Hello everyone,
I just can't stop reading up on and trying to get educated on ballistics. I came across some data today that I put into a chart relative to the Drag Coefficient of the projectile when going through the trans-sonic range. Here is the chart I created:
OK, so this is charted using a "Very Low Drag Bullet", so this would be more of a direct comparison to slugs than pellets, but the results are still relative to what we are seeing. As you can see, just below 976FPS, the drag is the least on the projectile, and this is right at the "Sweet spot" for pellets around 850-925FPS. This could be extrapolated to mean that we are shooting pellets at the point with the least drag. Now, when the projectile gets into the trans-sonic range, the drag varies significantly. This (to me) would almost mean that when you are shooting slugs, that you would really need to shoot for the 1300FPS range than the 1000-1100FPS range that seems to be the most common. According to the chart, only a small variation in the velocity would make a bigger difference in the drag, and thereby the point of impact.
Is there a gun that can shoot slugs at up to 1400FPS? This would be an interesting experiment to see if you got "ultra-stability" in slugs by pushing them up into the plateau that exists at the top of this curve. Sure, you have the most drag here, but the results should be really consistent. Thoughts??
I just can't stop reading up on and trying to get educated on ballistics. I came across some data today that I put into a chart relative to the Drag Coefficient of the projectile when going through the trans-sonic range. Here is the chart I created:
OK, so this is charted using a "Very Low Drag Bullet", so this would be more of a direct comparison to slugs than pellets, but the results are still relative to what we are seeing. As you can see, just below 976FPS, the drag is the least on the projectile, and this is right at the "Sweet spot" for pellets around 850-925FPS. This could be extrapolated to mean that we are shooting pellets at the point with the least drag. Now, when the projectile gets into the trans-sonic range, the drag varies significantly. This (to me) would almost mean that when you are shooting slugs, that you would really need to shoot for the 1300FPS range than the 1000-1100FPS range that seems to be the most common. According to the chart, only a small variation in the velocity would make a bigger difference in the drag, and thereby the point of impact.
Is there a gun that can shoot slugs at up to 1400FPS? This would be an interesting experiment to see if you got "ultra-stability" in slugs by pushing them up into the plateau that exists at the top of this curve. Sure, you have the most drag here, but the results should be really consistent. Thoughts??