A tightly patched round ball in a smoothbore will shoot a lot better than a naked one, as in a smoothbore musket. However, even a ball will not be "stabilized" unless it is rotating on an axis parallel to the center of the bore. This requires rifling! The bigger and heavier the ball, the slower the twist can be and still be accurate! The British Baker rifle (0.62" caliber) used in the Napoleonic wars had a twist of 1/120", but still could hit a man-sized target at ranges over 200 yards.
A round ball is more accurate if it is rotated by rifling. There is a scientific reason for this but I'll let someone else explain that. Of course you could , instead, dimple it like a golf ball to get more accuracy and distance !
In general any bullet is more accurate when rotated by rifling. THe reson is that any bullet can have irregularities that can cause un anspun bullet to wobble in flight. THis leads to inacuracy. By rotating the bullet the irregularitiy is evened out accros the whole and the bullet flies true.
SO yes a round ball is more accurate when spun by rifling.
Posts: 513 | Location: MO | Registered: 14 March 2003
54, when a naked ball rolls and bounces down a smoothbore barrel, particularly if it is a little undersize, as in a musket, it can pick up a roll in ANY direction. This causes it to fly off in just about any vector after exiting the muzzle!
quote:Originally posted by eldeguello: 54, when a naked ball rolls and bounces down a smoothbore barrel, particularly if it is a little undersize, as in a musket, it can pick up a roll in ANY direction. This causes it to fly off in just about any vector after exiting the muzzle!
Ahhh, but that is because the axis of rotation is variable depending on which surface it rolls on (which is why billiard players would tell you never to knurl the top of the inside of your otherwise smooth bore, creating the deadly "backspin" effect)
The stablizing effect of rifleing is the same as that of a gyroscope, that is the resistance to changing of the axis of rotation. That is one reason you see some weapons shooting finned projectiles in sabots from smooth bores: to allow said projectile to strike point-first over long arching trajectories. Of course, rifling keeps the axis of rotation the same as your point of aim, making it resistant (providing it is not badly out-of-balance) to veering off in some other direction.
Sorry for not giving the proper terms, but physics (even spelling) was some time ago.
Sorry again, Eldeguello, for restating what you had pointed out earlier.
quote:Originally posted by mete: A round ball is more accurate if it is rotated by rifling. There is a scientific reason for this but I'll let someone else explain that. Of course you could , instead, dimple it like a golf ball to get more accuracy and distance !
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