How Far will a .223 round Fly?

[murphjup]

Ok approximatley, how far will a .223 55 gr round go if shot hortizontally with a person standing...? No angeling the gun upward for further flight....lol

Anyone have an approximation? Just curious...

Thank you in advance...

[taylorce1]

http://www.eskimo.com/~jbm/Play around with this one. Edited the link hopefully it will work this time. Just go to calculators and figure out which one you want to use.

[murphjup]

taylorce1,

I tried the link it didn't work...

[SDC]

According to the figures I just plugged into Lee's "Ballistic Calculator", a 55-grain FMJ zeroed for a 100-yard shot (so angled slightly upward) will drop more than 70 inches by the time it hits 550 yards, 3/4s of a second later; so if the rifle is held horizontally at a height of 5 feet, it shouldn't be able to go much past 500 yards. All of this changes the moment you put ANY elevation on the rifle.

[murphjup]

SDC thank you the link doesn't seem to be working with my computer...

[fixboot]

70 INCHES!!!!???? Man that seems like alot! In only 550 yards too.....

[Axion]

The acceleration due to gravity at earth's surface is approximately 9.81 m/s^2. Also note that when a bullet is fired horizontally from a gun is has zero velocity in the y (up and down) direction to start with. Thus it's velocity in the y direction v = a*t where t is time. Taking the integral of time gives us an expression for distance fallen d = 1/2*a*t^2 (assuming zero initial velocity in y direction. This can be rearranged to solve for the time taken to fall to the ground. t = square.root(2*d/a)

So if we assume that the rifle is held 1.5 meters off the ground (approx 5 ft) then from the time the bullets leaves the muzzle it will be approximately .55 seconds until it falls to the ground. So if the bullet has an average velocity of 3000 ft/s (I don't know how much velocity a bullet normally losses in flight so this number may need to be tweaked) if would cover 1650 ft or just under a third of a mile.

[SDC]

The figures for a 150-grain JSP out of a 30-06 aren't any better; although it seems counter-intuitive, a bullet fired on a straight horizontal line will hit the ground at the SAME TIME as a bullet simply DROPPED from that horizontal line.

[RNB65]

Don't forget ricochets if you're not using a proper backstop. Bullets will deflect off ground or water and keep going for a considerable distance.

[rgitzlaff]

Axion, spoken like a true engineer! Gotta love the math!

[Globug]

10 years ago, while qualifying a new MP/Sailor at the Kings Bay Naval base shooting range with an M-16, we found out how far a .223 round will go.

We were shooting on a 200 yard range, with steel baffles "ABOVE" every 20 yards or so down the 200 yard range..and a 35 foot high dirt berm at the end of the range..

So, it was only me and the sailor on the range, and he was doing prone fire, underneath the baffles, when word came out over the radio that a Marine had been hit in the "limited area", where the nuke weapons are stored, a mile away.

A marine was standing his post, and a .223 caliber slug buried itself in his calf.

It was removed, mostly undeformed..didn't do much damage, just buried in his calf muscle.

No one believed it was possible for a round to have left the range, because it was a little over a mile from the backstop, to the site the marine was hit.

The round was ballistically matched to the rifle the sailor was using..at the GBI crime lab, so we had to believe it.

The Marines had been complaining about seeing tracer rounds coming down in their watch area, when we were doing nightfire, but no one believed them.

So....this round went downrange 200 yards, horizontal to the dirt, underneath steel baffles (making it impossible to go vertical), and then after passing under the last steel baffle (30 yards from the high berm) hit something that caused it to change its trajectory at a high enough angle to fly over a 35 foot berm and fly over one mile before coming down and hitting the marine.

Go figure..

[Johnywinslow]

dont forget when firing north to south in extrame range say 1000 to 1500 meters u have to keep the earths rotation in mind, the planet will rotate under the flying bullet, BUT this is extream ranges 500-600 yrds id a non issue

[bcrash15]

good ole coriolis effect. It's a very significant problem for tanks and artillery, some pretty complex math involved too, thank goodness for computers.

[Wildalaska]

The acceleration due to gravity at earth's surface is approximately 9.81 m/s^2. Also note that when a bullet is fired horizontally from a gun is has zero velocity in the y (up and down) direction to start with. Thus it's velocity in the y direction v = a*t where t is time. Taking the integral of time gives us an expression for distance fallen d = 1/2*a*t^2 (assuming zero initial velocity in y direction. This can be rearranged to solve for the time taken to fall to the ground. t = square.root(2*d/a)

So if we assume that the rifle is held 1.5 meters off the ground (approx 5 ft) then from the time the bullets leaves the muzzle it will be approximately .55 seconds until it falls to the ground. So if the bullet has an average velocity of 3000 ft/s (I don't know how much velocity a bullet normally losses in flight so this number may need to be tweaked) if would cover 1650 ft or just under a third of a mile.

This Board is great

Do you have a slide rule? I do!

WildwritethatformulaoutAlaska

PS...I cant help myself...what would ESCAPE velocity of a 55 grain projectile need to be? Is that a trick question?

[bcarver]

There are many varibles left out of axion's answer. You must consider the rotation of the earth and direction of firing along with bullet rotation, hemispere and humidity/temparture and altitude. For example a bullet fired due south with a clockwise spin on a high plain in the dry Andies in winter will travel much further than one aimed west with a counter clockwise spin in the mississippi delta right after a rain shower in August. The second example will seem to slam into the earth when compared to the first.

[foob]

So if we assume that the rifle is held 1.5 meters off the ground (approx 5 ft) then from the time the bullets leaves the muzzle it will be approximately .55 seconds until it falls to the ground. So if the bullet has an average velocity of 3000 ft/s (I don't know how much velocity a bullet normally losses in flight so this number may need to be tweaked) if would cover 1650 ft or just under a third of a mile.

Bullets lose a lot of velocity in flight, especially the .223.

[joshua]

Dd you calculate for a boat tail bullet?

[Mach II Sailor]

one other tid bit of useless info, if a rifle is positioned perfectly horizontal to the plane of the earth and fired, and a bullet of exactly the same design and weight were droped at the exact instant of the bullet leaving the barrel both bullets will hit the ground at exactly the same instant !!!!

WHY ??


GRAVITY !!

[Art Eatman]

Gravity is a myth. The earth sucks.

Art

[Wildalaska]

Gravity is a myth. The earth sucks.

Art, know I know why your posts are so levelheaded!

Truth has been spoken!

WildicantwaittousethatonelaterAlaska

[MrBorland]

one other tid bit of useless info, if a rifle is positioned perfectly horizontal to the plane of the earth and fired, and a bullet of exactly the same design and weight were droped at the exact instant of the bullet leaving the barrel both bullets will hit the ground at exactly the same instant !!!!

Even more useless, but in reality the bullet fired from the horizontal rifle will hit the earth slightly after the one dropped from the same height. Remember, the earth isn't flat, so the bullet fired from the gun has to drop a bit more. I calculate about 1.5" more, and would hit the ground about 7 milliseconds after the one that's dropped.

[USMCG_HMX1]

Where is my F7 spell checker ?


It's spelled "Marine" for Pete's sake. Sheesh



Push-ups, do it now move. Until I get tired.

Ready, begin. One, two, three, one. One, two, three, two ......




Kris