Performance of an hypothetical .32 H&R Magnum bullet

What they all said

Think about a bus and jet plane

Regardless of horse power, a bus will never reach Mach speed, in atmosphere.

Further restrictions; solid copper, 120gr bullet, will be LONG. To fit in the gun, you will most likely, have to seat it deep, losing powder capacity and raising pressure
 
A good quality conventional bullet and a full load of a suitable powder in a good single shot .32 H&R pistol like a Contender would be accurate to at least 100 metres.

A schützen rifle and its particular loading methods would very likely get to 200 yards.

If you want to know what your fantasy bullet would do, just take its length, diameter, weight, velocity (with a maximum load of Bullseye), and rifling twist and enter in the Miller Stability formula. A result of 1.5 is considered adequately stable for good shooting.
You could then take its ballistic coefficient and velocity to enter in a trajectory program to find its decline in velocity with distance. Your maximum accurate range would be when the stability dropped to 1.5.

As Herr Professor said, establishing those variables is an exercise left to the student.
 
...Except, stability will increase with range because the rate of spin drops off more slowly than forward motion does. That is why spin drift hooks a bullet harder to the side as it goes further downrange. The one exception I can think of is for bullets experiencing dynamic instability (overshooting correction in attitude) which occurs in the transonic range with the 168-grain Sierra MatchKing, for example. I don't know of that happening with subsonic loads, though.
 
@Unclenick

I would love to lift your priceless lines out of the thread with a cake fork.

That's exactly what I've been looking for. I don't overlook the fact that you really took the time to help someone like me. Thank you so much. You see me bowing
 
@Seedy_Character

"... have to seat it deep, losing powder capacity and raising pressure."

I would have come to the opposite conclusion. Thank you very much. I am really fascinated.
 
@Jim_Watson

I read what you have written to me very carefully. And all I can do is learn. I want to assure you of my gratitude.
 
This is an interesting discussion, I cannot find a way to help.

I am absolutely curious of one of the restrictions— why a solid copper bullet? I would think this is a rare animal in a .312” handgun bullet. Lots of monolith rifle bullets, but less so in pistol.

I haven’t actually looked. Is this a California influence?
 
@Sevens
Please consider it a pure thought experiment. I have deliberately built in obstacles, simply to understand ballistics better. For example, a javelin thrower, a shot putter or a football player are subject to the same ballistics. Nevertheless, there are separate dynamics for the respective throwing bodies. As for bullets, I generally have an idea of where the optimum, or even the ideal, should be. But the same bullet is suddenly puzzling to me when it is the complete opposite of optimal or ideal.
But in a few days I learned a lot here. The dark gray veil is only light gray now. And I am deeply grateful to the wonderful folks here for that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top