The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Gear and Accessories

View Poll Results: Same ammo... pistol and rifle..which will be faster?
Viper rifle with Winchester Super X 2 40.00%
Buckmark pistol with Winchester Super X 2 40.00%
Viper rifle with Winchester Wildcats 1 20.00%
Buckmark pistol with Winchester Wildcats 0 0%
Voters: 5. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old February 21, 2010, 09:37 AM   #1
Dragon55
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 15, 2009
Location: East Tennessee
Posts: 811
So.. ammo faster in pistol or rifle???

OK.. so I'm gonna go out today and play with my chrony some more.

So... folks with lots of experience with a chrony, make your predictions.

I'll be shooting some fairly cheap .22 ammo in a Remington model 522 VIPER rifle and a Browning Buckmark with a fairly heavy barrel that is 5 1/2" long. (I have no idea what specific model it is since it doesn't state on pistol anywhere.

The ammo will be:
--Winchester Super X HP's 37 grains states on box 1330 fps
--Winchester Wildcat LRN 40 grains states on box 'high velocity'

I have read on this forum numerous times that the same ammo will always go faster out of a rifle than a pistol. Since I want to see for myself I thought I would test.

So.... what are your predictions????
__________________
sailing ... A way to spend lots of money and go real S L O W
Dragon55 is offline  
Old February 21, 2010, 10:52 AM   #2
Dragon55
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 15, 2009
Location: East Tennessee
Posts: 811
Results are in..........

Well that didn't take long.

Super X range from both guns 1120-- 1337

Wildcats range from both guns 992 -- 1183

I shot 10 shot strings from each gun.
__________________
sailing ... A way to spend lots of money and go real S L O W
Dragon55 is offline  
Old February 21, 2010, 03:02 PM   #3
4thPointofContact
Junior member
 
Join Date: September 22, 2007
Posts: 197
So, pretty much same velocity in either?
4thPointofContact is offline  
Old February 21, 2010, 06:11 PM   #4
Dragon55
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 15, 2009
Location: East Tennessee
Posts: 811
No very different. I am just surprised none of the armchair experts on here wanted to guess.

I think many just want to tell you why it is instead of predicting what it will be.
__________________
sailing ... A way to spend lots of money and go real S L O W
Dragon55 is offline  
Old February 21, 2010, 10:28 PM   #5
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
I don't know that I've heard that "ammo will always be faster in a rifle". Certainly it is generally so. Equally certain, it is not always so. Some ammo is optimized for certain barrel length, either by design or coincidence, and will lose speed in barrels longer than that length. Usually the length that speed begins to drop off will be somewhere greater than about 15 inches with handgun ammo but I wouldn't be surprised if a rather low pressure round like the 22 will stop gaining speed well short of that length.
__________________
Nobody plans to screw up their lives...
...they just don't plan not to.
-Andy Stanley
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old February 23, 2010, 08:27 PM   #6
Dragon55
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 15, 2009
Location: East Tennessee
Posts: 811
Sorry no... 16% faster in rifle
__________________
sailing ... A way to spend lots of money and go real S L O W
Dragon55 is offline  
Old February 23, 2010, 08:37 PM   #7
4thPointofContact
Junior member
 
Join Date: September 22, 2007
Posts: 197
Thanks. Wasn't sure from the listing of lowest and highest velocities what the average of each was.
4thPointofContact is offline  
Old February 24, 2010, 11:55 AM   #8
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Quote:
16% faster in rifle
The rifle has a 20 inch barrel, correct?

That's only a 16% gain with a barrel of more than 3 1/2 times the length. I'd be willing to bet that there is a length somewhere in between that would match or exceed the velocity produced by the rifle. My guess is right around 15 inches.
__________________
Nobody plans to screw up their lives...
...they just don't plan not to.
-Andy Stanley
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old February 24, 2010, 01:36 PM   #9
Scorch
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 13, 2006
Location: Washington state
Posts: 15,248
Just FYI, Jim Carmichael did a test on this back in the 1970s sometime. IIRC, he came up with 16" being the ideal for velocity but standard deviation was high; 19" gave the most consistent velocity; and after 21" of barrel length there was a net velocity loss. Pressure measurements showed that a 22LR cartridge developed maximum pressure before the bullet had completely exited the case, and pressure dropped consistently after 2" of travel. Your tests show a very similar scenario, with a 5" handgun giving 80% of the velocity possible from a rifle barrel.

Years ago, 22LR rifles were common with 24"-26" barrels, but longer barrels give a longer sight radius which contributes to shooter accuracy. With optical sights being the norm nowadays, there is no reason why you should not have a shorter than 20" barrel.
__________________
Never try to educate someone who resists knowledge at all costs.
But what do I know?
Summit Arms Services
Scorch is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:27 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.05227 seconds with 11 queries