https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Fri, 05 Jun 2026 02:23:59 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/paged/2/#post-70572 Sat, 25 Sep 2004 06:34:23 +0000
peace,
chris]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Chris_Denney https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/paged/2/#post-70572 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/paged/2/#post-70495 Fri, 24 Sep 2004 17:18:10 +0000 :lol:]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/paged/2/#post-70495 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/paged/2/#post-70483 Fri, 24 Sep 2004 13:09:34 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance stevedabear https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/paged/2/#post-70483 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/paged/2/#post-70104 Tue, 21 Sep 2004 02:43:58 +0000
Couldn't agree more with the last two posts!
:lol:]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/paged/2/#post-70104 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-70028 Mon, 20 Sep 2004 17:47:05 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance Mike https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-70028 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-70027 Mon, 20 Sep 2004 17:25:04 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance Nick Torres https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-70027 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-70018 Mon, 20 Sep 2004 15:42:29 +0000
I suggest you put it in a titanium box, 10 mm thick all round lol.

If they break your guitar, you know where to shove the neck.]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance stevedabear https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-70018 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-69987 Mon, 20 Sep 2004 06:43:47 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-69987 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-69985 Mon, 20 Sep 2004 06:16:21 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance E.Sherman https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-69985 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-69983 Mon, 20 Sep 2004 06:06:03 +0000
Yes, a bullet that's designed to mushroom shouldn't tumble. That produces inconsistent results when it happens. It usually won't, either, because of the shift of the center of mass toward the front of the bullet as it expands.

A pointed bullet that doesn't expand will nearly always tumble in tissue. A pointed bullet that's got its center of mass toward the rear of the bullet will tumble more rapidly. That's why the British started making their military bullets for the .303 with paper or aluminum inserts in the nose back around 1912, so they'd tumble readily on impact and cause more damage. They were, however, quite stable in flight and accurate to long ranges. All bullets of course yaw to a slight extent, but all military rifle bullets are designed to be dynamically stable in supersonic flight. The yaw they leave the muzzle with steadily decreases as they travel downrange. They are not stable in tissue or water, as the medium is far denser than air. Hatcher's Notebook contains a chapter explaining the physics of this that you should read. It would take a rifling twist on the order of 1 turn in 3/4" to make most rifle bullets stable in water, which approximates the density of most soft tissues. Typical actual twists for modern military rifles range from about 1 turn in 7 inches to 1 in 12 inches. That's sufficient to stabilize the bullets nicely in air, but not at all in tissue.

A tumbling bullet is extremely damaging, and when it's travelling broadside it produces a wound cavity comparable to the mushroomed bullet. Many bullets, such as our own 5.56mm and the Germans' 7.62mm ones, fragment when they turn sideways producing multiple secondary projectiles diverging from the original path of the bullet, producing punctures that tear as the main wound cavity expands, increasing the extent of damage. Google up "Martin Fackler" and "wound ballistics" for further info on this.

There is no velocity at which increasing velocity reduces expansion of a bullet. Once a critical velocity is reached where mushrooming begins, further increasing the velocity very rapidly increases the mushrooming until the bullet fragments shortly after impact. Anyone who has fired high velocity "varmint rifle" cartridges such as the .22-250, .220 Swift, .17 Remington or .204 Ruger in the field is familiar with how their ultra-fast bullets disintegrate on impact with very small animals, weed stems, just about anything they hit. True, if the bullet's moving fast enough the mass density of the lead will punch right through steel plate, but what comes out the back is a mist of tiny fragments. As one moves up the velocity scale with light gas guns that simulate meteor impacts, you can punch through armor plate with tiny plastic pellets, which are vaporized by the force of impact. Spacecraft are protected from such missiles by a light sheet metal shield that can't stop the missile but is massive enough to disrupt or vaporize it. That shield is spaced several inches out from the main wall of the vehicle, which receives a spray instead of an impact. The same principle has been much used in protecting armored vehicles from shaped-charge warheads.

Taking an ordinary expanding hunting bullet designed for firing out of a .308 or .30-06 and firing it at much higher velocity out of a .300 Weatherby Magnum, .300 Remington UltraMag or .30-378 will invariably REDUCE its penetration in tissue, while making a much bigger hole of shallower depth, because the bullet expands too rapidly and fragments on impact at the higher velocity. That's why there's been such a proliferation of "premium" bullets of solid copper and such in recent years.

None of this expanding bullet stuff is germane to the hazards of guitars in war zones, though. Simply looking at the 1/4" plywood target boards on the rifle range tells me that military rifle bullets make a nice small round hole of slightly smaller diameter than the bullet on the front side (due to wood fiber spring-back) with a bit of splintering around it on the back side where the bullet exits. Thinner wood would be expected to splinter less. The 2x4 wood frames, when hit, splinter rather badly. That's more analogous to hitting the neck of a guitar.

I don't think Chris has much to worry about so far as his guitar getting shot. Don't get yourself shot, Chris, we want you back here safe, and soon!
:D

Greybeard, this being a guitar maintenance and repair forum, it would be better to carry this terminal ballistics discussion (if you want to continue it) elsewhere. I'd suggest the "Reloading" forum at Accurate Reloading.]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/guitar-care-in-a-war-zone/#post-69983