Re: Ballistics

[Brian McDonald <brian_mcdonald@xxxxxxx>]

Robert J. Hansen wrote:

>>  About how far up would a 7.62 Nato round go if fired straight up?  and
>>
>
>I actually crunched the physics on this one.  In a vacuum, the round will 
>travel well into the upper stratosphere.  Given that it has air to push 
>through, it still can endanger commercial jetliners.
>
>>about the distance for a 5.56 Nato round?
>>
>
>About the same.
>
Gah.  figured it was going to be a fair ways up but 30 to 35k feet 
 exceeds what i thought by about double.

>
>>some friends and i were talking about how much threat a group of people
>>on the ground could be to aircraft.  i have read of units if ww1 being
>>
>
>The question isn't whether or not your weapon has the range; the question is 
>whether you can put up enough rounds to make the shot density such that a 
>plane is essentially guaranteed of inhaling an FMJ into its engines.
>

i believe it was a morale thing more than any expectation of actual 
damage.  they guys had bolt action rifles so the number of rounds in the 
air would have been tiny by modern standards.