That is what has driven military rifles to smaller lighter ammunition, 500-1000 yard shots are very rare.

On the civilian side FBI reports state that the average police shooting takes place at 7 yards or less.
 
A interesting side note here is that many cannons were made of bronze. I'm not 100% sure why but I think it had something to do with steel being a pain in the behind to make steel.

Steel was too hard to make / expensive to use in cannons until mass production of steel began in the 1850s. Bronze remained a popular material for cannons into the 1860s.

Iron is much cheaper than bronze.

Bronze is less brittle than Iron, so bronze cannons could be made a bit lighter weight than a similar gun made from iron.
It is also easier to make with a melting temperature of around 1700 F / 927 C. Iron requires temperatures around 2200 F / 1204 C.
Bronze is very resistant to corrosion.
Bronze is much easier to work with than iron, and in the later periods much easier to machine than steel or iron which is why it remained popular for unstressed gun parts until the late 19th century. It is also quite attractive when polished.

Gunmetal is a specific bronze alloy that adds a small amount of zinc (2-4%) to further improve its corrosion resistance.


Brass and bronze are closely related, both being copper alloys. Brass is Copper + Zinc, Bronze is Copper + Tin. Some Brass alloys include a small amount of Tin, and some Bronze alloys include Zinc. "Red Brass" used for many pipe fittings is actually a Bronze alloy... :ooh:


Metal working is another hobby of mine. :smile:
 
ok, so what's the difference between light machine guns and assault rifles?

I can go look stuff up on wikipedia with the best of them, and have, but it largely appears that LMGs are heavier (often 2x) and have a monopod/bipod on the front. But something like the FN Minimi vs the M16 - same size cartridge, same muzzle velocity roughly, same range roughly, etc. rate of fire is about the same, and presumably due to the range and muzzle velocity and caliber being the same, the force of impact/stopping power/penetration are the same. Only appreciable difference i can find is that the Minimi allows for belts and the M16 really doesn't. is that really what it's about? I've seem some other LMGs using magazines, and of course there are plenty of machine guns (though they tend up into the MMG range) that use 7.62 and larger ammo.

i see here that one difference is that MMGs use "full power rifle cartridges", which means effective range of 1000m. effective range, i'm reading here, means effective range to a point target and hitting 50% of the time.
 
Terminology is pretty fluid, and largely up to how the user defines the use. sub, light, medium, general and heavy are fairly poorly defined and change over time.

WW1 / WW2 you have the similar automatic rifle (BAR, Chauchat) and light machine guns which are used somewhat interchangeably although their intended use is somewhat different. Mostly magazine or drum fed, although there were exceptions (Browning M1919A6, MG08/15).

Typically an LMG has a field replaceable barrel, but again not a universal feature, particularly in the post WW2 period. LMGs are intended for use from a bipod, but some can also be used from a tripod (which almost makes them a GPMG).

During WW1 there were light (shoulder or bipod fired) machineguns and heavy (or just plain) tripod mounted machineguns, usually water cooled, but not exclusively (the French liked air cooled guns). For the most part all fired the same ammo as the riflemen.

In the interwar period larger caliber machineguns appeared usually firing a .50 cal-ish (12-15mm) round that were intended to counter aircraft and armored vehicles. At this point heavy machine gun came to mean large caliber, but was also still used at times to refer to water cooled rifle caliber guns.

World War 2 introduced the general purpose machinegun (MG34, MG42) which fired from a belt or drum, and could be used as either a light (bipod) or medium (tripod) machinegun. Post WW2 this became the standard machinegun type, medium machineguns like the Browning and Vickers (medium or heavy depending on whether you are reading this on a Tuesday or not :crossed:) mostly being replaced by the late 1960s.

Lightmachineguns had another revolution, now looking more like the automatic rifles of WW1. Most being heavy barrel, larger magazine variants of assault rifles (RPD, RPK, L86A1, AUG etc). But they also went in another direction which was basically a small caliber belt fed weapon similar in appearance to the GPMG (Minimi / SAW, Stoner 63 etc).

Submachineguns were initially pistol caliber weapons, but after intermediate caliber rifles (assault rifles) were adopted, you begin to see some short barrel rifles being called submachineguns, but application of the term is hit or miss. At the present, with short barrel assault rifles becoming common (M4) it seems as though the pistol caliber requirement is once again being applied to the SMG definition.

You also have to consider the use. Most people consider the BAR a light machinegun, but it was classified by the US as an Automatic Rifle, the US did issue the M1919A6 as an LMG which was issued and used completely independently from the BAR.

The Israeli Galil ARM is equipped with a bipod and 50 round magazine which sounds a lot like an LMG, but they classify it as an assault rifle.

That should pretty much make things about as clear as mud. :smile:
 
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ok, so what's the difference between light machine guns and assault rifles?

I can go look stuff up on wikipedia with the best of them, and have, but it largely appears that LMGs are heavier (often 2x) and have a monopod/bipod on the front. But something like the FN Minimi vs the M16 - same size cartridge, same muzzle velocity roughly, same range roughly, etc. rate of fire is about the same, and presumably due to the range and muzzle velocity and caliber being the same, the force of impact/stopping power/penetration are the same. Only appreciable difference i can find is that the Minimi allows for belts and the M16 really doesn't. is that really what it's about? I've seem some other LMGs using magazines, and of course there are plenty of machine guns (though they tend up into the MMG range) that use 7.62 and larger ammo.

i see here that one difference is that MMGs use "full power rifle cartridges", which means effective range of 1000m. effective range, i'm reading here, means effective range to a point target and hitting 50% of the time.
Here's a couple of videos for some further information:

 
pretty much, yes!

right now I'm assuming for me
  • LMG = assault rifle damage, more stable, full auto, big magazine
  • MMG = sniper rifle damage, more stable, full auto, big magazine
  • HMG = .50 cal damage, more stable, full auto, big magazine
I think that'll do for my granularity :smile:
 
pretty much, yes!

right now I'm assuming for me
  • LMG = assault rifle damage, more stable, full auto, big magazine
  • MMG = sniper rifle damage, more stable, full auto, big magazine
  • HMG = .50 cal damage, more stable, full auto, big magazine
I think that'll do for my granularity :smile:

MMG, HMG that should do it.

I would say the key difference between most LMGs and the MMG is the smaller magazine and higher mobility.

LMGs have traditionally used the same ammo as the rifleman, so pre-1960s and the adoption of assault rifles they should do the same damage as MMGs. 1960s to present most will do assault rifle damage.

The belt fed M249 SAW is something of an exception, and not representative of the class as a whole, possibly even warranting its own class (belt fed LMG).

Not knowing your magazine definitions I'd place the typical LMG as equal to assault rifle magazine size or perhaps a step between MMG and assault rifle. Typical magazine size using full power rifle cartridges was 20-30 rounds, and 30-40 rounds for those using assault rifle ammo. Most MMGs use a belt of 100-250 rounds.
 
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pretty much, yes!

right now I'm assuming for me
  • LMG = assault rifle damage, more stable, full auto, big magazine
  • MMG = sniper rifle damage, more stable, full auto, big magazine
  • HMG = .50 cal damage, more stable, full auto, big magazine
I think that'll do for my granularity :smile:
Well that's not really completely accurate either. A better breakdown would be
  • SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) = assault rifle damage (5.56x45mm,7.62x39mm, and 5.54x39mm) more stable, full auto, big magazine. Examples would include RPK 74, and M249.
  • LMG = Battle rifle damage (.30-06, 7.62x51mm, 7.62x54, and 7.92x57mm), more stable, full auto, big magazine/belt fed. Examples would be MG3, M240, M60, and PKM.
  • MMG = Battle rifle damage (.30-06, 7.62x51mm, 7.62x54, and 7.92x57mm), more stable, full auto, belt fed. Examples would include MG3, M240, M60, (All three on tripods vs bipods or some other type of vehicle mount) Maxim gun, and M1919.
  • HMG = .50 cal or bigger damage, more stable (Must be used with a tripod or vehicle mount period), full auto, belt fed. Examples would include M2, DShK, or KPV.
 
Well that's not really completely accurate either. A better breakdown would be
  • SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) = assault rifle damage (5.56x45mm,7.62x39mm, and 5.54x39mm) more stable, full auto, big magazine. Examples would include RPK 74, and M249.
  • LMG = Battle rifle damage (.30-06, 7.62x51mm, 7.62x54, and 7.92x57mm), more stable, full auto, big magazine/belt fed. Examples would be MG3, M240, M60, and PKM.
  • MMG = Battle rifle damage (.30-06, 7.62x51mm, 7.62x54, and 7.92x57mm), more stable, full auto, belt fed. Examples would include MG3, M240, M60, (All three on tripods vs bipods or some other type of vehicle mount) Maxim gun, and M1919.
  • HMG = .50 cal or bigger damage, more stable (Must be used with a tripod or vehicle mount period), full auto, belt fed. Examples would include M2, DShK, or KPV.

As I am understanding it, a SAW is a role for a weapon, and not a physical classification. LMGs can be used as SAWs, for example. It appears that the M249 was created to be an intermediary between an M16 and an M60 (general purpose machine gun that fires 7.62, from my reading, which would put it in the MMG range above, as you have).
 
As I am understanding it, a SAW is a role for a weapon, and not a physical classification. LMGs can be used as SAWs, for example. It appears that the M249 was created to be an intermediary between an M16 and an M60 (general purpose machine gun that fires 7.62, from my reading, which would put it in the MMG range above, as you have).

Sort of... it is complicated and depends on how far into semantics you want to get. GPMG, MMG, and HMG are fairly solidly defined, but LMGs are fuzzy, very fuzzy...

SAW is a role, a role that has been filled with automatic rifles, LMGs, and GPMGs. It has also come to be used to describe a specific type of LMG, typically a heavy rifle, often lacking a quick change barrel and lighter in weight than a "real" LMG.

Ironically the US M249 SAW does not fit this description, despite the US being very influential in the development of the concept.
 
As I am understanding it, a SAW is a role for a weapon, and not a physical classification. LMGs can be used as SAWs, for example. It appears that the M249 was created to be an intermediary between an M16 and an M60 (general purpose machine gun that fires 7.62, from my reading, which would put it in the MMG range above, as you have).
Sort of... it is complicated and depends on how far into semantics you want to get. GPMG, MMG, and HMG are fairly solidly defined, but LMGs are fuzzy, very fuzzy...

SAW is a role, a role that has been filled with automatic rifles, LMGs, and GPMGs. It has also come to be used to describe a specific type of LMG, typically a heavy rifle, often lacking a quick change barrel and lighter in weight than a "real" LMG.

Ironically the US M249 SAW does not fit this description, despite the US being very influential in the development of the concept.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that LMG's that fit into the typical SAW role are chambered to the same ammunition as the countries assault rifle. This tends to be 5.56x45mm, 7.62x39mm, and 5.45x39mm. Cartridges that are no doubt deadly. But are not as powerful as what typical LMG's are chambered for, such as 7.62x51mm, or 7.62x54. That's why I think there should be a separate category for them. While filling a similar role to each other, the power level is vastly different. From personal experience I have seen a 5.56 round not fully penetrate a 4x4 wooden post. While the 7.62x51 passed right through a 4x4 post.
 
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that LMG's that fit into the typical SAW role are chambered to the same ammunition as the countries assault rifle. This tends to be 5.56x45mm, 7.62x39mm, and 5.45x39mm. Cartridges that are no doubt deadly. But are not as powerful as what typical LMG's are chambered for, such as 7.62x51mm, or 7.62x54. That's why I think there should be a separate category for them. While filling a similar role to each other, the power level is vastly different. From personal experience I have seen a 5.56 round not fully penetrate a 4x4 wooden post. While the 7.62x51 passed right through a 4x4 post.

I agree but there is a key point, chambered to the same ammunition as the countries infantry rifle. Prior to the 1960s that meant a full power cartridge. To me the BREN is a classic LMG, not SAW, it was designed for sustained fire (quick change barrel) and may be mounted on a tripod or vehicle mount. It was used as a squad automatic weapon, but also in other traditional MG roles.
The early SAWs were the Chauchat, BAR, Heavy barrel FALs, M14A1 etc, these were specifically meant for use as squad automatic weapons, and did not see use in other traditional mg roles.

When you get to the 1960s, light machine guns tend to be magazine fed full power cartridge firing (BREN) or belt fed intermediate cartridge weapons. Magazine fed intermediate cartridge firing machineguns typically to fall into the SAW category (RPD, RPK, AUG, L86A1 etc).

Belt fed MGs firing full power cartridges capable of being used on a tripod, bipod or from the shoulder falling into the post WW2 class of GPMG. M240, M60, MG42/MG3, PKM are all GPMGs.

The GPMG further confuses the already hazy LMG category. It used to be simple, MMG on a tripod, LMG on a bipod.
 
I agree but there is a key point, chambered to the same ammunition as the countries infantry rifle. Prior to the 1960s that meant a full power cartridge. To me the BREN is a classic LMG, not SAW, it was designed for sustained fire (quick change barrel) and may be mounted on a tripod or vehicle mount. It was used as a squad automatic weapon, but also in other traditional MG roles.
The early SAWs were the Chauchat, BAR, Heavy barrel FALs, M14A1 etc, these were specifically meant for use as squad automatic weapons, and did not see use in other traditional mg roles.

When you get to the 1960s, light machine guns tend to be magazine fed full power cartridge firing (BREN) or belt fed intermediate cartridge weapons. Magazine fed intermediate cartridge firing machineguns typically to fall into the SAW category (RPD, RPK, AUG, L86A1 etc).

Belt fed MGs firing full power cartridges capable of being used on a tripod, bipod or from the shoulder falling into the post WW2 class of GPMG. M240, M60, MG42/MG3, PKM are all GPMGs.

The GPMG further confuses the already hazy LMG category. It used to be simple, MMG on a tripod, LMG on a bipod.
Your missing my point. A 5.56 MG should not be rated damage wise as a 7.62x51 MG. Period.
 
Your missing my point. A 5.56 MG should not be rated damage wise as a 7.62x51 MG. Period.

Agree, you would need to have a very compressed damage scale to even consider that. 7.62mm N has twice the energy of 5.56mm N.
 
Agree, you would need to have a very compressed damage scale to even consider that. 7.62mm N has twice the energy of 5.56mm N.
for my purposes, they won't be. there won't be lots of options, but essentially 2d6, 2d8, and 2d10 for 5.56, 7.62, and .50, respectively.
 
thats way higher than I would have thought. Seems like gunfights could take place across acres
Those ranges indicate the distance at which the round is considered to have significant lethality. In practice, actually hitting a target at those ranges is a rather different proposition. In WWII, something like 100,000 rounds were fired for each enemy casualty. In Vietnam, the figure was closer to 1,000,000.

Actually, I may be out by an order of magnitude, the stats might be 10,000 per casualty in WWII and 100,000 in Vietnam. My google-fu fails me but it's still a very big number.
 
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Those ranges indicate the distance at which the round is considered to have significant lethality. In practice, actually hitting a target at those ranges is a rather different proposition. In WWII, something like 100,000 rounds were fired for each enemy casualty. In Vietnam, the figure was closer to 1,000,000.
Admittedly, cover and concealment also had something to do with that, or so I've been told:wink:.
 
This thread is full of stuff I didn’t know, I love it
 
for my purposes, they won't be. there won't be lots of options, but essentially 2d6, 2d8, and 2d10 for 5.56, 7.62, and .50, respectively.
I'm not sure what number of HP or wounds are common in your system you are using. But while I can get behind 2d6 for 5.56 N, and 2d8 for 7.62 N. 2d10 is probably not enough for .50 BMG. A single .50 round is straight death to a human. Maybe a limb shot will only dismember that limb. I guess there's a slim possibility that you might survive that. But head, and torso shots pretty much regardless of positioning is a kill shot. Remember .50 caliber weapons are not anti personnel weapons, they are anti-material/vehicle weapons sometimes pressed into anti personnel roles.
 
Those ranges indicate the distance at which the round is considered to have significant lethality. In practice, actually hitting a target at those ranges is a rather different proposition. In WWII, something like 100,000 rounds were fired for each enemy casualty. In Vietnam, the figure was closer to 1,000,000.

Actually, I may be out by an order of magnitude, the stats might be 10,000 per casualty in WWII and 100,000 in Vietnam. My google-fu fails me but it's still a very big number.
Those figures are a bit misleading ina way. There was a study done shortly after WWII, that showed most soldiers didn't really aim as much as pointed the gun in the direction of the enemy. Then compare the type of standard issue weapon. M1 Garand semi automatic with an 8 round en bloc clip, vs the M16A1 fully automatic with a 20 round magazine. It's no surprise that the Vietnam era fired more rounds.
 
I'm not sure what number of HP or wounds are common in your system you are using. But while I can get behind 2d6 for 5.56 N, and 2d8 for 7.62 N. 2d10 is probably not enough for .50 BMG. A single .50 round is straight death to a human. Maybe a limb shot will only dismember that limb. I guess there's a slim possibility that you might survive that. But head, and torso shots pretty much regardless of positioning is a kill shot. Remember .50 caliber weapons are not anti personnel weapons, they are anti-material/vehicle weapons sometimes pressed into anti personnel roles.

2d10 has an 85% chance of dropping the highest hp location (chest) to 0 on an average human, and a 94% chance for the head. That’s not death, but it is enough to provoke rolls for death and completely remove functionality (unconscious) straight up. It also is a 64% chance of completely removing the head and a 28% chance for instant death to the chest.

Then we get to add in special effects. Someone shooting one of those at a person likely has a sniping position, a high power scope, and surprise. He’s going to be able to choose to hit the head, and maybe maximize his damage.

My assumption is that low damage rolls are grazing shots - technically hits, and maybe enough to make them drop in pain, but not quite completely incapacitating. But they still might anyways. Just not kill.

And then, of course, bleeding out.

Kicking it up to 2d12 doesn’t alter the odds that much.
 
Well I wasn't thinking kicking it up to 2d12, I was thinking more along the lines of 4d10. Center of mass kills you, and the guy behind you, and the engine block of the buick behind him. Its penetration and damage potential shouldn't be measure in small arms terms. It's the first step in vehicular weaponry. Depending on the load, and the source you put faith in. I penetrates 20-35mm of hardened steel armor at over a hundred yards. 85% chance of instant death on a center of mass is incorrect. It is 100%, period. I'm not telling you how to design you game or what have you. I'm just saying 2d10, 2d10 in your scale doesn't do it justice.
 
Well I wasn't thinking kicking it up to 2d12, I was thinking more along the lines of 4d10. Center of mass kills you, and the guy behind you, and the engine block of the buick behind him. Its penetration and damage potential shouldn't be measure in small arms terms. It's the first step in vehicular weaponry. Depending on the load, and the source you put faith in. I penetrates 20-35mm of hardened steel armor at over a hundred yards. 85% chance of instant death on a center of mass is incorrect. It is 100%, period. I'm not telling you how to design you game or what have you. I'm just saying 2d10, 2d10 in your scale doesn't do it justice.

Right. All I'm saying is that if you HIT center of mass full on, you rolled better than average. That 85% chance is the chance that you hit full on center of mass.

also, there is plenty of room for static adds here. I'm using Mythras as a base, and .50 cal there does 2d10+4, which kicks up that 85% up to 99%, and the chance to remove the chest from 28% to 64%. removal of the head goes up to 90%. my intent was to merely peg the .50 cal into a die range, even if I add some static mods onto it.
 
Projectiles Part 2

With the adoption of the Minie ball in the 1850s, the days of the ball shaped projectile were numbered. With the exception of shot pellets, nearly all firearms have utilized a projectile longer in axis than its diameter since the adoption of cartridges.

A bullet shaped bullet....

bullet.jpg


I'm going to start with two basic concepts as I think addressing these now will help to make more sense of the later bits.

Lead bullets - lead has been the primary bullet material for centuries, and it remains a major component of bullets even into the 21st Century.
So why lead? Well there are many reasons for this, lead is cheap, it is easily worked having a melting temperature around 600 F (315 C). It is also quite dense which gives it good ballistic qualities. Soft enough not to damage the bore of the weapon or create rapid wear. It may expand when hitting a soft target like flesh increasing its wound potential, but it also tends to hold together allowing decent penetration of harder materials like wood.

The relatively low melting temperature allows individuals to cast their own bullets. It does not require any special tools beyond a bullet or ball mold. Lead can be melted in a pot on a stove top or over a campfire. Bullet molds are typically a split iron or steel block with one or more bullet shaped cavities and have changed little over the centuries. A mold is required for each caliber, but will easily last a lifetime unless abused. Spent bullets can be collected and recycled, as can other sources of lead (it has long been used for a variety of weights). The toxic nature of lead is now known, but the difficulty of finding a suitable replacement has resulted in its continued use to the present, although with growing restrictions (many jurisdictions have outlawed the use of lead birdshot for waterfowl).

1860s bullet and ball mold
1860s bullet mold.jpg

Modern lead bullet molds from Lee Precision
Modern Lee bullet molds.jpg


Jacketed bullets - lead projectiles tend to leave small bits of lead in the bore of a firearm, the higher the bullet velocity the greater the build up. In the blackpowder era lead fouling was considerably less than that caused by the blackpowder itself. It was necessary to clean the weapon frequently so lead fouling was not a serious issue. Blackpowder firearms also tended to fire large caliber, relatively low velocity projectiles which limited the amount of lead fouling.

The adoption of smokeless powder in the late 1880s saw a change to smaller caliber, higher velocity bullets. Using lead bullets these new cartridges would have resulted in a serious problem with lead fouling in the new rifles. Developed at about the same time as smokeless powder a method of providing a thin metal jacket over the lead bullet was developed. The jacket, typically made of a copper alloy prevented the lead fouling. It also made the bullets harder resulting in less damage from rough handling as well as better penetration in hard materials. It did result in potentially less wounding potential due to less expansion, but that was not understood well at the time. Since lead still made up the bulk of the bullet, they maintained the good ballistic qualities of solid lead bullets.
 
Right. All I'm saying is that if you HIT center of mass full on, you rolled better than average. That 85% chance is the chance that you hit full on center of mass.

also, there is plenty of room for static adds here. I'm using Mythras as a base, and .50 cal there does 2d10+4, which kicks up that 85% up to 99%, and the chance to remove the chest from 28% to 64%. removal of the head goes up to 90%. my intent was to merely peg the .50 cal into a die range, even if I add some static mods onto it.

I was fooling around with Call of Cthulhu damages at one point. Something I liked but didn't pursue too far was playing with the average damage. Lots of ways to hit the same max numbers, say a max damage of 10, you can roll 1d10,1d8+2, 2d4+2 or 1d6+4 for an average of 5.5, 6.5, 7, and 7.5. It gave a little more room for variety without running right off the top of the scale. The higher the max damage the more options you get.

You run into compression with the big rifles, 2d8 for 2400 ft/lb .30 cal rifles and 2d10 for the 13,000 ft/lb .50 cal leaves you no room for all those monster 4,6,8000 ft/lb big game rifles, but .50 cal doing 2d6+8....

Just a thought.
 
I was fooling around with Call of Cthulhu damages at one point. Something I liked but didn't pursue too far was playing with the average damage. Lots of ways to hit the same max numbers, say a max damage of 10, you can roll 1d10,1d8+2, 2d4+2 or 1d6+4 for an average of 5.5, 6.5, 7, and 7.5. It gave a little more room for variety without running right off the top of the scale. The higher the max damage the more options you get.

You run into compression with the big rifles, 2d8 for 2400 ft/lb .30 cal rifles and 2d10 for the 13,000 ft/lb .50 cal leaves you no room for all those monster 4,6,8000 ft/lb big game rifles, but .50 cal doing 2d6+8....

Just a thought.

Nod, i think for my purposes those big game rifles are going to be sufficiently rare that I won't really have to worry about them particularly. I can alway go with 2d10+4 for .50 and 2d8+2 or +4 for .416 Rigby and .338 Lapua Magnum if it comes up. or put them at the lower end of the 2d10 range, or give them some AP capability. It doesn't have to scale directly with the energy, being like 7x 5.56.
 
Nod, i think for my purposes those big game rifles are going to be sufficiently rare that I won't really have to worry about them particularly. I can alway go with 2d10+4 for .50 and 2d8+2 or +4 for .416 Rigby and .338 Lapua Magnum if it comes up. or put them at the lower end of the 2d10 range, or give them some AP capability. It doesn't have to scale directly with the energy, being like 7x 5.56.

Yep, that works it just depends on how in the weeds you want to get.

You also have range to play with, 7.62mm NATO may do the same damage as .300 WinMag, but you can give the .300 a little better range to reflect its greater power and reputation for accuracy. Same with the .50, maybe not a lot more damage, but giving it much more range justifies its use for long range sniping.
 
Nod, i think for my purposes those big game rifles are going to be sufficiently rare that I won't really have to worry about them particularly. I can alway go with 2d10+4 for .50 and 2d8+2 or +4 for .416 Rigby and .338 Lapua Magnum if it comes up. or put them at the lower end of the 2d10 range, or give them some AP capability. It doesn't have to scale directly with the energy, being like 7x 5.56.
With most rifle bullets the bullet will shoot through and out the other side of a human-sized target. Most of the energy of a big game round is lost against a human but would be absorbed by an elephant. If you really needed it you could have 'human' and 'large creature' damage ratings, which might be relevant to game settings involving tentacled horrors of one sort or another.
 
Nod, i think for my purposes those big game rifles are going to be sufficiently rare that I won't really have to worry about them particularly. I can alway go with 2d10+4 for .50 and 2d8+2 or +4 for .416 Rigby and .338 Lapua Magnum if it comes up. or put them at the lower end of the 2d10 range, or give them some AP capability. It doesn't have to scale directly with the energy, being like 7x 5.56.
There are hundreds of possible calibres if you include civilian kit, and your dice mechanic probably doesn't have the resolution to differentiate between them. I would suggest that you lump them into broad categories and don't get too caught up as to the actual calibre. You'll also find that there are certain categories with dozens of models that wind up with exactly the same stats.

I did a lot of moderns some years ago, and wrote great tomes of stats at one point. After that I decided to collapse it down to a list of about 30 generics because I couldn't be arsed. This is the list from memory (probably missed one or two) and covers the majority of stuff that (a) actually exists and (b) might get used in a RPG.

There are a few assumptions here, notably that the dice mechanic is unlikely to have the resolution to differentiate between similar cartridges (e.g. 5.56/5.45/7.62x39 :tongue:), although you could split them out if you want. There's also some stuff that might be appropriate to more tentacular genres so feel free to prune stuff you don't need.

I would suggest that you treat one offs - if someone wants a Derringer, 10mm[1], Deagle or something - on an ad-hoc basis and don't try to be too comprehensive in the base list.
  • 9mm auto (Glock, SIG, Beretta etc.)
  • .45 auto (mostly 1911s)
  • .40 auto (Glock, SIG etc. For bonus points, merge, 9mm, .40 and .45 together if you really want to annoy fanboys)
  • .38 revolver (snubs, saturday night specials or older police issue mainly)
  • .357 magnum (S&W, Pythons)
  • .44 magnum (With a 6.5" barrel these are nearly a foot long. Do you feel lucky?)
  • Mouse guns (.22, .25, .32)
  • .380 (9x18) pistol (PPK, Makarov - easy to conceal)
  • .500 magnum (also .460, .454 - uber-revolvers, totally impractical for engaging stuff that shoots back but sometimes carried for bears or hunting horrors)
  • 5.7 auto (MAIN POINT IS EXTREME PRICE)[2]
  • Scary black rifle (AK, AR etc, also come in short barreled variants such as AKSU-74)
  • Battle rifle (M14, FAL, G3)
  • Plinker (.22)
  • Varmint rifle (Often firing the same ammunition as scary black rifles, but usually not so black and scary; many other calibres are also produced. Large magazines are outlawed in some jurisdictions).
  • Carbine (really a genre of 1, a bit less powerful than a scary black rifle but quite common in some parts of the world).
  • Milsurp rifle (Enfield, Garand, Moisin - Arm a family of 5 for $500; various calibres with roughly similar ballistics. Armour piercing ammunition is sometimes legally available for certain milsurps)
  • Hunting rifle (Like a milsurp but prettier - sometimes known as a 'Thirty ought six' or 'Fudd Gun' but dozens of possible calibres. Don't bother to try and differentiate calibres.)
  • Big Game rifle (H&H doubles, Weatherby Mk 5 etc. A new H&H double will set you back about £100,000. Eurpoean ones run to about £15-20k, Bolt actions about £5-10k. Weatherbys are at the cheap end of this.)
  • Lever gun (.30-30, .45-70 - higher rate of fire than a bolt-action fudd gun)
  • Machine pistol (MAC-10 and suchlike, small but hard to control - yay collateral damage!)
  • Submachinegun (Uzi, MP5, Thompson)
  • Personal defence weapon (P90, MP7)
  • Shotgun (also sawn off shotguns)
  • 7.62 sniper (SVD, M110, SSG etc. - note that more accurate hunting rifles can be tricked out to function as a sniper rifle)
  • .338 sniper (Long range)
  • .50 sniper (Barrett etc.)
  • Light machinegun (Bren, BAR)
  • Light support weapon (M240, RPK)
  • General purpose machinegun (MAG, MG3, M60, PK)
[1] Sometimes known as 'Best Millimeter' by fanboys. It's quite powerful - about twice the muzzle energy of a 9mm, but a bit of a niche item. .40 S&W is a more practical implementation of the concept and one that people actually use.
[2] For those wondering about the context of this, see IVAN.
 
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With most rifle bullets the bullet will shoot through and out the other side of a human-sized target. Most of the energy of a big game round is lost against a human but would be absorbed by an elephant. If you really needed it you could have 'human' and 'large creature' damage ratings, which might be relevant to game settings involving tentacled horrors of one sort or another.
Likely I would modify Overpenetration, which is already a thing in Mythras.
 
There are hundreds of possible calibres if you include civilian kit, and your dice mechanic probably doesn't have the resolution to differentiate between them. I would suggest that you lump them into broad categories and don't get too caught up as to the actual calibre. You'll also find that there are certain categories with dozens of models that wind up with exactly the same stats.

to be clear, that's what I'm already doing. I'm only using the calibers up there as examples. I mostly have small/medium/large. right now, it's small/medium/large pistol, small/medium SMG (I decided that fully automatic pistol sized .50 cal was probably not a tenable thing at human sizes), carbines, assault rifles (both in the 5.56mm as the primary).

I'm not really trying to get down past a level of "well, I can get it at Cabela's, and it's one of the top 3 most powerful". There are plenty of ways to do that (I've not even gotten into accessories very much yet), and i'm already looking at over a hundred variations of firearms. Most of them won't get used, and really, they are "pistol/small/semi, pistol/small/auto" etc

I did a lot of moderns some years ago, and wrote great tomes of stats at one point. After that I decided to collapse it down to a list of about 30 generics because I couldn't be arsed. This is the list from memory (probably missed one or two) and covers the majority of stuff that (a) actually exists and (b) might get used in a RPG.

i expect this will all end up about that range

There are a few assumptions here, notably that the dice mechanic is unlikely to have the resolution to differentiate between similar cartridges (e.g. 5.56/5.45/7.62x39 :tongue:), although you could split them out if you want. There's also some stuff that might be appropriate to more tentacular genres so feel free to prune stuff you don't need.

I would suggest that you treat one offs - if someone wants a Derringer, 10mm[1], Deagle or something - on an ad-hoc basis and don't try to be too comprehensive in the base list.
  • 9mm auto (Glock, SIG, Beretta etc.)
  • .45 auto (mostly 1911s)
  • .40 auto (Glock, SIG etc. For bonus points, merge, 9mm, .40 and .45 together if you really want to annoy fanboys)
  • .38 revolver (snubs, saturday night specials or older police issue mainly)
  • .357 magnum (S&W, Pythons)
  • .44 magnum (With a 6.5" barrel these are nearly a foot long. Do you feel lucky?)
  • Mouse guns (.22, .25, .32)
  • .380 (9x18) pistol (PPK, Makarov - easy to conceal)
  • .500 magnum (also .460, .454 - uber-revolvers, totally impractical for engaging stuff that shoots back but sometimes carried for bears or hunting horrors)
  • 5.7 auto (MAIN POINT IS EXTREME PRICE)[2]
  • Scary black rifle (AK, AR etc, also come in short barreled variants such as AKSU-74)
  • Battle rifle (M14, FAL, G3)
  • Plinker (.22)
  • Varmint rifle (Often firing the same ammunition as scary black rifles, but usually not so black and scary; many other calibres are also produced. Large magazines are outlawed in some jurisdictions).
  • Carbine (really a genre of 1, a bit less powerful than a scary black rifle but quite common in some parts of the world).
  • Milsurp rifle (Enfield, Garand, Moisin - Arm a family of 5 for $500; various calibres with roughly similar ballistics. Armour piercing ammunition is sometimes legally available for certain milsurps)
  • Hunting rifle (Like a milsurp but prettier - sometimes known as a 'Thirty ought six' or 'Fudd Gun' but dozens of possible calibres. Don't bother to try and differentiate calibres.)
  • Big Game rifle (H&H doubles, Weatherby Mk 5 etc. A new H&H double will set you back about £100,000. Eurpoean ones run to about £15-20k, Bolt actions about £5-10k. Weatherbys are at the cheap end of this.)
  • Lever gun (.30-30, .45-70 - higher rate of fire than a bolt-action fudd gun)
  • Machine pistol (MAC-10 and suchlike, small but hard to control - yay collateral damage!)
  • Submachinegun (Uzi, MP5, Thompson)
  • Personal defence weapon (P90, MP7)
  • Shotgun (also sawn off shotguns)
  • 7.62 sniper (SVD, M110, SSG etc. - note that more accurate hunting rifles can be tricked out to function as a sniper rifle)
  • .338 sniper (Long range)
  • .50 sniper (Barrett etc.)
  • Light machinegun (Bren, BAR)
  • Light support weapon (M240, RPK)
  • General purpose machinegun (MAG, MG3, M60, PK)
[1] Sometimes known as 'Best Millimeter' by fanboys. It's quite powerful - about twice the muzzle energy of a 9mm, but a bit of a niche item. .40 S&W is a more practical implementation of the concept and one that people actually use.
[2] For those wondering about the context of this, see IVAN.

that's quite the list. i don't merge .45s with 9mm (though I've seriously considered it) but I do merge .40s in.

i suspect that I have plenty in there, and can see how most of these would come out as variations of particular parts of what I've got. this is likely even more than I'm going to use mostly - but the levers are there. I decided to bust out revolvers, I have 5 pistol damages corresponding to caliber, 2 SMG damages (essentially 9mm and .45 for the MAC10 - this is for a cyberpunk thing after all), a carbine (as you say, genre of 1, but it's a good spot, and it's not like I can't make imaginary carbines), a 5.56 assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, then work into LMG/MMG/HMG.

The primary point for me is that I have a framework that'll work well. After all of this, I feel pretty confident it has enough for my group, and I imagine most groups.

We should move on from the details of what I'm working on and get back to gun porn. Shotguns might be fun to talk about.
 
Projectiles Part 3

This is probably massive overkill. I'm tried to keep this as simple as possible, while still covering the field. Many of these options are beyond the detail needed in most games. Much was included simply because someone reading a catalog might run across it, and wonder if it should be addressed in their game.


There is a dizzying array of modern bullet types which gets even more confusing when you start to get into branding, and marketing. With many bullet types capable of being combined, naming can be get as crazy as ordering coffee in a trendy coffee house.

Shotgun shells will be dealt with in a later post.



Listed in approximate chronological order of development since the adoption of the first metallic cartridges.


1852
Lead round nose (LRN)
- This is the basic bullet design all others are compared to. It was the standard bullet type used throughout the blackpowder metallic cartridge era, and into the 20th century with handguns. It is still frequently found in use with inexpensive handgun ammunition. Also popular with those who reload ammunition since cast bullets may be made at home very inexpensively.

Lead flat point (LFP) - Similar to the round nose, but has a flat tipped point. Flat points tend to cut a cleaner hole in paper targets which makes them popular for target shooting. There is also some evidence that flat points cause more wounding than round nose bullets which has seen them used in ammunition marketed for self-defense and hunting.
Lead round and flat point.jpg

1860
Explosive bullets (HE)
– These are bullets with a small explosive charge inside them. The explosive is generally just intended to create expansion but some have included a charge capable of shattering the bullet causing minor fragmentation to those around it. Obviously one of these rounds with a relatively large charge detonating inside the target would be devastating. There are reports of their use during the American Civil War and the St Petersburg Treaty of 1868 outlawed the use of explosive projectiles under 400 grams (roughly the weight of a 37mm projectile) in warfare. With the invention of motor vehicles and aircraft later treaties amended the restriction allowing the use of smaller explosive / incendiary projectiles for other than anti-personnel use. Rifle caliber explosive bullets were available on both sides during WW1 and WW2. Explosive bullets were marketed towards big game hunters in the 19th century.

Small caliber explosive bullets are notoriously unreliable. In the 1981 attempted assassination of President Reagan, the shooter used .22 caliber explosive bullets. Of the half dozen bullets fired, only one functioned as intended. Explosive bullets are tightly regulated and generally fall under the same laws as other explosives.



1870
Lead Hollow Point (LHP)
– Lead hollow point bullets began to be marketed for hunting during the 1870s. These were sometimes called Express bullets due to their use in big game express rifles. Lead hollow points are common with shotgun slugs.

There is a lot of debate about the actual value of hollow points in a lead projectile, as lead already tends to expand well. The British military issued a flat faced lead hollow point bullet for their Webley revolvers in 1897, but it was quickly withdrawn following the Hague Convention of 1899 which banned the use of hollow point bullets in warfare.
Lead Hollow Point.jpg


1882
Full metal jacket (FMJ)
– The process for creating a jacketed bullet was developed in Switzerland in 1882. The first jacketed round for military use was adopted by the French Army in 1887 for use in their new smokeless powder rifle, the M1886 Lebel. The use of a (usually) copper jacket separates the lead from the rifling. It also protects the softer lead core. Full metal case (FMC) has also been used to describe these bullets.

Total metal jacket (TMJ), Total metal case (TMC) and Fully Encapsulated Base (FEB) are more recent additions, but are primarily just marketing terms. These bullets have developed in response to concerns about lead contamination. Some full metal jacket designs leave the base of the lead core exposed, while the TMJ / TMC / FEB bullets completely surround the lead core. There is no tangible performance difference between a fully encapsulating jacket and one open at the base. Not all FMJ have exposed lead at the base.
FMJ.jpg


1891
Hard cast (HC)
– Lead alloy bullets that are as much as 5x the hardness of pure lead. Lead balls were traditionally made from pure lead. With the adoption of bullet shaped projectiles in the 1850s it was soon recognized that adding a small amount of tin (1-2%) allowed the molten lead to flow better resulting in a better casting. With the adoption of smokeless powder in the 1880s bullet velocities increased beyond the levels soft lead could tolerate. Jacketed bullets were the solution for most military rifles, but these were more expensive than lead bullets. The addition of even small amounts of tin or antimony was found to make the lead much harder. Rifle velocities in the new smokeless cartridges soon overpowered even these hard lead bullets, but they have remained popular with handgun and older blackpowder cartridges even when loaded with smokeless powder. By the 1960s lead alloy bullets nearly as hard as the copper alloys used in jacketed bullets were available.
Hard cast bullets are preferred by some hunters because they provide a tough hard bullet that will penetrate deep into large dangerous game. As expansion is not typically desired in a hard cast lead bullet, they are usually found in round nose, flat nose and wadcutter / semi-wadcutter configurations.



1895
With the adoption of jacketed bullets in the 1880s, concern began to circulate about the perceived reduction in wounding potential. Jacketed bullets did not expand like lead projectiles had, and they were much smaller caliber to start with. The British Army began to experiment with methods to enhance the expansion of their jacketed bullets in the 1890s. Much of this research was done at the Dum Dum arsenal near Calcutta, India. As a result Dum Dum has become a slang term for expanding bullets.

The first bullets issued simply cut away the tip of the jacket creating a somewhat crude version of the modern soft point. Concerns about the use of these bullets led to a call to ban them during the Hague Conference of 1899. While many nations did not agree to this, a defacto ban has been observed and all major military powers have utilized full metal jacket rifle ammunition during the 20th century.


Jacketed Soft Point (JSP) - This is a jacketed bullet with an exposed lead tip. This provides better expansion than a full metal jacket, but generally less than a hollow point. Jacketed Soft Points typically have better penetration than a hollow point, and are used primarily in for hunting. Semi-Jacketed Soft Points are very similar, the main difference being a shorter jacket.
JSP.jpg

Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP) - Similar to the soft point, but having a small cavity at the tip. The jacket is often thinner at the tip and may have small cuts to aid in the jacket pealing back to aid expansion. Hollow points are often used for hunting small game. The expansion greatly reduces the bullets penetration typically making them unsuitable for game larger than small deer. Modern hollow points can increase the diameter of the projectile after impact by as much as 50-100% of the original size. Semi-Jacketed Hollow Points are very similar just having a shorter jacket, sometimes with exposed lead at the tip.

Jacketed hollow points have been marketed for use in handguns since at least the 1920s, but they were known to be unreliable in semi-auto pistols and did not reliably expand at typical pistol velocities. It wasn't until better designs came on the market in the mid-1960s that hollow points became popular as law enforcement and self-defense ammunition. The open cavity at the front of the bullet would suggest poor aerodynamics, but in fact the base heavy projectiles tend to be very stable. As a result some target ammunition will use hollow point bullets designed for better stability, not greater expansion. Hollow point match ammunition is sometimes referred to as Open Tip Match (OTM).

It is popular in fiction to have people modify a full metal jacket bullet into a jacketed soft point or hollow point. This is in fact possible and has been done, but these homemade modifications tend not to perform consistently and often perform very poorly. There is considerable engineering involved in the design of jacketed soft points and hollow points to get them to provide reliable expansion and consistent performance. In most cases the design of the bullet jacket is quite different from that of full metal jacketed bullet. It is also quite likely to introduce accuracy issues and may even cause the bullet to come apart in flight. Modified ammunition was much more common in the early 20th century when factory loaded soft point and hollow point ammunition was harder to obtain.
JHP.jpg


1898
Spitzer point
- The first jacketed bullets were round nose projectiles similar to those used in blackpowder rifles. As aerodynamics became better understood, it was found that high velocity rifles could get better performance with a pointed bullet. The bullet lost some mass due to the new shape but it retained its energy much further due to better aerodynamics.

The French adopted a new pointed bullet for their M1886 Lebel service rifles in 1898. At 1000 meters it still retained 50% of its muzzle velocity, compared to only 600 meters for the round nose bullet it replaced. Other nations quickly followed adopting their own pointed bullets over the following decade. Since WW1 it has become the standard bullet shape for most rifle ammunition that exceeds 2000 fps (606 m/s).

Unlike many of the bullet types listed this is not typically a choice when buying ammo, it is either the default in factory ammo of that caliber or it is not commonly available. Cartridges primarily used in tubular magazine fed rifles, and ammunition fired at lower velocities are generally not available with a spitzer point bullet. Only a few pistol cartridges are available with spitzer bullets.
Spitzer.jpg


1900
Wadcutter (WC) / Semi-wadcutter (SWC)
- Designed for target use, these lead bullets cut a clean hole in paper targets making scoring more accurate. These bullets are typically seated deeper into the cartridge which results in more uniform powder burning and consistent ballistics. The long straight sides also provide good contact with the rifling adding to accuracy. They may have a cavity at the base of the bullet similar to the Minie ball which helps to expand the base gripping the rifling better.

The wadcutter is a flat tipped, cylindrical bullet. It is very accurate at short range, but the poor aerodynamic shape becomes unstable at longer ranges. The semi-wadcutter has a slightly rounded or flat faced conical tip which improves its longer range ballistics and ability to feed in semi-automatic pistols. Wadcutters and Semi wadcutters are almost exclusively loaded for pistols and are far more common in revolver cartidges.

As with flat points there is some evidence that these bullets cause more wounding than round nose bullets. With their good accuracy and alleged wounding capacity they are used by some for self-defense and handgun hunting. In 1912 the British Army began to issue a wadcutter type bullet for their .455 caliber Webley revolvers, but it was quickly withdrawn due to concerns that it violated the Hague Convention. The British ammunition maker Eley marketed this bullet and the earlier hollow point wadcutter on the commercial market under the name Manstopper.

Wadcutters.jpg

1904
Jacketed Flat Point (JHP)
– A full metal jacket bullet, but it has a flat pointed tip rather than round, also called a truncated cone. When Germany adopted the 9mm Parabellum in 1904, they specified a jacketed flat point. Due to concerns that the bullet shape might violate the terms of the Hague Convention, a more conventional round nose bullet was specified towards the end of WW1. Flat points are popular for target shooting because they tend to make a cleaner hole in the target. There is also some evidence that flat point bullets cause more wounding than round nose bullets.
JFP.jpg


1906
Gas Check (GC)
– Not a specific type of bullet, a gas check is a metal disk, cup or plug, usually brass or copper added to the base of a cast lead bullet. With the increased power of smokeless powder, the hot gasses could melt the base of lead bullets and allow hot gases to get past the bullet while in the barrel. The gas check provides a barrier allowing hardened lead bullets to be used at higher velocities. They were first used in rifles as there were few handguns capable of the velocities requiring a gas check until the late 1950s.
Gas check.jpg

1914
Boat tail (BT)
- A refinement of the Spitzer round, this adds a tapered base to the bullet, providing even better aerodynamics. Introduced by Germany just before WW1 it was found to provide as much as a 50% increase in maximum range. This proved to be of little value in standard service rifles, so it is generally only found on ammunition meant for use in machineguns or sniper rifles where the extra range may actually be useful. It is an option for many popular hunting cartridges used for long range shooting.
Boattail.jpg

Incendiary (I) – These bullets contain a small quantity of incendiary material such as phosphorus intended to set fire to nearby flammable materials. They were first issued for use against hydrogen filled zeppelins and observation balloons. Incendiary projectiles are often combined with an explosive charge, these are known as creating High Explosive Incendiary (HEI).

Tracer (T) – These bullets leave a visible trail to indicate their path, and may include a mild to moderate incendiary effect. Early tracer bullets left a smoke trail and had a useful tracer effect of 300-400 yards, later tracer bullets left a trail of colored light making them useful after dark as well as in daylight. Tracers can be used to help adjust a shooters aim as well as to indicate the location of a target to others.

Modern tracer ammo has a useful marking distance of 500-1000 yards in most common military rifle calibers with some .50 (12.7mm) caliber weapons having a tracer range of 2000 yards or more. Tracers also reveal the location of the shooter, so some modern tracer ammo includes a short delay to help conceal the shooter. A variety of colors are available, with green and red being most common. Low light tracers for use with night vision devices began to appear in the late 1980s / early 1990s.
 
Continued

1916
Armor Piercing (AP)
– Armor piercing bullets in small arms typically use a hard steel penetrator within an otherwise normal jacketed lead bullet. The steel penetrator may allow the bullet to penetrate as much as twice the thickness of steel compared to a regular lead cored full metal jacket bullet. The first use of armor piercing bullets occurred during WW1 in response to snipers using steel plate to armor their positions in the trenches. The introduction of armored vehicles the same year drove further development. By the end of the war every major military had adopted an armor piercing bullet for their service rifle. Prior to World War 2 tungsten cores were occasionally being used in place of hardened steel, but it is generally limited to bullets used in heavy machinegun and large anti-tank rifle cartridges.

Because of the possibility that the hard core isn’t perfectly centered in the bullet the accuracy of armor piercing ammunition tends not to be as good as standard ammunition.
AP.jpg
1921
Ballistic Tip
– These are a hollow point bullet with an aerodynamic plug at the tip. This plug serves two purposes, it makes the bullet more aerodynamic, and on impact the plug is forced back into the hollow cavity aiding in the uniform expansion of the bullet. The idea goes back to the 1920s with Remington’s bronze tip ammunition (it used a bronze plug). Since the 1960s plastic has become the standard material for the plug. Different manufacturers have used a variety of brand names, Nosler introduced their version under the name ballistic tip in 1984. These are also generically known as plastic tip bullets.
Ballistic tip.jpg
1934
Frangible
– These bullets were initially made to prevent ricochets in shooting galleries. They were made of metallic powder (frequently iron) mixed with a plastic or Bakelite binder, and most commonly found loaded for the .22 Short. They would shatter into dust when hitting the steel targets. During WW2 the United States issued frangible ammo for use in .30 caliber machineguns which could be used for training anti-aircraft gunners. Operation Pinball utilized specially modified P-63 fighters with light armor and a light on the propeller hub that lit up to indicate hits. This ammunition was not intended for use in hunting or self-defense but was fully capable of causing serious injury or death. Since the 1970s there has been a revival of frangible ammunition for training use and it is available in a variety of military and law enforcement calibers. Frangible ammunition has also been developed for self-defense and law enforcement use, this use will be covered under Advanced Energy Transfer (AET).



1939
Bonded
– These are jacketed bullets, but rather than the usual press fit method of securing the jacket to the core, they use pressure, heat or a chemical process to more securely bind the core to the jacket. They also tend to have a bullet jacket up to twice the normal thickness. The main use for these bullets is for large dangerous game. Traditional jacketed bullets may shed their jackets when going through the tough hide and bone of large animals which reduces the bullets penetration. These bullets may be round nose or flat point full metal jacket, jacketed soft point or jacketed hollow point depending on their intended use.



1947
Partitioned
– Also known as A-Frame, these are jacketed bullets with two cores separated by the jacket. They are similar in intent to bonded bullets and in fact may also be bonded. They are intended for large dangerous game, with the intent that they have very controllable expansion. The front core will expand, but only to the point that the jacket separates the larger rear core. This helps to ensure that even if the forward part of the bullet were to break away, the majority of the bullet will continue to penetrate as a solid piece. They are typically configured as jacketed soft points or hollow points.
Partition.jpg
1962
Copper plated
– These are simply lead bullets with a copper plating to reduce lead fouling. Plating was first used on the hyper velocity .22 Long Rifle cartridges that began to appear in the 1960s. Since that time its use has expanded to other calibers that frequently are loaded with lead bullets. The plating is very thin and has no significant effect on the ballistic performance of the bullet.



1971
Mercury tip
– This bullet type is complete fiction, typically credited to the book and movie The Day of the Jackal. It frequently features in the vigilante and assassin thriller books and movies of the 1970s and early 1980s. Allegedly adding a drop of mercury sealed with wax into a hollow cavity in the tip of a bullet will result in near explosive results on impact. Some have speculated that rather than mercury, the explosive compound fulminate of mercury was actually intended. Any possible use of either has been discredited; mercury would offer no special effect beyond its toxicity (to both the user and intended victim). Fulminate of mercury is very shock sensitive, and could be set off simply by the firing of the weapon making it more dangerous to the shooter than the intended target. Real explosive bullets have traditionally have used less sensitive explosives.



1974
Advanced Energy Transfer (AET)
– These bullets are related to frangible bullets, and may be considered a sub type of that category. The primary difference is the intended use. AETs were designed for law enforcement and self-defense providing bullets that caused rapid incapacitation and minimal risk of over penetration or ricochets.
The first was the Glaser Safety Slug introduced in 1974. These use a copper jacket with a closed base and open tip (essentially a cup), but in place of the usual lead core, this cup was filled with bird shot. The bullet was sealed with a plastic cap and the loaded round resembled a hollow point bullet. If it hit a hard surface the jacket would rupture and the round would fragment causing minimal penetration and reducing the chances of a ricochet. If it hit a soft target (flesh) the bullet would fragment causing massive tissue destruction with little chance of the bullet exiting the body. Later developments utilized powdered metals including lead, copper and iron, and were typically formed into a shape resembling a hollow point bullet. The effects are similar to those using pellets with the bullets fragmenting into dust when hitting a hard surface, or into several small pieces when hitting a soft target. These rounds are loaded for a few rifles, but are primarily found in the pistol cartridges favored by law enforcement agencies. By design they have poor barrier penetration.



1977
Sabot
– The sabot (say-bo) is a lightweight full caliber projectile that contains a smaller projectile. On firing the larger lightweight projectile (often plastic) quickly loses velocity and falls away, leaving the smaller projectile headed towards the target. The idea behind the sabot is to allow the use of a relatively light projectile in a larger caliber weapon. The use of a light bullet allows much higher than normal velocities.

First developed in the 19th century for cannons, the idea was revived during WW2 to improve the performance of anti-tank guns. In the 1970s Remington introduced a factory loaded sabot round which allowed the use of a .224 caliber bullet in several popular .30 caliber rifle cartridges. Sabot slugs came on the market for shot guns in the mid-1980s. Sabots are also used in modern muzzle loading black powder rifles as they allow a wide variety of ammunition types to be used.

In 1990 the U.S. military adopted a sabot round for the .50 M2HB machinegun. Designated Saboted Light Armor Piercing (SLAP) this cartridge fired a hard .30 tungsten projectile at a velocity 30% faster than the standard round. It is also capable of penetrating more than twice the thickness of steel plate as the standard round.
Sabot rounds tend to be less accurate than conventional full bore bullets which has limited their use in small arms.
Sabot.jpg


1979
Solid
– This is a bullet made of a solid piece of metal and also known as monolithic, or monometal bullets. Copper is the most common material, but brass and bronze (both alloys of copper) are also used. These are often precision turned on a lathe adding to their expense. They are intended for hunting large dangerous game where maximum penetration is required. They are most typically found in round or flat nose configurations, but are also available as hollow points. Lacking a core, even when used as expanding bullets they tend to remain in one piece resulting in far greater penetration than a bullet that fragments into several smaller pieces.
 
So how different is it to shoot different firearms, from a skill perspective?

My assumption here is that long arms are fairly different from handguns (only really fired handguns and not very often) based on position, grip, etc. but the skills are close enough that an hour is going to compensate for most of the differences. It’s also my assumption that there are some specialized skills that you get with each that don’t translate as well.

But past that, I don’t see a lot of difference. Like, if I am shooting an M16, shooting an AK47 is really pretty much the same thing, a Glock might be a bit more to get reasonable, because of no pistol training, but that’ll go away very quickly.

Does that sound fairly accurate?
 
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