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What's Wrong With This Picture?
A couple of months ago, we discussed a hilarious video about how not to shoot a firearm. Now here's a screen capture from the popular TV series The Walking Dead.Scene from The Walking Dead. What's...
View ArticleMeasuring Effectiveness of Cartridges: An Overview
There are several formulae to determine the effectiveness of various types of ammunition. Some of these methods are based on some scientific principles, others are just empirical formulae that produce...
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Measuring Effectiveness of Cartridges: Kinetic Energy
In our last post, we discussed the basics of cartridge effectiveness. In this post, we will discuss one of the methods used to measure cartridge effectiveness, by measuring the kinetic energy of the...
View ArticleMeasuring Effectiveness of Cartridges: Momentum
In our last post, we looked at one way to study the performance of cartridges by calculating the average kinetic energy of the bullet. In this post, we will look at another method that some people use...
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Measuring Effectiveness of Cartridges: Taylor KO Factor
In the previous two posts, we saw how some people obtain a figure of merit for a cartridge by measuring the kinetic energy and the momentum. While these two methods have a basis in physics, the next...
View ArticleMeasuring Effectiveness of Cartridges: Thorniley Stopping Power
In our last post, we looked at a formula called the Taylor Knock Out Factor, which was developed by a big-game hunter with extensive experience with African wildlife. In this post, we will look at...
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Measuring Effectiveness of Cartridges: Hatcher Formula
In our last two posts, we studied a couple of empirical formulae that were proposed by big-game hunters, the Taylor KO Factor by John "Pondoro" Taylor and the Thorniley Stopping Power Formula by Peter...
View ArticleMeasuring Effectiveness of Cartridges: Optimum Game Weight Formula
We've studied several empirical formulae in the last few pages: The Taylor KO Factor, the Thorniley Stopping Power Formula and the Hatcher Formula. In todays article, we will study another formula...
View ArticleMeasuring Effectiveness of Cartridges: Hornady Index of Terminal Standards
First, let me wish the faithful readers of this blog a happy 2013.Continuing our series on measuring effectiveness of cartridges, the next method we will study is another empirical method, this one...
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The Effect of Air Density on Ammunition Performance
A couple of months ago, we'd discussed how temperature affects ammunition performance. In this post, we will study the effect of air density on ammunition.When a cartridge is fired, the bullet travels...
View ArticleThe Effect of Wind on Ammunition Performance
In our last post, we discussed the effects of air density on ammunition performance. In this post, we will study the effects of wind on performance.In practical outdoor shooting, especially at longer...
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The Maynard Tape Primer
After all the geeky stuff we've studied in the last few posts, it might be a good idea to study a piece of history instead. We will study the Maynard Tape Primer system in today's post.First, let us go...
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The Puckle Gun
In today's post, we will study an early machine gun: the Puckle Gun. We'd first mentioned this gun many months ago, when we studied the history of revolvers. We will now study this firearm in more...
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Powder Horns
During the early part of firearms history, people were forced to carry separate containers of black powder, bullets and wads, because the self-contained cartridge had not yet been invented. Today, we...
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Powder Flasks
In our previous post about powder horns, we noted that these were containers used to carry black powder. As we noted previously, powder horns are actually made out of animal horns (usually cattle,...
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Unusual Firearms: The Gast Gun
During World War I, aerial combat between aircraft happened for the first time in history. It soon became apparent that machine guns were needed on aircraft, because pilots needed to get a large number...
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Why does a M16 have Tall Sights?
When we look at an M16 rifle (or its semi-automatic only civilian cousin, the AR-15), there is something noticeable about their sights:A M16A2 and two M16A4s. Click on images to enlarge. Public domain...
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What is +P and +P+ Ammunition?
In the world of firearms, some of you readers may have heard about the terms +P and +P+ (pronounced as "Plus-P" and "Plus-P-Plus"). So what is this all about anyway?In the US, several firearms and...
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How did they name cartridges - I
In the world of firearms history, we often see famous cartridge names like .30-30 Winchester, .45 ACP, .30-06 Springfield etc. So how exactly do cartridges get named and is there some meaning behind...
View ArticleHow did they name cartridges - II
When we left off in our last post, we saw that cartridges like .45-70 and .50-90 were named based on their caliber and the amount of black powder in it (e.g. .45-70 has a bullet of .45 inches in...
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