Grazing Fire
Encyclopedia
Grazing fire is a term used in military science
and defined by NATO and the DOD as “Fire approximately parallel to the ground where the centre of the cone of fire does not rise above one metre from the ground.” Grazing fire is often performed by machine guns. It is tactically advantageous when attempting to cut off an infantry ground assault or counter-attack.
Grazing fire is when the cone of fire from a machine gun does not exceed 1.8 meters( avg. height of a man ) off the ground. When each bullet is fired, it will leave the barrel at at the axis of bore set from the angle of sight desired to impact target area.The trajectory of the round should be constant as well as maximum ordinate. Maximum ordinate is the highest point of trajectory, which is usually 2/3 distance to target from weapon. Depending on the caliber of the round being fired and the slope of terrain, as well as distance to target the bullet will maintain a semi-flat trajectory. Now with 7.62 x 51 nato that is most commonly used with the M240b mmg, the bullet will reach a distance of 600 metres at 2800 feet per second before it begins its downward slope to the earth. Any distance beyond that range will be considered plunging fire due to the arc (axis of bore + angle of sight)needed to impact target area.
Military science
Military science is the process of translating national defence policy to produce military capability by employing military scientists, including theorists, researchers, experimental scientists, applied scientists, designers, engineers, test technicians, and military personnel responsible for...
and defined by NATO and the DOD as “Fire approximately parallel to the ground where the centre of the cone of fire does not rise above one metre from the ground.” Grazing fire is often performed by machine guns. It is tactically advantageous when attempting to cut off an infantry ground assault or counter-attack.
Grazing fire is when the cone of fire from a machine gun does not exceed 1.8 meters( avg. height of a man ) off the ground. When each bullet is fired, it will leave the barrel at at the axis of bore set from the angle of sight desired to impact target area.The trajectory of the round should be constant as well as maximum ordinate. Maximum ordinate is the highest point of trajectory, which is usually 2/3 distance to target from weapon. Depending on the caliber of the round being fired and the slope of terrain, as well as distance to target the bullet will maintain a semi-flat trajectory. Now with 7.62 x 51 nato that is most commonly used with the M240b mmg, the bullet will reach a distance of 600 metres at 2800 feet per second before it begins its downward slope to the earth. Any distance beyond that range will be considered plunging fire due to the arc (axis of bore + angle of sight)needed to impact target area.