Real Gauss pistol

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Uncle Bob:
The most unstable bullets (like the SEAL's new Mk263 bullets) take 1-5 cm to start tumbling. That is equivilent to 10-50 microseconds and to take advantage of the behavior armor would have to be unwearably thick.

Hang on there a sec....

1-5 cm of *what*? I'm betting the tumbling behaviour is *not* equivalent in all mediums.

Also, 10-50 us assumes a certain speed. Which might well not be true anymore, after punching into a very hard outer layer of armour. That could well slow the round down, cause fragmentation, and the fragments or the tumbling round then progressing into a matrix contained beneath the hard outer layer (and backed with another hard layer).

This is a kind of technology used on some AFVs and in other places to form composites. I remain unconvinced it could not be applied on a smaller scale.

Fragmenting bullets inevitably give up some penetration, but judging by the "shatter gap" experienced by brittle 76mm AP in WWII and the performance of the new FAPFDS ammo (Frangible Armor Piercing Finned Discarding Sabot, APFDS for AA guns) I would expect a 25-30% loss in penetration. That is equiviulent to a 10-15% loss in velocity, so I don't think it is significant in games terms.

To a point, you are probably right. But if your round shatters, each individual piece is only carrying a fraction of the overall shot energy. So the armour that fragment faces has to only stop that fraction of the overall energy. This is why a layered composite can be very effective against fragmenting rounds.