Ultimate Range of Round Balls

[ozark57]

I have a shooting range that terminates into a hillside that is very safe. I do like to to shoot my ml's of my front porch and I live up the side of a big hollow so the balls strike ground before they can get to anything they could hurt. I usually just shoot my .32 and .36 off the front porch and leave the bigger stuff for the hillside.
Does anyone know the ultimate range off .36 and .50 cal. RB's at maximum obtainable velocities?

 

[necchi]

We had a topic like this a couple months back, and it got kinda bucky, but IF I remember my lessons from that proper, it was 6/10 of a mile at a 40 degree angle.
If the elevation of the barrel is more than 40* the ball will drop short of the max distance arc.
But, they can hit the ground and "skip" further than that.
That's Ball, Conicals are different. :wink:

 

[Mike Brooks]

Ok, how far will they "skip"? They gotta loose energy pretty quickly bouncing on the ground.....

 

[ozark57]

We had a topic like this a couple months back, and it got kinda bucky, but IF I remember my lessons from that proper, it was 6/10 of a mile at a 40 degree angle.
If the elevation of the barrel is more than 40* the ball will drop short of the max distance arc.
But, they can hit the ground and "skip" further than that.
That's Ball, Conicals are different. :wink:

Do you know if that was for a .50 or.36 or? It will be different as the range will increase expotentialy with the larger balls. I know my .32 really starts droping fast after 75 yards, while my .50's are still holding their own pretty well.

 

[David W.]

Ok, how far will they "skip"? They gotta loose energy pretty quickly bouncing on the ground.....

It partly depends on how hard the surface is. If it were to hit my head, it's likely to bounce a long ways.

 

[Mike Brooks]

If it were to hit my head, it's likely to bounce a long ways.

:rotf:

 

[Trench]

I ran 2000fps in my RB calculator for a .350 ball sighted in at 25yds and it shows it dropping 73in at 200 yards. So, it's probably falling between 180 and 200 yards when shooting standing, off hand, with the barrel parallel to the ground.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Two things. I remember the Vegas gambler who said he could hit a golf ball and have it go a mile before it stopped. Somebody took the bet. They met along the shore of a frozen lake where he proposed to hit the golf ball out across the lake. Needless to say he won the bet.

Whether a ball stops when hitting the ground depends on the angle. It sure isn't coming down at 90 degrees. It also depends a great deal on the surface it strikes. I have seen cannon balls bounce/skip across the Missouri river at Washburn ND, and keep bouncing on the other side of the river. I don't know how wide the river is there, maybe 3/4 mile. The farmer from the other side was a little PO'd about having his wheat plowed up. (1994 High Plans Rendezvous)

 

[J.D.]

Using the formula posted in the earlier thread, I calculated that a 32 cal ball would travel a little over 600 yards.

I think I calculated that a 54 cal ball would travel a little over 1100 yards, but my old brain is a little fuzzy on the details.

I seem to remember that the quick formula was something like 2200 times either weight or diameter. Diameter, I think, but I can barely remember what I had for breakfast, much less a math formula read about a coupla months ago. :idunno:

God bless

 

[David W.]

I doubt seriously a .32 ball traveling 600 yards except under extreme conditions. Drag coefiecient will most likely stop it before that.

 

[nkbj]

Once saw my brother skip balls across a lake with his 1851 .44 just like a thrown rock. Missed the ducks.

 

[Little Wattsy]

Two things. I remember the Vegas gambler who said he could hit a golf ball and have it go a mile before it stopped. Somebody took the bet. They met along the shore of a frozen lake where he proposed to hit the golf ball out across the lake. Needless to say he won the bet.

Whether a ball stops when hitting the ground depends on the angle. It sure isn't coming down at 90 degrees. It also depends a great deal on the surface it strikes. I have seen cannon balls bounce/skip across the Missouri river at Washburn ND, and keep bouncing on the other side of the river. I don't know how wide the river is there, maybe 3/4 mile. The farmer from the other side was a little PO'd about having his wheat plowed up. (1994 High Plans Rendezvous)

:shocked2: I am glad that you have found a way to get gravity and the other natural laws of nature so under controll. :bow: :bow: :bow:

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[zimmerstutzen]

"Natural laws of nature"? Maybe in your world there are other kinds of natural laws, or maybe they are suspended completely. You probably think Airplanes fly in spite of gravity instead of because of it.

The effect of gravity slowing a rolling or skipping object is obviously less than on a flying object, except perhaps in your part of the world. I suppose in Wattsy world, folks can throw bowling balls farther than they can roll them. The original question was not how far a round ball flies, but how far in range they may be dangerous. Gotta figure rolling, bouncing and skipping in the equation. Imagine in Wattsy world baseballs always stop dead when they hit the ground. No bouncing into the outfield for the fielders to chase down. Baseball must be extra boring out there. Perhaps Wattsy never mastered the childhood art of skipping stones or rolling a ball. Wattsy knows that rolling balls and/or skipping stones is impossible because it is against the "natural laws of nature."

 

[Joel/Calgary]

I doubt seriously a .32 ball traveling 600 yards except under extreme conditions. Drag coefiecient will most likely stop it before that.

A web search for Journee formula or for shotgun-range safety considerations will usually find some practical results. One example is: http://www.frfrogspad.com/miscellc.htm#shot from a shotgun
which mentions U.S.Army firing tables for OO buck (.33") as having a maximum range of 600yds vs. 726yds from the Journee formula.

Regards,
Joel

 

[David W.]

As you said, maximum range. I still believe this would be under controlled conditions and mathmatical therories. From the rounded leading edge to the trailing rounded edge, a round projectile simply does not have much working for it, and at what alleged velocity?

 

[Joel/Calgary]

As you said, maximum range. I still believe this would be under controlled conditions and mathmatical therories. From the rounded leading edge to the trailing rounded edge, a round projectile simply does not have much working for it, and at what alleged velocity?

Well, he asked about maximum range. And there is a difference between a theory and a hypothesis. Gravity is also a "mathematical theory", but I have yet to not fall down consistently when I trip. The original ballistic theories were developed for the military and were verified by testing. The approximations were developed to give "close enough" figures with much simpler calculations. As was noted in the page I linked to, the U.S.Army testing found that Journee's formula gave ranges that were somewhat long as ball/shot size increased, but the Army still got 600yds for a .33" ball in their tests. As for muzzle velocity, it apparently makes only a small difference once you get much above sonic because the ballistic coefficient of a sphere is so scuzzy.

Regards,
Joel

 

[ozark57]

Ok, So what I gather from Journee's table is that a .350 rb can travel 770 yards with the bbl. at a firing angle of +40 degrees. I am actualy shooting down at an angle of aprox. 3 degrees with the ball striking the ground at about 80 yards. Most ball will cut a groove along the surface of the ground , I've noticed, and if they should "skip" the closest thing is a road at 800 yards in that direction. With soft lead balls, undoubtably deforming from impact, and the range being what it is, I conclude that my front porch shooting is safe with a .32 or .36. With the ultimate range of a .50 being 1100 yards, this would be potentialy dangerous.
Anyone see any flaws in this conclusion?

 

[Jason Lewis]

As you said, maximum range. I still believe this would be under controlled conditions and mathmatical therories. From the rounded leading edge to the trailing rounded edge, a round projectile simply does not have much working for it, and at what alleged velocity?

IF, it got there it wouldn't have any energy left and would be falling at terminal velocity. if by some chance someone got hit with it, i'm sure they would be puzzled what the tap on the shoulder was.

 

[Dphar]

We had a topic like this a couple months back, and it got kinda bucky, but IF I remember my lessons from that proper, it was 6/10 of a mile at a 40 degree angle.
If the elevation of the barrel is more than 40* the ball will drop short of the max distance arc.
But, they can hit the ground and "skip" further than that.
That's Ball, Conicals are different. :wink:

6/10 is a pretty good ball park number few Rbs will actually go that far if I am properly informed.
In picking up spent balls that struck the ground at the "grasshopper flats" rendezvous at Big Timber, MT the vast majority were within 200 yards of the impact point. These were shot into a low, not too steep hill and were simply laying on the ground beyond. At max range they come in almost vertical and skipping is not much of a worry.
Typical RB calibers are not going to make 1000 yards, small bores, under 40-45, even less I suspect. 1000 yards is just under 6/10 of a mile (1056 yards).
Someone could test this I guess. A friend tried shooting a 54 to 1000 and could not even see bullet strikes, but was able to hit the target, a 30" steel plate, at 500. But it required many, many feet of hold over.
Dan

 

[J.D.]

Ok, So what I gather from Journee's table is that a .350 rb can travel 770 yards with the bbl. at a firing angle of +40 degrees. I am actualy shooting down at an angle of aprox. 3 degrees with the ball striking the ground at about 80 yards. Most ball will cut a groove along the surface of the ground , I've noticed, and if they should "skip" the closest thing is a road at 800 yards in that direction. With soft lead balls, undoubtably deforming from impact, and the range being what it is, I conclude that my front porch shooting is safe with a .32 or .36. With the ultimate range of a .50 being 1100 yards, this would be potentialy dangerous.
Anyone see any flaws in this conclusion?

If you are concerned that one will get away, you could put a coupla big round bales of hay on your range, as a backstop. IMHO, it's cheap insurance.

God bless