[Tactical Shooting] Bullet Travel and MOA when Shooting Black Powder

Icelander · 01-07-2015, 01:34 PM

The harsh realism optional rules in the grey box on Tactical Shooting p. 32 add a refreshing touch of realism to gunplay. In particular, the 'Bullet Travel' and 'Minute of Angle' optional rules are nice additions.

Both options make some assumptions about typical ballistics that are a workable abstraction for most typical TL8 weapons. The maximum effective skill of 22 + Acc x 2 does a decent job of modelling the MOA of most TL8 combat arms, though it may be slightly lenient in for handguns and less accurate rifles (representing GURPS bias for the heroic normal).

By the same token, bullet travel times of (Range in yards)/250 seconds for handguns and (Range in yards)/600 seconds for rifles are a reasonable average velocity for most TL8 combat arms used at anything up to sniping distances, with a lot of rifles having higher muzzle velocity, but once the range reaches 500+ yards, most rounds will have slowed down significantly, so the listed numbers work out within most engagement distances.

The same assumptions, however, may need slight adjustments in order to give more typical values for TL5 and early TL6 black powder weapons, such as those carried by buffalo hunters on the American Plains, Victorian explorers in Darkest Africa and two-fisted penny dreadful heroes on the prowl for Hollow Earth dinosaur or Carpathian werewolf.

I'm doing some research on typical velocities, ballistics data and MOA for factory loads of iconic Victorian weapons. If anyone has information on this that might reduce my workload, I would be very thankful for assistance. I'm looking for MOA measured as we are used to at 100 yards and velocities at a few representative distances. Data points like the fact that the .45-70 Government takes 20.2 seconds to travel 2 miles are very welcome.

I'd also like information and musings on the distances out to which typical rounds have more or less flat trajectories, at what range the drop of popular rounds has become so extreme as to make regular sighted shooting difficult, what kind of sights various rifles and other weapons were usually issued or bought with, etc. A lot of period rounds, especially heeled bullets, behaved unpredictably once they fell below certain velocity thresholds.

01-07-2015, 01:34 PM	#1
Icelander Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Iceland*	[Tactical Shooting] Bullet Travel and MOA when Shooting Black Powder The harsh realism optional rules in the grey box on Tactical Shooting p. 32 add a refreshing touch of realism to gunplay. In particular, the 'Bullet Travel' and 'Minute of Angle' optional rules are nice additions. Both options make some assumptions about typical ballistics that are a workable abstraction for most typical TL8 weapons. The maximum effective skill of 22 + Acc x 2 does a decent job of modelling the MOA of most TL8 combat arms, though it may be slightly lenient in for handguns and less accurate rifles (representing GURPS bias for the heroic normal). By the same token, bullet travel times of (Range in yards)/250 seconds for handguns and (Range in yards)/600 seconds for rifles are a reasonable average velocity for most TL8 combat arms used at anything up to sniping distances, with a lot of rifles having higher muzzle velocity, but once the range reaches 500+ yards, most rounds will have slowed down significantly, so the listed numbers work out within most engagement distances. The same assumptions, however, may need slight adjustments in order to give more typical values for TL5 and early TL6 black powder weapons, such as those carried by buffalo hunters on the American Plains, Victorian explorers in Darkest Africa and two-fisted penny dreadful heroes on the prowl for Hollow Earth dinosaur or Carpathian werewolf. I'm doing some research on typical velocities, ballistics data and MOA for factory loads of iconic Victorian weapons. If anyone has information on this that might reduce my workload, I would be very thankful for assistance. I'm looking for MOA measured as we are used to at 100 yards and velocities at a few representative distances. Data points like the fact that the .45-70 Government takes 20.2 seconds to travel 2 miles are very welcome. I'd also like information and musings on the distances out to which typical rounds have more or less flat trajectories, at what range the drop of popular rounds has become so extreme as to make regular sighted shooting difficult, what kind of sights various rifles and other weapons were usually issued or bought with, etc. A lot of period rounds, especially heeled bullets, behaved unpredictably once they fell below certain velocity thresholds. __________________ Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!