BB Ballistics

[Thrash1Army]

Sorry guys for the mistake and I meant will wind affect the bb more at long ranges like 170-200ft. Or will the bb be affected by 10mph winds at ranges like 80-140ft.

[Zorak]

I still don't understand the thinking behind the question. The BB is blown by the wind throughout its flight. The longer the time of flight, the longer the wind acts on it, and the more the wind moves it.

[Thrash1Army]

Thanks man. Now I know ;D.

[Kiki]

The only thing I could see is if, for some reason, the wind only acts on the bb at a certain point in it's flight path. For example, if the wind is blocked by a building, and then the bb flies past the end of the building so then the wind will affect the flight path of the bb. However, assuming all things equal (the wind is the same strength and direction wherever it acts), then the only difference is how long it "blows" on the bb.

At longer ranges the bb will have slowed down considerably compared to the muzzle-exit velocity (a round profile isn't exactly very aerodynamic), so if the wind acts over a 20 foot length, it will take the bb longer to go those 20 feet and the wind will have "more" of an effect (it's just acting on the bb longer). If the wind acts for the first 20 feet of a bb (and then, say, it's blocked by a building), it will have "less" of an effect because the bb won't be in the wind as long (since the velocity is higher it doesn't take as long to go 20 feet).

Honestly though, usually the wind just blows over the entire flight path of a bb because 200 or so feet isn't a very long distance and unless there's something clearly blocking the wind from affecting the bb, then it'll act pretty constantly over the flight path. And even if there is a building "blocking" the direct windpath, it wouldn't necessarily stop the wind from affecting the bb. The wind will go over the building and create eddy currents on the bb side that could affect the bb's flight path, depending on how tall the building is.

tldr; Don't worry about the wind affecting one part of the flight path over another, assume it's all constant.

[Arch-Angel(3.14)]

Link is broken...

[Zorak]

Updated OP.

[Ike]

I feel that this warrants a necropost and relates to the ATP, and it's a stickied thread already so it won't be going anywhere. Bioval/BBBMax had some testing done on different BBs, including their own glass BBs (well, silica, which is the main component of glass). This 50 page report has the results of a number of tests that they performed on the BBs and how different types (soft, hard, biodegradable) transfer energy and deform when they hit their target. It came to some important conclusions concerning safety and at the very least is an interesting read.

www.begadishop.de/sheets/bbbmax-test.pdf

[Simon]

I hate to bring this up, but with the number of individual variables present when calculating the distance a BB will travel when fired, the ballistics of an airsoft gun are next to impossible to predict accurately. In order to calculate distance you need to take into account the friction applied by the hop up. There are infinite settings for each of the many hop-ups available, as well as the bucking being used (Of which there is also a large number). BB being of a spherical nature are not prone to straight or true ballistic flight anyway.

[Falcon]

Hey guys, I was looking at the KWA KM4 SR10 and i was wondering what weight of BB I should use. It says it shoots between 400-410 fps. Any help is good.

[snafu]

I would run .28 or .30 with that fps, but I like a bit heavier ammo.

[Blitz]

I use .30's in my SR-10 when I can afford 'em. Otherwise I use .25's at the very lightest.

[Falcon]

Thanks for the help. If you don't mind me asking what is your personal opinion on the gun. Is it worth the money? Also how accurate is it?

[Blitz]

Jul 8, 2012 23:39:27 GMT -5 Falcon said:

Thanks for the help. If you don't mind me asking what is your personal opinion on the gun. Is it worth the money? Also how accurate is it?

I love it. After 40k rounds it still has yet to have a mechanical issue. It's stock accuracy was way better than any other stock AEG I have handled, but on par with AEGs with accuracy upgrades. As for the money, you get what you pay for in airsoft. You really can't go wrong in that price range, whether it be KWA, G&G, G&P, or TM.

Edit for below post: Sorry, was trying to be helpful, not derail the thread. I'll do that next time.

[redalert]

Hey guys, try to take you're conversation to pm's or the airsoft discussion section where it belongs. Don't want to get in trouble with any of the mods.

Jan 15, 2012 20:17:58 GMT -5 Simon said:

I hate to bring this up, but with the number of individual variables present when calculating the distance a BB will travel when fired, the ballistics of an airsoft gun are next to impossible to predict accurately. In order to calculate distance you need to take into account the friction applied by the hop up. There are infinite settings for each of the many hop-ups available, as well as the bucking being used (Of which there is also a large number). BB being of a spherical nature are not prone to straight or true ballistic flight anyway.

Well that is very true, taking accurate readings over a large number of shots and taking the averages one can compute a simplified equation that adequately relates to the flight path of a bb. If one were to take high speed video of a bb leaving the barrel and find a way to calculate the revolutions of the bb leaving the barrel and its speed, that is all you would really need to form more complex equation to approximate the trajectory.


PS. Sorry to quote such an old post, but I thought it relevant to advancing the topic further.