Shawn Thompson
New member
All spin-stabilized projectiles experience yaw, to some degree.
Imagine throwing a spinning wooden top down on a table; bullet yaw is very much the same. The first few meters out of the muzzle will show a rapid shift up to several degrees before settling down into "stabilized flight". As the projectile continually slows in velocity yaw will become proportionally greater, until it reaches a point of destabilization. Again this is a characteristic of all spin-stabilized projectiles and not just limited to the 5.56. Obviously, bullet weight, velocity and distance are all determining factors.
The question becomes, where along the bullets trajectory did it strike the intended target? Did it occur during stabilized flight? As the bullet slowed and experienced increasing yaw? Or out so far that the bullet had completely destabilized and was "tumbling"?
In addition, what is the projectile doing at short range? Remember there is rapid shifting the first few meters from the muzzle prior to stabilized flight? This is part of the reason why testing results varied so greatly from agency to agency when conflicts in urban environments became more prevalent, and concerns over the terminal ballistcs at the distances presented by those environments increased.
It is true, the effcts of a destabilizing bullet may work in our favor; however, it my also work against us. Understanding this concept, at least in part, has eventually prompted us to teach the concept of controlled pairs in our own carbine classes.
Imagine throwing a spinning wooden top down on a table; bullet yaw is very much the same. The first few meters out of the muzzle will show a rapid shift up to several degrees before settling down into "stabilized flight". As the projectile continually slows in velocity yaw will become proportionally greater, until it reaches a point of destabilization. Again this is a characteristic of all spin-stabilized projectiles and not just limited to the 5.56. Obviously, bullet weight, velocity and distance are all determining factors.
The question becomes, where along the bullets trajectory did it strike the intended target? Did it occur during stabilized flight? As the bullet slowed and experienced increasing yaw? Or out so far that the bullet had completely destabilized and was "tumbling"?
In addition, what is the projectile doing at short range? Remember there is rapid shifting the first few meters from the muzzle prior to stabilized flight? This is part of the reason why testing results varied so greatly from agency to agency when conflicts in urban environments became more prevalent, and concerns over the terminal ballistcs at the distances presented by those environments increased.
It is true, the effcts of a destabilizing bullet may work in our favor; however, it my also work against us. Understanding this concept, at least in part, has eventually prompted us to teach the concept of controlled pairs in our own carbine classes.
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