Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Supervisors:
Dr. Yasir Nawab
Dr. Munir Ashraf
Prof. Mehmat Karahan
1 Defens
Ph.D. Synopsis
Introduction
Ammunition (commonly shortened to ammo) is propellant
and projectile, or broadly anything that can be used in
combat including bombs, missiles, warheads, landmines,
naval mines, and anti-personnel mines.
The purpose of ammunition is to project force against a
selected target.
Basic terms
A "round" is a term synonymous with a single cartridge
containing a projectile, propellant, primer and casing.
Ammunition
There are basically two types of ammunition
The cartridge (Rifle and handguns use a cartridge contain a
projectile (bullet)
The shotshell (Shotguns use a shotshell which contains either
a number of small projectiles (known as shot) or a single
projectile (known as a slug).
Firing mechanism
Ammunition is fired when a guns firing pin hits the ammos
primer. This causes a spark from the primer to ignite the
gunpowder. Gas is then converted from the burning powder
which forces the projectile out of the case and down the
barrel of the gun.
Measurement of Ammo
Ammunition is generally expressed in a measurement
Most of the world uses a metric rating, while the
commercial market in the United States uses a U.S.
standard measurement.
The measurements in metric are mostly a diameter to
length ratio; for example, a bullet in the caliber:
5.56x45mm is 5.56mm wide and 45mm long
9x19mm cartridge is 9mm wide and 19mm long
Types of Bullets
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Muzzle Velocity
Muzzle velocityis the speed aprojectilehas at the moment it leaves
themuzzleof the gun.
Muzzle velocities range from approximately
120 m/s (390 ft/s) to 370 m/s (1,200 ft/s) in black powder muskets
1,200 m/s (3,900 ft/s) in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as
the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger
1,700 m/s (5,600 ft/s) for tank guns firing kinetic energy penetrator ammunition.
The velocity of a projectile is highest at the muzzle and drops off steadily
because of air resistance.
Projectiles traveling less than the speed of sound (about 340 m/s or 1115
feet/s in dry air at sea level) are subsonic, while those traveling faster are
supersonic and thus can travel a substantial distance and even hit a target
before a nearby observer hears the "bang" of the shot.
Projectile speed through air depends on a number of factors such as
barometric pressure, humidity, air temperature, and wind speed.
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