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Muzzle velocity
 
 
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A gun's
GUN

Gun is a Revisionist Western-themed video game developed by Neversoft. It was published by Activision for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2....
 muzzle velocity is the speed at which the projectile
Projectile

A projectile is any object propelled through space by the exertion of a force, which ceases after launch. In a general sense, even a Football or baseball may be considered a projectile....
 leaves the muzzle
Muzzle (firearm)

The muzzle of a firearm is the end of the barrel from which the projectile will exit.Precise machining of the muzzle is crucial to accuracy, because it is the last point of contact between the barrel and the projectile....
 of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from subsonic
Subsonic

Subsonic may refer to:*Any speed lower than the speed of sound within a sound propagating medium is called subsonic.**Aircraft flight at airspeeds lower than the speed of sound in air is subsonic flight....
 (below 330 m/s / ~1080 ft/s
Feet per second

The foot per second is a physical unit of both speed and velocity . It expresses the distance in Foot Abbreviations include ft/s, ft/sec and fps, and the rarely used scientific notation ft s-1....
) for some pistols to more than 1,800 m/s (~5910 ft/s) for tank
Tank

A tank is a Continuous track, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility and Military tactics Offensive and defence capabilities....
 guns firing kinetic energy penetrator
Kinetic energy penetrator

A kinetic energy penetrator is a type of ammunition which, like a bullet, does not contain explosives and uses kinetic energy to penetrate the target....
 ammunition. The latter velocity is close to the limit achievable with chemical propellant
Propellant

A propellant is a material that is used to move an object. This will often involve a chemical reaction. It may be a gas, liquid, Plasma , or, before the chemical reaction, a solid....
s.

In conventional guns using gunpowder
Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also called black powder, is an explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, KNO3 that burns rapidly, producing volumes of hot solids and gases which can be used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks....
, muzzle velocity is determined by the quality (burn speed, expansion) and quantity of the propellant
Propellant

A propellant is a material that is used to move an object. This will often involve a chemical reaction. It may be a gas, liquid, Plasma , or, before the chemical reaction, a solid....
, the mass of the projectile, and the length of the barrel.






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Encyclopedia


A gun's
GUN

Gun is a Revisionist Western-themed video game developed by Neversoft. It was published by Activision for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2....
 muzzle velocity is the speed at which the projectile
Projectile

A projectile is any object propelled through space by the exertion of a force, which ceases after launch. In a general sense, even a Football or baseball may be considered a projectile....
 leaves the muzzle
Muzzle (firearm)

The muzzle of a firearm is the end of the barrel from which the projectile will exit.Precise machining of the muzzle is crucial to accuracy, because it is the last point of contact between the barrel and the projectile....
 of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from subsonic
Subsonic

Subsonic may refer to:*Any speed lower than the speed of sound within a sound propagating medium is called subsonic.**Aircraft flight at airspeeds lower than the speed of sound in air is subsonic flight....
 (below 330 m/s / ~1080 ft/s
Feet per second

The foot per second is a physical unit of both speed and velocity . It expresses the distance in Foot Abbreviations include ft/s, ft/sec and fps, and the rarely used scientific notation ft s-1....
) for some pistols to more than 1,800 m/s (~5910 ft/s) for tank
Tank

A tank is a Continuous track, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility and Military tactics Offensive and defence capabilities....
 guns firing kinetic energy penetrator
Kinetic energy penetrator

A kinetic energy penetrator is a type of ammunition which, like a bullet, does not contain explosives and uses kinetic energy to penetrate the target....
 ammunition. The latter velocity is close to the limit achievable with chemical propellant
Propellant

A propellant is a material that is used to move an object. This will often involve a chemical reaction. It may be a gas, liquid, Plasma , or, before the chemical reaction, a solid....
s.

In conventional guns using gunpowder
Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also called black powder, is an explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, KNO3 that burns rapidly, producing volumes of hot solids and gases which can be used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks....
, muzzle velocity is determined by the quality (burn speed, expansion) and quantity of the propellant
Propellant

A propellant is a material that is used to move an object. This will often involve a chemical reaction. It may be a gas, liquid, Plasma , or, before the chemical reaction, a solid....
, the mass of the projectile, and the length of the barrel. A slower burning propellant needs a longer barrel to burn completely, but can on the other hand use a heavier projectile. A faster burning propellant may accelerate a lighter projectile to higher speeds if the same amount of propellant is used. In a gun, the pressure resulting from the combustion process is a limiting factor on projectile velocity. A balance between propellant quality and quantity, projectile mass and barrel length must be found if both safety and optimal performance is to be achieved.

The velocity of a projectile is highest at the muzzle and drops off steadily due to air resistance. Generally, smaller diameter projectiles lose velocity less rapidly than wider ones. While a lighter projectile will move faster, it may not carry more kinetic energy
Kinetic energy

The kinetic energy of an object is the extra energy which it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the mechanical work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its current velocity....
 and if physically smaller, must carry a smaller internal explosive charge.

Longer barrels give the powder more time to work on propelling the bullet. For this reason longer barrels generally provide higher velocities, everything else being equal. As the bullet moves down the bore, however, the propellant's gas pressure behind it diminishes. Given a long enough barrel, there will eventually be a point in which the force of the air pressure in front of the bullet will equal the force of the gas pressure behind it. At this point, the velocity of the bullet will start to decrease.

Large naval guns will have length to diameter ratios of 38:1 to 50:1. This length ratio maximizes the projectile velocity. There is much interest in modernizing naval weaponry by using electrically driven railgun
Railgun

A railgun is a purely electrical gun that accelerates a conductive projectile along a pair of metal rails using the same principles as the homopolar motor....
s, which overcome the limitations noted above. With railguns, a constant acceleration is provided along the entire length of the device, greatly increasing the muzzle velocity. There is also a significant advantage in not having to carry explosive propellant and even the projectile internal charges may be eliminated due to the high velocity - the projectile becomes a strictly kinetic
Kinetic

Kinetic may refer to:*Kinetic, Seiko's trademark for its automatic quartz technology.*Kinetic theory*Kinetic energy*A projectile, which is a type of kinetic weapon....
 weapon.

Influencing Factors

  • length of a barrel
  • mass of a bullet
  • mass, temperature, and dampness of the powder
  • form and size of powder's particles
  • friction force between a bullet and a barrel


See also

  • Firearm
    Firearm

    A firearm is a tool that projects either single or multiple projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion. The firing is achieved by the gases produced through rapid, confined combustion of a propellant....
  • Internal ballistics
    Internal ballistics

    Internal ballistics, a subfield of ballistics, is the study of a projectile's behavior from the time its propellant's igniter is initiated until it exits the gun barrel....
  • Muzzle energy
    Muzzle energy

    Muzzle energy is the kinetic energy of a bullet as it is expelled from the muzzle of a firearm. It is often used as a rough indication of the destructive potential of a given firearm or load....